CAJUN COUNTRY

On Tuesday we headed to Cajun Country to visit Carla, Ann's college roommate, and her husband Dave .  

The trip into Baton Rouge on I-10 took us across the Mississippi River on a high suspension bridge.  Driving that bridge taught us just how easily a tall RV could be pushed to the side by wind, and Paul had to fight with the steering wheel just to keep the RV from drifting into another lane. Once past Baton Rouge we bounced along I-10 --evidence so far in our trip that Louisiana gets the Worst Roads in America award.

OH NO - ANOTHER MAINTENANCE BILL TO PAY!  In Biloxi, we noticed a small water drip coming from our plumbing bay.  We know that small leaks can easily become flooding leaks, so we stopped in Lafayette for some in-trip maintenance.  We disconnected the dinghy so Ann could drive the 18 miles south to get a head start on her visit with Carla. Fortunately, the folks at Stevens RV had me back on the road in about an hour.  The replacement part cost less than $10, the labor charge approaching triple digits. 

Carla was an English major and became head librarian in the town of New Iberia, Louisiana.  She now loves retirement life and has become a published author.  Look for her first book (published under her pen name Lynn Shurr) , entitled "Goals for a Sinner", on Amazon.com.

Carla and her husband Dave gave us a lesson on the layout of the city. New Iberia is known as The Queen City of the Bayou Teche.  The bayou runs right through the city, with a series of 4 draw bridges connecting both sides of the bayou.  Boaters need to call ahead to get a draw bridge raised as the bridges are unattended.  During sugar cane season in the fall, the bridges are in the up position quite often, causing traffic jams at the bridges, as the water provides a means for shipping harvested sugar cane to market.   Carla drove us through town, showing us beautiful old Southern mansions.

We had a wonderful visit culminating in a great Cajun seafood feast at one of New Iberia's finest seafood restaurants.

Our journey from Cajun country to east Texas was a boring 6 hour drive along "future I-49 corridor", now the WORST road we have traveled on so far, up to Lafayette and then further north on I-49.  Very few things to see along this route.  Going around Shreveport we were on the Terry Bradshaw Passway, named in honor of Shreveport's four-time super bowl winning QB with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Today we will head west on I-20 to the Dallas Metroplex area to spend a long weekend with our daughter Wendy, husband Scott, and our 2 oldest grandchildren (Amelia 6 1/2 and John 4) before continuing our journey on Monday morning.