Deep Down In Louisiana

"Deep down Louisiana close to New Orleans
Way back up in the woods among the evergreens
There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood
Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode"
We are in Louisiana! What did we come for? We came for the Music!
What Music did we come for? C-A-J-U-N.
Well we are as deep in Louisiana as you can get. We been through the swamp and we been through the fields and now we hit the heartland, the capital of Cajun Music.
Its 10.30 on a Saturday morning, but the music has been playing since 9.00.
We are in a town called Mamou. We are in a bar called Fred's Lounge. Its been here since 1946 and it is a room, some chairs a bar and a band plus about 100 people who are having fun. They are here to listen to the band and talk and drink and DANCE.
Sally and I entered by the back door and were warmly greeted by a man in a check shirt - you would have thought we were old friends, or cousins. The only problem was we couldn't hear him because the roof was being lifted by the band (no I do not know what they are called). We squeezed past some dancers and I found Sally a chair and we sat for a bit tapping to the great rhythms. 3 or 4 people came up to us and started talking as they passed us. One woman was from Lafayette, who had moved to north of New Orleans and then come back. She was the daughter of the the original co-owner of the bar (not Fred, the other one).

Tante (aunty) Sue came round,wearing a pink Fred's Lounge T-shirt and talked. Now she owned the place, but insisted on swigging what I think was whisky from a small hip flask sized bottle, and offering it to everyone else around, She confided in me that she was 79. I later learned that she sells the stuff, but every bottle you buy she opens and takes a swig from (no I don't know why, apart from the obvious, that she likes to drink). But she was most generous and welcoming. Tante Sue later came tound offering pieces of free boudin to everyone. What is a boudin? - well, it's a fat sausage served hot which tastes like a cross between haggis and spicy (chilli hot) sausage. Very different. A couple of girls then told me that they lived about an hour away and came there quite often. A total stranger came along and left her camera with Sally to look after and then started chatting away. I told her she need not worry as I pointed to to at least four other cameras that had been put on the table as other people had gone on to the dance floor.

When I eventually made it to the bar, a tall woman just said 'Irish', to no one in particular. After that I found out that she had three kids, an ex husband, came from Mamou, moved up to Lake Erie and had now moved back down and was I ready to move on to the next bar. Being polite, I said I thought that was a great idea and pointed out that Sally was waiting for her drink. She wished me well and sent her regards to Sally. Meanwhile the music just kept beating out. Conversations only happened between numbers. During numbers people talking looked a bit like vampires (bit of an allusion to Halloween I suppose), as you had to get right up to the ear of the person you were talking to,and repeat it twice to be heard above the band. The room was probably about 20x30 ft. The drummer played loudly, the band was amplified to match the drums. Oh it was loud, but above all the Cajun rhythm just drove through everything, you couldn't help but bounce along to it. I couldn't resist buying a couple of T-Shirts, with their message from the management written on the back 'Please do not stand on the tables, chairs, booths, cigarette machines and the jukebox.' By about 1.30 we had had enough and left by the same back door, saying goodbyes to the people we had met. Well, actually it was 'au revoir' and 'excuse moi s'il vous plais', because all these pleasantries were conducted in French.
As we left a trolley arrived and a large number of people fell off the bus, some in bizarre and gaudy outfits, carrying glasses. What was this - a party? a wedding? No, merely a Boudin Tour. Yes I know I can hear your ask. OK, they were really part of a Mardi Gras Krewe from Lafayette! They thought it was about time they got started celebrating Mardi Gras (yes, next April). So they had set off with their Xanadu King and Xanadu Queen and a large number of their Krewe, who are and all girl Krewe, in order to ........ well I' not quite sure what! Just have a party on a bus and Fred's Lounge was on their agenda. So they went in (after a lot of fun on the grass outside) as we came out.
After this we returned to the sanity of our trailer. We are now having a rest, because tonight it is Cajun Music Part 2 '. We are off to the Liberty Theatre in Eunice hopefully to go to a live radio broadcast. We Will tell you more later.


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Rain Dear

Wednesday, the weather took a turn for the worse this week, with showers, which dropped about 4 inches of rain in a couple of days. We have not ventured far, using the weather to enable us to build our energy reserves. However, in staying in the park we have been able to see a little more of the wild life. The deer seem to like to graze on the grass at the side of the park roads, so we are always seeing startled deer as we drive round the park.

Deep in the woods

Thursday - With Sally slowly improving, but not well enough to go out, we have been looking in more detail at the wild life around us.
So far it seems that there are a lot of amardillos, like this one.
I saw a small group of Cotton Tail deer from the car.
We had a visit from a couple of raccoons last night, they were busy investigating some petrol cans I had left out at the front of the trailer, we could hear them moving around in the dark.
Yesterday while we were having coffee our on our patio we were fortunate enough to see a Pileated Woodpecker close up. This is the largest woodpecker, apart from the very rare Ivory Billed Woodpecker, which is now only found in one part of Sout East Florida. It is also the one which modeled for the famous (amongst oldies) Woody Woodpecker. It has a very loud drum which really does sound like a pneumatic drill. It is between 12" and 15" long.

Chill Down

Wednesday, we are now well settled at Chicot State Park in Louisiana and it is very pleasant, it is 6500 acres of forest surrounding a huge lake.
The lake level is low at the moment, so lots of old cypress tree stumps are exposed. I took a walk down there this morning, dozens of large herons of all sorts, I heard an alligator belch somewhere, lots of mosquitos (but the good old 'Go Juice' took care of them).
I have a photo here of a large white heron, with an enormous, but dead, Cypress tree in the background, if you look very carefully there is a very large turtle sunning itself on a little saandbank. I have put in a close up of them.

It is very beautiful and very quiet and peaceful. One downside at the moment is that Sally is not feeling too well, so it is a good job we are taking a fairly long rest here.

Chicot State Park

Monday - We have moved 50 miles north to Ville Platte and the Chicot State Park. It is a large (270 sites) RV park on a lake, however the lake levels are very low at this time. We have a nice site in the middle of the forest and we can see one other site about 30 yards away. This site feels very secure, with State Park Rangers on the entrance to the park about a mile down the road, a camp host parked at the entrance to the RV site, locked gates at night (you get a combination number) and rangers patrolling. This site is costing us $20 p.n. (£14). So we have booked to stay a week as we think it is time for a holiday and this looks like a nice place for us to relax, do very little and recharge the batteries. (metaphorically)
This will give our mail a chance to catch up with us, which includes a part for the trailer and an extra cupboard (cabinet) door for our bedroom area. As our phone has blue tooth I have also bought some blue tooth stuff for the laptop, so that we can download pictures directly, and also be able to use the voice controls for our GPS. We will see if this all works or not.

Moving On - Lafayette

Sunday - Well we have had a good look at Baton Rouge and are ready to move on. We are going to travel about 50 miles along I10 to Lafayette. This is moving us closer to the centre of Cajun music. Unfortunately most campgrounds are more expensive here - from $35-45 (£24-30) per night, except for the local City Park which has a RV park in it. It is called Acadian City Park. However having arrived there, we are not happy with the area, which looks run down, or the state of the campground, which is run down and not clean (bottles, and trash lying around the campsites). Worst of all the security looks non existent with no locked gate at night or security staff, for the first time leaving us feeling quite unsafe. Admittedly it is only $13 p.n., but you expect to feel safe in a park at any price
We ventured out to a Golden Corral for an All You Can Eat buffet meal and decided that we would move up country to Chicot State Park, although 50 miles north it is actually closer to Mamou, which is claimed to be the birthplace and centre of Cajun music (we have yet to explore this theory, but we are on the case).
We will return to Lafayette for the Black Pot Festival this weekend and also to visit an accordian shop where they make accordians (or at least modify them to be used for Cajun Music) and you can tour their factory to find out more.

Rosedown Plantation

On Saturday we decided to leave the big city and drive north into the Louisiana countryside and visit Rosedown Plantation, near to the historic town of St Francisville, which was interesting in itself.

Rosedown was a plantation which was built for Martha Washington (grandaughter of George Washington) and her husband in 1835, it remained in her family intil 1950, then passed on to others who restored it and finally sold it to the State Parks who have maintained it ever since. We had a very pleasant guided tour through the house, which was as it was in 1835, most of teh furniture and the wall coverings were imported from the North or direct from Europe, Here Sally is standing beside a giant four poster bed.
We then were able to wander the grounds, where we ate our packed lunch.
It is a traditional antibellum (pre civil war) planation house. Its most stunning feature is the avenue of live oak trees and its gardens. We had a lovely day there.

Farr Park Campground

The Farr Park Equestrian Center and RV Campgound is a County Park, operated by the Baton Rouge East Parish. It is situated very conveniently for Downtown Baton Rouge. It is very quiet, you cannot make reservations. The facilities are basic, but servicable. Water pressure at this time was very low. No campfires allowed. NOTE: LSU home games are blackout days, as it is only a mile from the gound and all sites are pre reserved.
$20 per night.

Baton Rouge Day 2

"Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waiting for a train
And I's feeling nearly as faded as my jeans.
Bobby thumbed a diesel down just before it rained,
It rode us all the way to New Orleans."

How many times have I heard those romantic lyrics sung either by Kris Kristopherson or Janis Joplin? And here we are in that famous city.
Today we were going to get some music, we planned to be in Baton Rouge for the 'Live After Five' concert behind the Old Capitol building.
So we had a lazy morning and drove into Baton Rouge for lunch, parked and had Crawfish Etouffe in Lloyds, a Po Boy Seafood restaurant (though cafe was probably a more apt description. "Etouffe?" I hear you say. This is the third dish that is famous in Cajun Culture. As per usual the dish is served over rice. It is a roux sauce (oil and flour and milk) with all cajuny bits added. In this case it was their secret spices and Crawfish Tails, (small freshwater lobster). It was very nice.
We then toured the Old Capitol building which was built in 1835, only to be burned out by the Union army due to a cooking accident! The rebuilt in 1880. It has a beautiful cast iron spiral staircase right in the middle of the entrance hall. Apart from that not a lot really. So after that we went for a nice cup of coffee (tea for Sally) and unleashed ourselves into the concert. Curtis Coubello and the Insta-gators. Three guitars, fiddle (sometimes accordion) and drums playing coutry, zydeco and swamp-pop. It was great fun, as we joined about 3000 other people in the small arena area. We talked to loads of people and the music was excellent.
Came home about 7.30 having had a great day.

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Huey P Long

One of the most fascinating politicians I have never met. He was the Governor from 1928 to 1932, He was supposedly a very corrupt Governor, with many stories attached to his term in office. He was a very powerful man, who eventually was looking to run for President against Herbert Hoover.
He became very popular in Louisiana because he ordered the building of thousands of miles of roads, built the first bridges across the lower part of the Mississippi (named surprisingly the Huey P Long Bridge, we wrote about how scary this bridge is to cross when we came to New Orleans last year). He also opposed the power of Standard Oil (LA is very rich in oil) and removed the Poll Tax, yes you had to pay a poll tax if you wanted to vote, surprisingly few poor people voted in the state elections, white or black.
He was very unpopular amongst other politicians and Standard Oil, because he removed power from them and gave it to himself as well as enfranchising many poor people. He also sacked many hundreds of public officials and replaced them with his family, friends and people who had supported him in his campaign.
Arguably his biggest enemy was the President himself, as he had eyes on that office. He was appointed to the Senate (national) in 1930, but did not take up the post until he finished his governorship in 1932. He made many deals with people in Washington, pushing his doctrine that there should be wealth and work for all (remember this was at the height of the depression and the official line was to make drastic budget cuts), so powerful did he become in Washington that Franklin D Roosevelt was forced to create his 'Fair Deal' programme of public works and job creation, which was intended to cut the ground from under Long's feet, yet only succeeded in increasing his popularity.
In 1935 he was assassinated in a crowded corridor of the Capitol Building in 1935, supposedly by a Doctor Weiss. who was the son-in-law of a judge who had been removed by Long. Dr Weiss was shot dead at the scene by Long's security men, there were 61 bullets holes in him, they made sure that he was dead. Long died two days later. Weis's gun was not recovered at the scene, because he was not carrying a gun and it was found in his car! There was no Autopsy. Later (years later) forensic evidence showed that the gun was not the weapon that was used to assassinate Huey P Long. He was actually killed/murdered by his own security staff, for reasons unknown (though check on the enemies he had made). So Huey P Long was assassinated by his own men in his own building, before he could declare himself as a presidential candidate.
Many people think that had he lived he would have won the election in 1940 and been president during the war. Oh by the way his foreign policy was that he was an Isolationist - America should not involve itself with any foreigners.
There were some very interesting politics in those days. I urge you to read more abut him and his family on Wikipaedia and his official Bio page. The award winning book 'All The Kings Men' is a thinly disguised biography of him.

Baton Rouge! - The Red Stick!

No I do not know why they named the place 'Red Stick', but I am working on it.
On Friday morning we made a packed lunch and set off along the bank of the Mississippi going into Baton Rouge.
Our normal routine for a new place is to:
1 find the Tourist Information
2 Find out about parking regulations.
Well we couldn't find the TI, so we stopped outside City Hall to find out about parking regs. The information desk was deserted, but a Shoe Shine Boy was happy to tell me that Sally's blue badge would be OK to use in Baton Rouge. He also told me where the TI Office was, so we were able then to get ourselves organised.
Baton Rouge is the Capital of Louisiana, so it has the Capitol Building as well, which houses the two houses of representatives and the Senate for the State. Often they are styled on the Washington Capitol building, with a big dome. Not Baton Rouge. It has the Old Capitol Building, which is square and looks like a castle and the New Capitol Building, which is a skyscraper. The story of this skyscraper is intermingled with its most famous Governor, one Huey P Long. He was the Governor from 1928 to 1932, He was supposedly a very corrupt Governor, with many stories attached to his term in office.
Anyway, back to the Capitol Building. The building was built, surprise, surprise, by Huey P Long (no not personally) and completed in 1934. Closely modelled on the Chrysler and the Empire State Building, it is a tower 30 floors high and was finished in 14 months! We rode the elevator to the top where you get a stupendous view of - well swamp, from every direction the land is flat and swampy, but that's what Louisiana is. It is still far and a way the tallest building in Baton Rouge and dominates the skyline. So Huey P Long was assassinated by his own men in his own building, just before he could declare himself as a presidential candidate. There were some very interesting politics in those days.
After visiting the Capitol we went to the Louisiana State Museum which gave us a good idea of the history and importance of Louisiana. In particular we learned about the Louisiana Purchase, in Dec 1803 the fledgling US bought 600 million acres of land to the west of the Mississippi for $15 000 000 from the French, only months after Spain had given it to France after Napoleon had given the assurance that it would never leave French hands. There appears to have been a fair amount of skullduggery attached to this land acquisition. This doubled the territory owned by U.S. and gave it control of the whole of the Mississippi Basin.
Anyway enough history. Our poor brains were sizzling. We drove home (back to the trailer) and made a lovely meal of burger for Sally, while I had the other half of the pork chops with red beans and rice that I had brought back form Sammy's last night.

Moving On

It's Thursday morning and we are now camped just outside Baton Rouge, in the LSU football RV Park (well its the one everybody uses for the LSU Games). It is very quiet and I am writing this as the sun comes up. But what of Tuesday and Wednesday? Well Tuesday we had a quiet day. We got up to the news that our friend Paula had passed away that morning. Paula was the first of our Soggy Bottom Bunch of Friends, when she had introduced herself to us on the day before Thanksgiving 2007. She was a happy vibrant person who bounded from one activity to the next. She had made us feel very welcome at Soggy Bottom. Sadly she had contracted cancer which had finally taken its toll. This news was followed by Jim and Kathy saying fond farewells as they left us in order to return for their Bike Fest in Destin. We had had a great time with them and they had been very patient with us and our English ways. That evening we heard that they had arrived safely in Fort Pickens, near Pensacola. After the departure of our last link with Florida we used the free laundry facilities to do some washing, then went out briefly to get some cards from a Walgreens. Note: Walgreens is what I call a 'Formula' shop, as every one is almost exactly the same. First, they are built on a corner - they are a pharmacy, but they also sell bits of all sorts of things like a small Woolworths. They are often the first shop to appear in new estates, they are often quite competitively priced and along with their identical competitors, CVS - there are thousands of them.
We ate one of Connie's spaghetti sauces with, surprise, surprise, spaghetti as Sally had managed to get some Sally Legal non wheat spaghetti.
Wednesday, we got up and had something special - Sally made American pancakes, using her, now perfected, diet legal recipe of rice flour and Gram flour. The occasion for celebration? Why our wedding anniversary! - number 37, we think. Well I still love you Sally!!!
We then broke camp and moved on to Baton Rouge, with enough time to watch the sun go down on the Mississippi River and then go out for a romantic dinner for two at 'Sammy's Sports Bar and Fish Restaurant'. We had a great meal there -Sally had sauteed jumbo shrimp and I had Gumbo ( a soup - see From Blue Mountains to Blue Sea, October 2009, Jackson MS), which was completely different to my previous Gumbo, but still delicious, followed by Red beans on rice and pork chops (of which I boxed one,as I was too full). We rounded the night off with a Cold Stone Ice cream, as they have a Raspberry Sorbet, which is Sally Legal. I was forced into buying a coffee ice cream with brownie, pecan, chocolate and caramel blended into it. Again I brought half of it home to eat later.
I have no idea what we will do for the rest of today, but I think that the delights of Baton Rouge are calling.

The Trolley Song

Monday. It is a little know fact that New Orleans has electric trolleys (trams), Even less well known is that it is the oldest continuously operated trolley system in the world (1823). So today (Monday) is our chance to ride the trolley.
We had intended to return to the Audobon District to wander through the park, and perhaps go to the zoo. However as we passed the trolley terminus at the Leonidas district Jim suggested we ride the trolley. Seemed like a good idea, so we parked the van and jumped aboard a waiting trolley. The Trolley we are on is known as the St Charles Trolley as it travels down S Carrollton and then swings east and travels through the Loyola Univ., Audubon, Uptown, Touro and Garden Districts, past the Lee Circle and terminates at Canal St. These areas were built in Victorian times and have lots of grand houses fronting on to St Charles Ave, which is a wide boulevard lined with massive live oaks. The trolleys travel on an Up and Down line in the central reservation (US = Median)., so you can get a good view of all the houses we pass. As well as the Audubon Park and the Loyola University. Having taken the first part of the route, we jumped out at the start of St Charles Ave and bought ourselves a Stone Cold Ice Cream each. Stone Cold ice cream is a delicious ice cream, you choose the flavour and then choose what goes in to it, they then take your ingredients and blend them together with the ice cream. So I had Coffee with caramel and heath (dime , now Diem, bars) crushed in it. Sally found a dairy and wheat free Raspberry sorbet, which was very good. Jim had straight banana ice cream (no the bananas were not straight, the ice cream had nothing else in it) and Kathy had a green one, which could have been either mint of pistachio. Having had a break we hopped back on to another trolley and trolleyed right along St Charles Ave. We passed some wonderful big colonial houses, as well as some newer Art Deco houses. Many houses were decorated for Halloween. We had planned to go all the way to Canal St, but there were repairs being made to the track so we had to change from trolley to bus and it seemed to be a better idea just to get the trolley back, which is what we did. After this we were getting ready to eat, so instead of coming back to the trailer and cooking shrimp BBQ we went to a seafood restaurant called Bordreux's and has a seafood dinner, Sally had the dish of the day - rice and red beans with catfish, I had jumbo shrimp stuffed with crab. Both of them were delicious. After returning to the trailer we sat and watched Jim and Kath's home football (NFL) team the Jacksonville Jaguars lose badly to the Tennessee Titans. A great day.

Sunday in New Orleans

Sunday was another wonderful day weather wise - clear blue skies and constant sunshine. We drove across the Mississippi by another bridge and travelled along the north bank to get into downtown New Orleans. This lead us through a very nice district, obviously old, with huge, beautiful houses lining the streets. I thought they were real Pollyanna style houses - wooden slatted with huge porches and massive front doors - some had wonderful stained glass windows. They were very grand and, I imagine, you would need a fortune to buy and maintain one. They were next to a college- apparently a very old and distinguished college- which was housed in some magnificent buildings and opposite to a beautiful park. Eventually, we arrived in Lafitte Square in downtown New Orleans where there was a Blues Festival in progress. Thank goodness for my Blue Badge which enabled us to park in a handicapped space as there was nowhere else to park nearby. The square was shaded by very old and magnificent live oak trees which provided much needed shade - the temperatures being in the 80'sF (30C). There were two stages giving a platform for some very loud, but good blues bands. People were either sitting on their lawn chairs or wandering round looking at the many craft stalls displaying everything from photographs, jewellery, paintings to musical instrument's. Down one side of the square were the stalls selling food - creole, Mexican, burgers, BBQ, etc. We ate our lunch there listening to the music and just enjoying the atmosphere of local New Orleans enjoying their Sunday outing. After a couple of hours, we moved onto the French Market which is located on the river bank near the French Quarter. This market is on 7 days a week and is worth wandering through. They sell lots of touristy things - T shirts, masks, voodoo paraphernalia etc. as well as food and drink - but at a price!!! It really caters for the tourist but it was still worth a visit. We had a drink at a street cafe while listening to a live band - they were good! Kathy bought a hat - like a man's trilby but she looks good in it.
On our way home, we stopped at the fish market again and bought shrimp for our tea. Terry had a lesson in how to prepare fresh shrimp for cooking and then was initiated, by Kathy, into the secrets of making Shrimp In Brown Gravy Over Rice. It was delicious and the huge pot that was prepared disappeared in a trice!!! Thank you, Kathy and Jim for a new recipe added to the Phillippe menu! Tonight we are going to BBQ jumbo shrimp and cook them on the grill. Kathy and Jim leave us tomorrow and travel back to Destin, FL to attend a bikers meet. Jim rides a beautiful Harley Davison and they often go to bikers meets and meet up with fellow Harley Davison enthusiasts. We have very much enjoyed our time with Kathy and Jim - thank you for putting up with us!!

Busy Day In New Orleans - Part Two

On Saturday we had ventured out in the morning to the Westwego Jambalaya Cook Off, which was great fun. After returning to the trailer for a siesta, we were all ready to taste the delights of The French Quarter of New Orleans. So we loaded up and drove into New Orleans, parked the Van and walked in to the French Quarter by about 4.00. We first walked up Canal Street then along Royal, because that is where there are plenty of street performers in the afternoon. The first thing we saw was a New Orleans Wedding Procession, complete with a Boss Man and a Band, the bride and groom, policeman on a motor cycle and all the guests walking the street, it was very colourful.

We wandered up the street and listened to the street performers, who were mostly very good - one couple used a resonating mandolin! and electric gourd, an 'mbiri', or thumb gourd, with a pickup mounted on it.

Another good group was a classical violinist with a blues guitarist.

After Royal St we turned down to Jackson Sq and did a bit of people watching, the tarot cared readers and another posh wedding, with a full size harpist (no you fool the harp) playing against a background of passers by. There was also a particularly striking Street Statue entertainer. Well, having got so close we could not pass by without beignets in the Cafe Du Monde.

As evening approached, we watched some street dancers doing their stuff, very impressive. Buy now it was dark as we made our way back up the French Quarter to Bourbon St, which was now fully alive with people and street entertainers including a pirate, a man performing as a baby in a cut away car seat (I should have taken a picture, but it looked kind of gross), clowns, nearly naked ladies and a particularly good Michael Jackson/robotdancer.
Up above there were people on the balconies looking down at us looking up. It was all very pleasant. After walking Bourbon St, we walked back to the car and came home pretty well exhausted after what we thought was a pretty good taste of New Orleans.

Busy Day in New Orleans - Part One

Today is Saturday and we are planning to be out and about today. Our first stop is the Westwego Jambalaya Cook Off Festival,then later we will adventure out after dark into French Quarter of New Orleans
Westwego is the town which is at the entrance to the Bayou Segnette State Park we are staying in. It is a sleepy suburban town on the other bank of the Mississippi, i.e not in New Orleans.
When we arrive we had seen the advert for the Cookoff today, but knew little about it. So bright and early we set off to find it. We found it. Following Katrina, Westwego built the equivalent of a town meeting place. It is a small outdoor arena (100yards x 50), grassed and paved, with a stage at one end. Round the edges are what look like decorated garages, with no front or back. There are toilets and small rooms as well. Here they can hold concerts, meetings, family events and COOK OFF'S, which is what we are going to.
A Cook Off comes in a variety of forms. I have seen Chile Cook Off's, BBQ Cook Offs and Chicken Cook Offs, but you could have one for any dish you like. It is a team event, so you have 2 -4 people per team who enter to make a large quantity of a dish. People come in and taste each team's offering and then judge which is the best. It is usually meant as a money raiser for local charities and often the Fire Department feature prominently. I am assuming that the teams pay for the Jambalaya ingredients themselves, as their part of the money raising.
Well this cook off was a Jambalaya Cookoff, so each team was making a huge pot of Jambalaya, using a special, huge pot. The teams area from all sorts of places, perhaps one family, a business, the local Fire Squad, or a church. They just kept making it all day.
For this cook off each team is assigned one of the areas round the edge of the arena. We paid $10 entry to the event. That meant that we could then go to every table and eat as much as we wanted to. The Cook off opened at 11.00 and went on until 10.00 at night. As well as the Jambalaya there was food and drink available (you paid for that), music on the stage, fire trucks to look at and lots of people to watch. Everyone brings their lawn chair, finds a favourite place and sets up, then wanders round tasting each Jambalaya being offered, talking with the teams, trying to find out their secret ingredients and generally having a great day out with the family. Frankly, I do not know of any parallel in England, except maybe a local Horticultural show (where you get to eat the competition entries).
Well we had a great time, eating and drinking and talking in the warm sun, with clear blue skies overhead.
As for the Jambalaya, well. Jambalaya is a rice dish - basic ingredients pork, sausage and rice, but individual recipes vary, garlic, secret seasoning, chile, tomato, mushroom, onion, chicken, dozens of local sausage - we are not talking Walls Pork here, there are dozens of locally made sausage,from pepperoni style to gator tail sausage. Even when a standard sausage, such as pepperoni is used, there may be a dozen different pepperoni sausage styles. Westwego is known for its seafood (shrimp), but almost everyone makes their own sausage.
Consequently no two Jambalaya taste the same, so of course the best one is down to personal taste and how nice the makers are. Oh yes it is great fun and a cheap way to get dinner. Well, we had a good old mooch around the festival at Westwego, doing lots of eating, listening to the bands, and people watching, but after a couple of hours we thought it time to move on into New Orleans to see the sights there.

Westwego

Because of the trouble on Wednesday, on Thursday we made a big push to get to New Orleans, over 250 miles! we pulled into The Bayou Segnette State Park by about 4.00, it is situated just by the little township of Westwego, which is to the Southwest of New Orleans, on the East Bank of the Mississippi. It has well spaced sites, good basic facilities and is quiet during the week, but book for a weekend. Also has free laundry. Boat ramp nearby, also water park in the state park with wave machine. $20 per night. Westwego is squeezed onto a strip of land about one mile wide between the Mississippi to the north and Bayous (swampland) to the south.

It is not a well to do sort of a place. However it does have a small fishing fleet and a fish market. Friday was a rest day, but in the afternoon we took a short trip to see the fish market. Fortunately, our friends, Jimmy and Kathy, who are travelling with us, are experts on all things to do with fish. Jimmy actually worked on a shrimp boat and both he and Kathy did a lot of big game fishing when they were younger - I mean serious competition stuff, they had their own team, big boat everything. (their policy was strictly catch and return).

So we wandered round the little circle of huts which made up the Fish market, stopping to cast an expert eye over the fish for sale. This was mostly shrimp and crab. The shrimp are huge (about 3-4 inches long), the crabs are blue and small (3-4 inches long). Jimmy and Kathy were excited by the prices, as we were able to buy shrimp for $2.75 per pound, which is about 1/3 the price they are in Florida.

While we were in the fish market, we stopped at a little cafe and had what they called 'Shrimp plate' which was just fresh deep fried small shrimp in seasoning and French Fries. Simple but delicious. The cafe was full of all sorts of fishy type foods and seasonings, I have never seen so many different types of seasoning. After our meal we returned to the fresh shrimp stall and Jimmy collected a bag of fresh shrimp to take home.
When we returned to the trailer Jimmy showed me how to prepare the shrimp, by removing the heads and freezing them in water, in freezer bags, ready to take back home to Florida. Then how to de-vein them, to make sure they have no grit in them. We plan to buy more shrimp tomorrow and then we will be instructed on how to cook shrimp on a BBQ. There did not seem to be so many mosquito's tonight.

Better Days

After our setbacks of yesterday we set out bright and early today to see if we could make up the lost miles and make it to New Orleans (please pronounce this 'Norlens'). We sped along the I10 with Jim and Kathy, with a short stop for fuel and a longer stop for lunch at a Kangaroo Express Truck Stop.
As we approached New Orleans we crossed Lake Ponchartrain on a bridge abut 5 miles long. It was here that the road started to deteriorate. So we slowed down. The problem is the concrete slabs they use to build the road. Often one end would sink slightly (perhaps only half an inch), so every 20ft or so we would be going over a bump, unfortunately once the car has gone across then the trailer wheels cross it and give us another bump. This causes a pitching motion which is quite uncomfortable. What is worse is that everynow and then the speed/bump ratio produces a harmonic motion effect, so the bumps get bigger and bigger, then it is not only uncomfortable, it becomes worrying and downright dangerous, so we have to slow down to 50 m.p.h. One little set of bumps actually made the car leave the road and bounce three times before we could get it the pitching to stop, so we slowed down to 45 m.p.h. Eventually we drove into New Orleans, the road is very busy. It is elevated so we could see first of all the, now green, housing areas where Katrina had devastated homes, but they were only cleared, not replaced. Then new housing, where old homes have been replaced.
Then as we approached the heart of New Orleans we looked down on The French Quarter. However, here the road system gets complicated. To cross the Mississippi three major roads merge into one, plus access from the local French Quarter and Business district We made sure we took the correct exit, which was on the left (fast lane). Jim and Kathy had traffic forcing between us, so dropped back, this made walkie-talkie communication difficult, just when we needed it most, because as we are towing a trailer we could not actually see them, unless going round a bend. We swung round the Superdome and filtered into all the traffic merging to cross the huge bridge across the Mississippi (two bridges really, as there is one for each direction). We were now travelling East, rather than West, as we came off the bridge we had to select the correct exit to take us on to Westwego and our campsite, as the road kept splitting into various roads to take traffic away from the Bridge area. We managed without making a mistake, but it was quite hectic.
Within a few minutes we were turning into the peace and tranquility of the Bayou Segnette State Park and setting up on our campsites. We had a really nice relaxing meal, Jimmy cooked great pork chops. Halfway through the mosquitos descended, llike a cloud and we had no option but to pick everything up and run for the RV and finish our supper indoors.
Still we had sfaely made it to Norlens.

Better Days

After our setbacks of Wednesday we set out bright and early today (Thursday) to see if we could make up the lost miles and make it to New Orleans (please pronounce this 'Norlens'). We sped along the I10 with Jim and Kathy, with a short stop for fuel and a longer stop for lunch at a Kangaroo Express Truck Stop.
As we approached New Orleans, we crossed Lake Ponchartrain on a bridge abut 5 miles long. It was here that the road started to deteriorate. So we slowed down. The problem is the concrete slabs they use to build the road. Often one end would sink slightly (perhaps only half an inch), so every 20ft or so we would be going over a bump. Unfortunately once the car has gone across then the trailer wheels cross it and give us another bump. This causes a pitching motion which is quite uncomfortable. What is worse is that every now and then the speed/bump ratio produces a harmonic motion effect, so the bumps get bigger and bigger. Then it is not only uncomfortable, it becomes worrying and downright dangerous, so we have to slow down to 50 m.p.h. One little set of bumps actually made the car leave the road and bounce three times before we could get it the pitching to stop, so we slowed down to 45 m.p.h. Eventually we drove into New Orleans. The road is very busy. It is elevated so we could see first of all the now green, housing areas where Katrina had devastated homes, but they were only cleared, not replaced. Then new housing, where old homes have been replaced.
Then as we approached the heart of New Orleans we looked down on The French Quarter. However, here the road system gets complicated. To cross the Mississippi two major roads merge into one, plus access from the local French Quarter and Business district We made sure we took the correct exit, which was on the left (fast lane). Jim and Kathy had traffic forcing between us, so dropped back. This made walkie-talkie communication difficult, just when we needed it most, because as we are towing a trailer we could not actually see them, unless going round a bend. We swung round the Superdome and filtered into all the traffic merging to cross the huge bridge across the Mississippi (two bridges really, as there is one for each direction). We were now travelling East, rather than West. As we came off the bridge we had to select the correct exit to take us on to Westwego and our campsite, as the road kept splitting into various roads to take traffic away from the Bridge area. We managed without making a mistake, but it was quite hectic. Have a look at the road system on google maps, (We came in on 10, from the North East, crossed the river and went out on 90).
Within a few minutes we were turning into the peace and tranquility of the Bayou Segnette State Park and setting up on our campsites. We had a really nice relaxing meal - Jimmy cooked great pork chops. Halfway through, the mosquitos descended like a cloud and we had no option but to pick everything up and run for the RV and finish our supper indoors.
Still, we had safely made it to Norlens.

Trouble on the road!

Today is Wednesday and we did not make the progress we wanted to today. In fact I am writing this from BlackWater River State Park, only about 70 miles from Falling Waters.
We got away fairly early, but had to stop at Walmart for supplies, that took an hour.
Just as we were about to stop at a rest area for lunch we had a blow out on one of the trailer tyres. Fortunately I was able to stop without any damage to the trailer, however the tyre was a write off. We limped into the rest area and changed the tyre, but after lunch felt we had to buy a new tyre to replace the blow ou. We drove to the next Wal-mart, which was only 3 miles down the road. They took more than three hours to change two tyres (one of the others was badly worn as well), so we did not leave there until 5.45. Too late to go much further we stopped at the newly refurbished Black Water River State Park. Cath had cooked chicken and rice and we relaxed round the camp fire. We are getting to bed early, hopefully we can get a good start and make it to New Orleans tomorrow.
BlackWater River State Park has been recently refurbished with large, wide sites and full facilities. Near to River play area: tubing etc. Quite busy, book for weekends. $20p.n.

Our link with Florida Continues

Jim and Cathy had invited us to call in for a couple of days on our way to New Orleans. They have a house in a forest by the Santa Fe River. It is a beautifully decorated double wide home set in a couple of acres of woodland. They have several porches you can sit out on. It is a really peaceful place. Just when we thought that we would be leaving our friends in Florida behind, Jim and Cathy (who we were staying with) announced that they would like to come with us to New Orleans!
This was great, they are going to travel with us for about a week before going back to Florida for a HOG Bikers Meeting (Harley Owners Group) next Wednesday, so we had a quick turnaround at Jim and Cath's on Monday to do the washing and left in convoy for New Orleans on Tuesday. We made great progress on Tuesday and stopped overnight at Falling Waters State Park near Marianne in Florida. Here is a quick pic of our campsite while we are gettig ready to eat.We sat round the campfire as the sun went down. When we lokked up the setting sun made the tress glow red, as though they were on fire.


Falling Waters State Park is a small park with fairly naoorw roadways, sites cna be small. It is not busy, but book for weekends. 2/3 facilities on site. $20 p.n.

Mammoth Shopping trip to Bealls Outlet stores.

On Monday, after Connie and Jim’s bluegrass and party weekend, (which was a week ago, but I have had no time to write before now) we all went for breakfast at the local diner. It was decided that the girls – Connie, Cathy, Jan and I, would go to shop at Bealls Outlet Store as it was senior day – over 60’s get 15% discount off already really low prices. These outlet shops sell great clothes – some designer gear and some just ordinary makes, household goods and nick-nacks.

Connie drove us to the store in Belleview and we had a great time rummaging for bargains. Connie and Jan decided to buy blouses for their band, The Crooked Halos, to wear when performing so the quest was on to find identical tops in various sizes. We then moved onto the bigger and better store in The Villages – a huge retirement complex covering many acres of land. This store had a great selection and Connie had a huge trolley (cart) full of the most lovely tops. As she was paying, the system decided to shut down and she was left praying that things would get sorted out. We were all creased with laughing as the shop girl had to phone headquarters to get everything sorted out and a huge queue (line) formed behind her. Eventually she was able to pay for the things and we then moved onto store number three as Connie still had not got tops in the right sizes. There was very little choice at the next store but another top or two as added to the bags. After this we were hungry so we went to a drive in Sonic burger joint. I find these places a scream, as you drive up in your car, wind the window down and have a conversation with the servers through a microphone. ‘Hi. Welcome to your tasty, finger lickin’ good food joint – Sonic Burgers. And how may I help you this bright and beautiful day?’ You place your order and then the food is brought to you by a cracking looking young girl ON ROLLER SKATES– usually a student trying to earn some dough. We had French fries and drinks and then set off for store number four as Connie still did not have the right number of tops in the right sizes. Store number four provided me with some shoes I have been looking for ages and I was delighted to find they were in the sale (clearance) and, combined with my 15% discount, meant I only paid $5.38 – less than 5 pounds. (This keyboard is American and does not have the pounds sign!!!!!!) Bargain!!

Connie and Jan still did not have all the tops they needed so they decided to go onto store number 5 which is a brand new store. Cathy and I were really tired by this time, so we were taken back to Connie’s where we rested. That evening, Connie and Jan sorted out all the tops. They had bought 5 sets of tops for 6 ladies – all different sizes. They are beautiful and I’m sure they will look good in them – they will have to make sure they wear the same set together and not get muddled up!!!!

I managed to buy 3 pairs of Capri trousers – lightweight, two tops and a jacket to take home to England and my bargain shoes. A good shop was had by all and we had a fun time girly outing with much hilarity and good humour.

Sally

Soggy Bottom Weekend

We travelled down to Soggy Bottom, other wise known as The Sertoma Youth Ranch, on Wednesday. This followed a bit of a scare with the van.
On the Tuesday I went to start it and found it would do nothing! So we checked the battery, took the battery out, took it to Walmart to see if it was no longer servicable,but it was OK. Tried to jump start it, finally left it charging overnight. Next morning, no joy, changed the battery. Finally Jim tried to start it, wiggled the Auto shift stick and away it went, we were relieved!
Because of various difficulties we have done a lot of eating out, on Wednesday we ate at Remmingtons' Wesley Chapel, as this is the favourite eating place of Brenda's (who's birthday it was), however Brenda was not with us, still we had a great meal. Thursday a number of other people showed up-, some people we had not seen for more than a year. So we had a great time sharing gossip and jamming together under Connie's awning. Friday,we out to Remington's again, this time we took Brenda (because it was her birthday and it was her favourite place to eat). Saturday we relaxed and talked with more friends. In the afternoon there was the Soggy Bottom Auction, which was fun.
Last night we had a big jam session at Connie's When Sally retired to bed I had a bit of a wander around the campground and played with a couple of other people. It was another great night at Soggy Bottom.
This morning we will meet together inthe pavillion to share a Gospel Hour before breaking camp to leave Soggy Bottom behind.
We are moving on with Jim and Cathy Mobley to their house near Fort White in the north of Florida, hopefully to have a bit of a relax before moving west to the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. This will give us the chance to provide a first hand report about this summers oil spill in the Gulf

Connie's Fall Party

It’s been along time since I last wrote on the blog, but then lots seem to have happened.

First, we are still at Connie and Jim’s. When we arrived last week Connie told us that she had invited all our old friends up for a party on Sunday for both us and for Brenda, her sister, as it was her birthday. This turned out to be a whole load of us camped in their field and having a great weekend. We had already been there for several days, getting our trailer cleaned out, so we waited excitedly for friends to arrive. First came Larry and Jan, in their big blue bus, then Jim and Kathy, our friends from White Lake. Soon after Christina and Geoff arrived in their brand new Hyundai. Later on, Marilee arrived in her old Chevy Jamboree, closely followed by Ed with his 1985 Ford, with a camper on the back. Last of all Lois arrived with her daughter Liz, as she had picked her up from Orlando Airport. So went to The Oakwood at Lady Lake for supper and then we jammed together on Friday night.

Saturday started with breakfast together, PANCAKES! Then we all went to a big Flea Market at Marion. You could get all sorts there, but I managed to buy a nice socket set. Saturday night we all went to Oxford to a local bluegrass and country get together. Some of the girls got together and reformed The Crooked Halo’s for another performance. That is Brenda, Jan, Marilee, Judy and Connie. They sounded really good. They were then asked to perform at a‘Pickin Parlour’ over towards Sanford next month, so the starlets are on their way to fame, well done!

Saturday night we all sat round the kitchen table and had a great time together just relaxing in each others company, telling stories and jokes, eating supper and really enjoying our time together.

Sunday we started with a gospel jam at about 10.30 and went through to 5.00, with a break for lunch. Some people had to leave, some of us collapsed and watched the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Indianapolis Colts in one of the most thrilling finishes to a football game. Others just went to bed exhausted.

Monday, more people were supposed to be going home, but Connie mentioned ‘Bealls – 15% off Senior Citizens Day’, so we went to Mary’s Grill for breakfast and the girls piled into one car and the boys into another. The girls set off for Bealls and we returned for a really quiet day back at the house. Sally may tell you about her record breaking day shopping.

Tonight there were eight of us left and we went to the Olive Garden for supper, the company was great, the food was good too.

A WOW of a weekend