the Good, Bad & Ugly!

The Good, Bad and the Ugly- Louisiana
Having just arrived in Sulphur, Louisiana, after finally getting out of Texas.
Some wonderful Kerrville friends Don & Frieda (Fork in the Road camp) live here, he is a retired meteorologist, she native German, they are the salt of the earth and both excellent cooks. When Hurricane Rita paided a visit, they secured their house, weighed down the boat, tighten up everything and decided to ride the storm out. They survived the 110-180 mph winds, the sound must have been terrifying. A tree split their home in two, and also destroyed other trees, and they both survived. They were asked to evacuate, they choose to stay, free will, after the storm they went about cleaning up, folks that had left could not get back to their homes four three weeks. They were able to stop the mildew from evading their home, and take care of displayed animals, they say no one died in Rita, yet there were dead, the elderly mostly, unable to deal with the stress, animals dyed, and the long term effects will go on for years. FEMA would not help Don & Frieda. Bad. I was only able to make this a short stay, and Don wanted to make Gumbo. I had to go, to much time in Texas, now pressing to get to North Carolina for a family reunion!
Bad me for not having time for Gumbo.
Louisiana is able diversity of its people, the land, food, music and the arts. Driving to Lafayette to see my son Abraham on Father’s day down LA 90 E, Pass Lake Charles, on Sunday morning, it’s Cajun music on the public radio station and French speakers talking about their music, in Mamou starting at 9:30am to 1:30pm it’s live music. On a nice flat, straight road, going though a number of small towns, there were blue tarps on roofs, quite a few, and debris, sometimes stacked, sometimes still clinging to a building.
Ugly.
In Rayne, Jacques Weil and his brothers Edmond and Gontron in 1901 came from Paris to start a business selling frog legs across the country, they sold as most as 10,000 pounds a week.
They say there are fours seasons here, its Crab, (summer), Shrimp (fall), Oyster (winter), Crayfish (spring). Good.
Lafayette, I am humbled and bewildered by their traffic planning, it’s too late to fix it, do your research and don’t ask the locals about directions, they are equally confused. Bad

The Louisiana Folk Roots present The Roots Heritage Festival every April with classes, music, dance lessons and the line-up for main performers looked like a good fun time. Their website is www.lafolkroots.org
Good!
One of my highlights was goin’ to the swamp with my son. A native Cajun Bryan Champagne, is our guide for a tour, he grew up fishing the swamps. He is an excellent guide, we were out for over 2 hours, he takes us to hidden pathways, at least to me, we see all types all birds: egrets, ducks, ibis, woodpeckers, cormorants, two types of night heron and a rosette spoonbill, a beautiful rosy color, and the bill. There were gators and turtles, apparently the yellow bellied ones (turtles) are the best eaten, folks down here eat what ever they catch. In October it’s Gator on a Stick.
We went through a grove of Cypress Trees that were 500 years old. Weaving in the trees, bumping them, and getting stuck in the little boat, the guide has to push us out if something breaks. I am not getting out of this boat with critters bigger then me in the water.

There are restricted areas for nesting birds, and on the other hand they do spray 2-4-D on the swamp to control vegetation, our guide said there are less fish now, then years prior, go figure. Check out a guided Eco tour into the Atchafalaya Basin Swamp.
Louisiana has a bounty of life, folks know their surroundings, and they need our respect and support to rebuild their state. Let’s not forget one on the truly special places in our country.
Catfish, Jambalaya, Etouffee, Crawfish, Shrimp, Frog Legs, Gumbo, Po boys, anything that jumps, moves, that can be caught, is boiled, fry, or cooked for days, it’s all good!
Their BBQ is a spicy voloute, whole shrimp with the shell on top of baguette with stuffing, this gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. Good!
Iberia Island, home of Tabasco, was great to see, a solid recipe done well, the same since 1868.


We also went to St. Martin Parish to view the church and grounds, Longfellow's poem about Evangeline and the stories of the exiled Arcadian settlers who arrived in 1765 and found this mysterious, untamed land along the banks of Bayou Teche.
An Excerpt from Longfellow’s EvangelineThus ere another noon they emerged from the shades; and before them
Lay, in the golden sun, the lakes of the Atchafalaya.
Water-lilies in myriads rocked on the slight undulations
Made by the passing oars, and, resplendent in beauty, the lotus
Lifted her golden crown above the heads of the boatmen.
Faint was the air with the odorous breath of magnolia blossoms,
And with the heat of noon; and numberless sylvan islands,
Fragrant and thickly embowered with blossoming hedges of roses,
Near to whose shores they glided along, invited to slumber.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
On the banks of the Têche, are the towns of St. Maur and St. Martin.
There the long-wandering bride shall be given again to her bridegroom,
There the long-absent pastor regain his flock and his sheepfold.
Beautiful is the land, with its prairies and forests of fruit trees;
Under the feet a garden of flowers, and the bluest of heavens
Bending above, and resting its dome on the walls of the forest.
They who dwell there have named it the Eden of Louisiana!


Sources: Brasseaux, In Search of Evangeline; Dormon, Truth about the Cajuns; Rickels, "Folklore of the Acadians."
Time to Leave, my son is going to a concert, I was invited, a graciously declined.
On the road at 5pm, out to Interstate 10, no blue highways over this baby.
Across the waterways, the Bayou, the Mississippi River, sources of life, to Baton Rouge then to take Hwy 61 north into Mississippi and the Blues.Into Natchez, Mississippi.
59.6 mpg/ 276.2 miles traveled