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: 3/2 large brick home, with large shop on 1 ac corner lot. $259,900. See pics @ or 576-4069.
For 45 minutes, it was a page out of the Hurricane Rita evacuation – motorists exiting their vehicles and leaning against their cars – people shutting off their engines for fear of overheating and emptying their fuel. I wondered if I would spend the night on IH-10.
I decided to drive to New Orleans to see how things had changed – changed since I had last driven the seven-hour stretch from Bay City a decade ago, and changed since Hurricane Katrina left her mark.
To tell the truth, I really wanted a shrimp po-boy from the Boudin Shop, a dive and Cajun gift shop just east of Breaux Bridge , the hometown of Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme.
Yogi Berra once said, “You can see a lot, just by looking.” That was my intention – take my time and take in all the sights of the Pelican State. My wife just rolled her eyes when I told her I was going to drive instead of fly.
“I am sure you are going to take the scenic route,” she said. Shelly knows me well, and knew even better to sit this trip out.
Here are some of my observations:
1. Louisiana highways have improved. What used to be a rollercoaster ride of unleveled pavement and chug holes, is now smooth sailing on even asphalt. I have a hunch the casinos have a lot to do with it. Texans do not like riding on bumpy roads; and, casinos know Texans will not drive hours on county road-like conditions to spend money.
2. Those homes with electricity have new shingles – all of them. Obviously, Katrina had a lot to do with it; however, there remain many homes that are without roofs. There are thousands of homes with boards over windows and roofs demolished.
3. There is an obvious line where saltwater intruded into wetlands during Katrina, apparent by a forest of dead cypress trees. Only trunks devoid of greenery stood where was once a lush swamp.
4. Louisiana motorists do not drive like Texans. First, the left lane is suppose to be a speed lane, but countless times drivers remained in the left lane while faster cars buzzed by; and, Louisiana drivers seem to drive slower compared to Texans. Maybe it is due to countless signs of a mean-looking Louisiana State Police advising not to speed.
5. Most seafood you eat is “right off the boat,” literally-- as in, right out back. The boat is on the bayou right out of the back door. Shrimp, fish and oyster po-boys are served on French bread (see the Louisiana Purchase).
6. Oysters are harvested during the summer months in Louisiana . I couldn’t believe my eyes when I watched sacks and sacks of oysters being lifted from boats to seafood trucks in the 101-degree heat. In Texas, oyster season is closed during months that do not end in “R”. Locals tell me the sacks of oysters must be in a cooler chilled around 38 degrees no later than five hours from the time the first shellfish was harvested. I still have a hard time eating one on the half-shell in this heat.
7. Obviously, Cajuns started the whole boiled crawfish thing; and, there are crawfish farms all over the place. There are as many small, side-of-the-road restaurants that offer boiled crawfish in Louisiana as there are Dairy Queens in Texas.
Cajuns throw just about anything in the pot when boiling shrimp or crawfish – mushrooms, potatoes, corn, carrots, cabbage, squash and weenies – yes, hot dog weenies. I guess they can’t get good Czech sausage like we can in Texas so they have to improvise. I stayed with the shrimp. They even put weenies in red beans and rice – the big ones – like the Hot Smokeys we once ate at an Astros game in the Dome.
8. Don’t ask for tofu or a vegetarian meal from a cook or waitress in a Cajun restaurant, you will get, “We don’t have that here on the bayou!”
9. New Orleans still sits below sea level, and the downtown area is not a good place to be when the sun goes down.
10. I read a bumper sticker that has merit: “Kids who hunt and fish won’t steal and deal.”
11. Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, on the campus of Louisiana State University, is a site to behold when crossing the Mississippi River Bridge .
12. Lake Charles is the closest town to any resemblance of Texas – not by coincidence since it is right across the border.
13. Capt. Charlie Thomason’s mom’s pecan pralines are the best I have ever eaten.
14. You can catch black bass (green trout to the locals), redfish and speckled trout from the same waters on the same plug.
15. Boudin is good anywhere you find it, marsh redfish are the most beautiful blaze orange I have ever seen and Zydeco puts a smile on your face, especially when you are eating creole-fried chicken, a link of boudin and a bowl of red beans and rice at Chicken On The Bayou.
Bink Grimes is a freelance writer, photographer, author and licensed captain. Contact him at binkgrimes@sbcglobla.net.