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2019-04-08 – Airstream Cajun Country Caravan – Carencro and Lafayette, LA

Our fast-paced schedule of activities is slowing.  As we near the end of the caravan people are using their spare time to prepare for trips home or to other destinations.  Today we didn’t leave the campground until 11:30 am!

We had a chance to walk the neighborhood around the campground…

Lovely colored weeds in this field:

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More swamp – a continuation of the swamp we saw here yesterday…

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At the appointed hour, we traveled into the heart of Lafayette today, to Johnson’s Boucaniere.

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While I don’t know how to pronounce “boucaniere”, it is a smoke-house.  They sell smoked meats and sausages, including Boudin, a Louisiana specialty.  They were closed.

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But they were prepared to serve us lunch.  We had our choice of Po-Boy sandwiches: pork, brisket, or chicken.  Also included was cole slaw and bread pudding for dessert… We sat on their spacious deck, covered, of course, in case of rain.

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The old building has been nicely remodeled, with the new deck and metal siding.  Interestingly, next door is an architect’s home and office that uses many of the same materials and details…

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Lunch was quite good.  But not what I had been lead to believe a Po-Boy was.  These were just meat sandwiches.  No seafood, no lettuce/mayo/tomato.  Very good meat, for sure, but nothing special otherwise…

Before our scheduled tour of the adjacent Cathedral, we took a walk through the old neighborhood… This old house stood out as being quite remarkable…

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Other scenes in the neighborhood…

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We arrived at the Cathedral – St. John the Evangelist…

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Of course, it has its own cemetery, dating back to the early 19th century…

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While the exterior is a bit bizarre, with no discernible architectural style, the interiors were quite nice…

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The tour guide told about the history of the church.  This is the third church on this site, built in 1916, and it was extensively remodeled in the mid 1980s.  The organ was added in the 1980s remodel.  The organist was there to explain the many functions of the organ and he played a bit for our enjoyment.

Outside the church is the Cathedral Oak…

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The Cathedral Oak is almost 500 years old, and it is one of the largest is the US; the trunk is over 9′ in diameter, with a circumference of almost 29′.

And then it started to rain.  We were soaked while running back to the car.  We returned to the Villa, walked a bit after the rain stopped, and Happy Hours ensued.

Some of the Airstreamers gathered in the meeting room for a game of Left-Right-Center… Never heard of it?  Neither had I…

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And an enjoyable time was had by all…

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2019-04-07 – Airstream Cajun Country Caravan – Travel to Carencro, LA

This is the last travel day for the Caravan – our next stop is the final one – only 4 nights left…

We walked the park again a few times, then hitched up and left Eunice about 11:30 am…  Of course, we soon were delayed by a train… And I love trains!

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It was 50 miles to Carenco, on the outskirts of Lafayette.  We stopped for a quick lunch at GoBears!

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Unfortunately, their tiny lunch room was closed – no idea why… So we walked next door to McDonalds.  They have all automated touch screens for ordering.  During the lunch rush there was one cashier, wandering around with nothing to do… Progress???

We arrived at the Bayou Wilderness RV Resort.  Nice place with full hook-ups, including cable, plus clear skies for satellite TV.  The sites are a little rustic, though…

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We hooked up, set up, checked out the store and other amenities, and walked around a bit.  There is an actual swamp out back… lots of Bald Cypress trees growing out of the water.  Those funny little pointy stumps are roots growing up out of the ground.  They are called, “Knees”.

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At about 4:00 pm it started to rain, with thunder and lightning, of course.  It was still pouring down when it was time to meet the other Airstreamers in the meeting room here in the RV park for pizza and ice cream…

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By the time we were ready to walk back to the villa after dinner it was still raining, but not nearly so hard.

And an enjoyable time was had by all…

The McAnoy baseball team…

Ian, almost 5:

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Roisin, age 6:

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2019-04-06 – Airstream Cajun Country Caravan – Eunice, LA

The most fun I have had in a long time at a music venue happened today!
We set out early for the tiny town of Mamou, LA.  We went into Fred’s Lounge, a 70+ year old institution.  Why were we going into a bar at 9:00 am on a Saturday morning?  Because Fred’s has a Cajun band that cannot be beat, and they broadcast a live radio show from here each Saturday morning!

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The place was packed, with beer drinking Cajuns and 50 or so Airstreamers.  (I know – sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference…)  It is a tiny space, with barely room for a bar and the band and a few booths and tables.  Mostly it was standing room only…

At 9:05 the radio announcer came on and introduced the show.  The band started playing and there was not a stationary person in the place…  Most Cajun bands are relatively quiet, with little or no percussion.  Not here!  It was LOUD, with booming bass and pounding drums.  It was fabulous!

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The announcer waiting for his cue to start the show…

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I finally realized that it was better to stand BEHIND the speakers than in front of them…

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Note the shelf, about 7′ above the floor, to set your beer down whilst you are dancing…

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It was fabulous!  We stayed as long as we could, but we had another item on the day’s agenda… We sadly left Fred’s and Mamou and headed back towards Eunice…

Our next stop was Savoy Music Store.  It is a regular music store, except that on Saturdays anyone who wants to jam and play or listen to Cajun music can drop in…

Frankly, it was a real snooze. After Fred’s it was a big let-down.  Just ordinary Cajun music…

We returned to the Villa…

We hung around a bit, then at 2:00 we visited the Verizon store to try to get my Jet-pack hot spot fixed.  Failure.

We went into downtown Eunice, visited the Railroad museum, had an ice cream cone, and visited another Acadian Cultural Center.

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This is a statue of Eunice…!

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The best part of the cultural center was the cooking demonstration.  They made Red Beans and Rice. We all got to taste samples…!

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The town of Eunice is past its prime…

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Back at the Villa we walked around the park.  It is quite nice:

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At about 5:00 I called Verizon Tech Support.  They ran diagnostics and decided my device needed a new sin card.  So back to the Verizon store we went… They put in the card, and it worked fine in the store, but the signal began to fade about 1/2 mile away.  Back at the campground there was no signal at all.  I will call again tomorrow…

At 9:00 we went to the barn dance!  The campground has a barn they use as a music venue.  The band playing was One Trick Pony.  They were nice and loud, with a good beat, but everything they played sounded the same…

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Most of the Airstreamers were there, but we left relatively early and retired to the Villa…

And an enjoyable time was had by all…

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2019-04-05 – Airstream Cajun Country Caravan – Travel to Eunice, LA

Easy travel day again.  At least at the start.

We drove over 50 miles today to camp at the Lakeview Park and Beach, just north of Eunice, LA.  It is a beautiful place, and, since it is Friday, the park is quickly filling up with weekenders from the local area.  There is a nice fishing lake, plus a swimming lake and beach, but it won’t open until next week…

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Along the route we passed by typical Louisiana roadside scenes:

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Upon arriving, I noticed that my iPhone was not charging – the cable would not plug in.  After several panicked minutes wondering where in rural SW Louisiana I could find an Apple store, then several more panicked minutes realizing that what I really need is an A&TT store, then remembering that I have insurance on this phone (because I do not believe in those ugly phone cases…), then a few more phone calls and we were back in the truck and off for a one hour drive to Lafayette to an Apple authorized repair shop.  If this proved to be unsucessful, I could get a replacement shipped to me – all I need to figure out is – Where will I be when the new phone arrives?

Lafayette was busy, but we found the store easily.  Five minutes and nine dollars later my phone was fully functional!  All it took was a tiny set of tweezers and knowing what to look for…

So, since we were already parked in a giant Target parking lot, we did a little grocery shopping, and headed back to Eunice.

Along the way we did see one of the better ideas to come out of Lafayette:

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Yes, the drive-thru Daiquiri stand.  Due to recent laws banning open containers of alcohol in cars they now put a lid on the plastic daiquiri cup, and a straw to poke through the little hole in the lid…

So we returned to the campground.  We had missed both the final GAM and a drivers’ meeting.  We took an evening stroll around the lake…

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After our traumatic day we retreated to the Villa and enjoyed an adult beverage or two…

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And an enjoyable time was had by all…

And the all-dressed-up McAnoy family:

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2019-04-04 – Airstream Cajun Country Caravan – Abbeville, LA – We almost meet the Mayor!

It thundered all night long, with a rare glimpse of lightning.  At 7:00 am it started raining in earnest.  It was a real downpour – not the sprinkles that we in California call rain.  The skies opened up and it dumped, with crashing thunder added for effect.  We were supposed to leave at 8:40 am to meet the Mayor of Abbeville and do a walking tour of the town, but this was postponed at about 8:15…

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At 9:45 all of the day’s activities were cancelled… While the campground was not in any danger of flooding, 2″-3″ of standing water makes walking about problematic.

At 11:15 another Airstreamer picked us up in their truck and we drove two miles into Abbeville, to a seafood restaurant called Shucks!  We had a great lunch with good Old Fashioneds, and tasty Louisiana delicacies.  I had oysters on the half shell (raw…) and Gator Bites – deep fried little morsels – way better than chicken… Lynda had crab cakes and fried shrimp, not being the adventurous type (at least when it comes to food…)

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By the time lunch was over the rain had stopped.  We returned to the Villa, then set out again to see what we could of the town of Abbeville…

They have a nice town square – there is a music festival here every Thursday night, with food, dancing, etc., but tonight it was cancelled due to the rain…

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There is a nice big Catholic Church…

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And, in general, it is a fairly nice place, despite there being no viable businesses here (other than attorney offices around the Parish (county) Courthouse…)

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We eventually found our way to Kelvin’s Piano Bar – in a store that sold Kelvinator appliances in the olden days…)

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We had some good drinks and a few bites.  A piano player entertained us for a few minutes.

We returned to the Villa and an enjoyable time was had by all…

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2019-04-03 – Airstream Cajun Country Caravan – Abbeville, LA – Crawfish!

We began our day with a trip to Crawfish Haven…

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Today we harvested Crawfish, learned more than we needed to know about crawfish, and ate crawfish for lunch…

We began by walking about 1/2 mile out on the levees around various small ponds where the crawfish are raised.

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These red-topped devices are the crawfish traps.  They are baited with a piece of fish; the crawfish crawl into the trap but cannot crawl out.  Don’t ask me how this is accomplished…

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They have these strange flat bottomed boats which actually roll along on the bottom of the pond – the water is about one foot deep.  The boat is propelled by this strange drive wheel (almost like a paddle wheel) that rolls along the bottom of the pond and pushes the boat.

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The crawfish farmer generally does this work alone, but sometimes they have paying guests.  Here we are waiting for the first group of us to get out of the boat as it arrives at the shore…

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Before the next group can board they want to move the boat to another adjacent pond.  It simply rolls out of one pond, rolls across the land, and rolls down into the next pond…

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They did off-load the “catch” from the previous trip – two bags of crawfish…

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Once we board the boat and we set out into the pond we see how it works:  The driver has these red-topped traps.  He throws in a piece of fish and he sets the trap in the water, picking up another that has been sitting in the pond.  He dumps the crawfish out onto this odd table…

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The table has bars that slope towards openings where the bags are attached.  You sweep the crawfish towards the openings and they fall into the bags.  Small crawfish fall between the bars onto a surface which allows them to be swept back into the water…

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Lynda tries her hand at assisting the crawfish in sliding along the bars and falling into the bags…

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After twice around the pond our two bags are full and we land and climb off the boat.

We watch the next group board, and we walk back to the crawfish house.  Here we gather for lunch.

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But before we eat we learn a little about the crawfish.

Crawfish grow for about one year, molting about once per month and growing one size each time.  If they are not caught sooner, they might live two-three years.  The growing season starts in September, and, depending on the weather, the farmer might get two crops per year.  The optimum water temperature is 72 degrees; it is a little cold this season… They can harvest about 500 pounds of crawfish per acre per year.  Major predators are otters and minks.  Alligators keep them away, but there are not many alligators around these parts…

Lesson over, we get in line for our crawfish.  These have been boiled, the most traditional way to cook crawfish – similar to boiling lobster.  In case you don’t know what a crawfish looks like, it is a miniature lobster, sort of like a fresh water lagostino…

Here is what each of our lunches looked like:

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This is my platter (I asked for a small portion)… Before…

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After…

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You see, you pull off the tail, pull out and eat the meat from the tail (the meat is about the size of a tiny cocktail shrimp), and throw the shells back of the platter.  It is quite a labor intensive operation.  I believe your fingers will wear out before you get full…

Along with our meal we were treated to a Cajun singer and musician…

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We enjoyed our meal; soon we were on our way back to the Villa.

We had a relaxing day; the GAM scheduled for 4:00 was called off due to about 20 minutes of thunder showers…

At 6:00 we set out for The Barn, to hear Cajun music…

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The building was built in 1946 as an cattle auction barn.  There was a small rustic amphitheater overlooking a pen where the animals were brought in to be bought and sold.  Today the amphitheater seats are still the same, but they built a stage atop the animal pens…

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We found a place to sit fairly close to the door, because you never know when leaving is the best option… The rest of the Airstreamers found their seats, too…

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There were three musicians, being introduced here by one of the owners of The Barn…

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When they got to playing it was a real toe-tapping scene…

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They finished after more than two hours – longer than I can sit on a hard, backless bench… But it was a fun evening to see how the locals have fun, and to hear (more) Cajun Music…!

And an enjoyable time was had by all…

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2019-04-02 – Airstream Cajun Country Caravan – Travel to Abbeville, LA

Today is another travel day.  However, all travel days are short here in Cajun Country.  In total, we travel only 160 miles from campsite to campsite.  In fact, the only reason we move as much as we do is that a minimum of five locations are required on a National Caravan, according to the Airstream Club (WBCCI).

So today we drive from New Iberia to Abbeville – a total of 21 miles…!

The countryside is quite varied, but for the most part it is wide open spaces…

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The pictures above and below show sugar cane…

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There are a few small (very small) towns, and a variety of houses:  ramshackle, modest farm houses, very nice older farm houses, and, of course, starter castles and McMansions…  This trip was slow and easy…

This campground is a total opposite of New Iberia; it is small, hidden back in the woods about one mile from the highway, full of trees (no satellite TV for me!), and no amenities other than full hook-ups.

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We parked and set up the Villa and had the rest of the day to catch up of my to-do list – I need to be finalizing the next leg of our trip after the caravan is over.  We will be heading to the east coast, travelling north a bit, then back west to Kentucky, where we begin Springtime in Kentucky Caravan on April 25…

We did a lot of walking around the park to keep our Apple Watches happy.  We found this tree with a nest of three baby owls…

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This was probably the mom, watching nearby…

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We had a GAM again and turned in early.  And an enjoyable time was had by all…

And of course, the McAnoy family on a hiking outing…

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2019-04-01 – Airstream Cajun Country Caravan – New Iberia, LA – The Rice Mill and Avery Island Tabasco

Our first stop today was the Konrico Rice Mill.  It was founded by Mr. Conrad, a local rice grower, in the early 20th century to mill his own rice to avoid paying shipping costs to the far away mills “up north”.  Other neighboring rice growers asked him to mill their rice, so by 1912 he had built this large rice mill and ceased being a farmer…

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We saw a video, and had a mini tour of the facilities.  It was pretty basic.  They were not milling today, so it was quiet.  Of course we visited the store where we could by trinkets and rice products… The amazing part is that the mill operates pretty much as it did in 1912, with the exception of modernization of some of the equipment – like replacing the steam engine with an electric motor on one piece of equipment, and having relatively modern bagging machines.  They still use a stencil and an ink roller to put the company name on the bags of rice…

From the rice mill we drove to Avery Island.  This is the third island we have visited here in SW Louisiana.  The Weeks’ family plantation (Shadows on the Teche) was on Weeks Island, the Jefferson Victorian house was on Jefferson Island, and today we go to Avery Island.  There are five “islands” here in this area.  However, these are not islands at all.  They are the five salt domes that have become the highest land area around.  They are not even near any meaningful water.  It’s just a bit on Louisiana nonsense that people here take for granted…

Anyway, we drove to Avery Island where the McIlhenny family has been growing peppers and making their famous Tabasco sauce for all these many years…  Edmund McIlhenny started growing peppers and making his sauce in 1868 after his banking job ended during the Civil War.  Five generations have run the company ever since.

We watched videos of the growing of the peppers and the making of the sauce.  Basically the peppers are ground into a mash, salt is added, and the mash is cured for three years on white oak barrels.  Then vinegar is added and the soup is stirred for three weeks.  The solids are strained out and the sauce is bottled.  That’s it!

We started, of course, with lunch…

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The walking tour meandered around these very substantial buildings…

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The barrel room.  The tops of the barrels are covered with salt to keep them sealed…

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The vats where the vinegar and the mash are stirred…

 

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The fun part – the four bottling lines.  There had bottled about 200,000 bottles so far today…

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And some fun pictures…

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We returned to the Villa, happy hours ensured, and an enjoyable time was had by all…

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2019-03-31 – Airstream Cajun Country Caravan – New Iberia, LA – The Swamp Tour!

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Today is The Swamp Tour!  I had no preconceived notion what a swamp tour was going to be, but this tour was not what I expected…  My picture of a swamp was an area of low-lying, muddy, bug-infested, uncultivated ground where water collects; a bog or marsh.  I think mud, puddles, stagnant, smelly water, and dangerous critters – bugs, snakes, and alligators…

In reality, the better definition is that a swamp is a forested wetland.  Many swamps occur along large rivers where they are critically dependent upon natural water level fluctuations.  Other swamps occur on the shores of large lakes.  The swamp we toured was both – adjacent to a large lake and fed by a bayou (a slow moving, muddy river).

But as for my preconceptions, I did not expect this…!

We boarded a boat with 25 of our friends and slowly cruised though the forest.  The water was covered with green stuff, what most people would call pond scum or algae.  It is neither…

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The reality is this:  it is Lemna Minor, or duckweed.  If you look closely it is like tiny water lilies; it forms an archetypal river scene of muddy, green waters lazily flowing under bald cypresses and water gum tupelos.  That’s what these trees are.

Duckweed is a very natural part of the enclosed environments of such swamps, and is a valuable source of protein for animals that consume it, notably most kinds of waterfowl. It has more protein than soybeans, and some parts of the world actually raise it commercially as a food crop.  To our “manicured lawn” mentality, it appears to be scum, the sign of stagnant water, as it no doubt did for generations of settlers who avoided swamps like the plague.  The ducks and other birds apparently disagree.

The swamp was quiet, cool, bug-free, and odor-free.  It was a beautiful, quiet time to contemplate the beauty of a fully functioning ecosystem.  The water here is 1′-2′ deep, but during spring flooding it can rise another 4′-5′.  The adjacent lake, in contrast, is 8′-10′ deep normally.

As we floated along we saw wonderful vistas into the forest…

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These larger plants growing along with the duckweed are an invasive species, and the State does eradicate it when necessary…

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We saw birds.  Lots of birds.  The tour bordered on a bird sanctuary where we could see hundred of nesting egrets.  We also saw ibis, heron, and ducks…

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And, yes, we saw a small alligator.  Normally, on warm days, alligators are everywhere.  But today is cold and the water is warm. so the alligators stay underwater as much as possible…

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We spent two hours on the swamp.  It was delightful, something that should not be missed if you have the opportunity…

We returned to the docks:

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We drove back into “downtown” St. Martinville.  Another totally dead town… We ate at Clambaugh’s – sort of an event venue with no decoration or atmosphere at all, but pretty good food.  Then we walked over to the cultural center to see more displays of the Cajun and Creole cultures.  Interestingly, there were three or four exhibits that purported to explain the difference between Creole and Cajun, and they all contradicted each other…

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As best as I could figure, Cajuns are descendants of the Acadians who were deported from Nova Scotia in the late 18th century.  Creoles were here when the Acadians arrived.  There are Creole who are white and there are Creole who are people of color – African, Spanish, Mexican, Indian.  They all seemed to assimilate until the Civil Rights movement in the 1960 encouraged them to reclaim some of their ethnic heritage.

Also at this location we saw the Evangeline Oak, made famous by the Longfellow poem, “Evangeline”, about Acadian lovers who were separated during the Nova Scotia deportation and who tragically meet again here.  The poem is based on a semi-true story.

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We had another stroll along The Bayou Teche…

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We returned to the Villa.  We had another Drivers Meeting, and we turned in early.  It was cold!

And an enjoyable time was had by all…

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