Motoring and Baton Rouge

There wasn’t too much to report on Saturday as it was a drive day.  The dumpster where we were staying was roped/cabled shut so Katy walked down to the boat landing which was always busy with a small bag of trash.  I had put one in the night before.  The cans were pretty loaded up.  

Upon arriving down there, something had gotten into the garbage.  There was also a large Cajun named Bryce down there who wasn’t very pleased.  Bryce does swamp tours too and is in competition with the people we stayed with.  Bryce also wears large flashy rings on all of his fingers.  Coming from my old line of work, this is for two things.  Being flashy or hitting people.  We went back to pick up our stuff and he had already picked it up.  We took our bag from the night before and brought it to the KOA.  

The drive over to Baton Rouge or Denham Springs was pretty easy.  The I-10 is raised quite a bit, maybe 20’ above the swamps and Bayous.  There was a little traffic, ok, a lot of traffic at the bridge crossing the Mississippi.  This is the widest I’ve seen the river, way wider than St Louis.  The current boils wherever it makes contact with something.  

We made it to our campground and disconnected.  We then had lunch and P Beaus.  It was good.  Boudin Balls and Louisiana Hot Chicken sandwich.  Cabelas or Bass Pro was next on the list.  We made it out of there with me not spending any money.  We then went for gas and a few groceries.  I wanted to make Al Pastor...it didn’t turn out like I imagined.  

While at the grocery store, a guy walked up to us and said, “you all from California?” While looking at our license plates.  I said, Oregon, and he then told me he had been there and enjoyed the hiking.  Maybe the tree on the Oregon plate made him think of Stanford.  

We then went across the street to cash in the $100 lotto ticket from my great Yahtzee victory the other day.  When Katy cashed it the clerk said, “we’ve got a $100 winner here.”  Apparently that impressed the other patrons.  While this was occurring, I was asked a question by a guy in his late teens or early 20’s.  He was in a little white sports car.  “Sir, thems are some nice kayaks, where’d y’all get em?”  I said, Oregon.  He got wide eyed and said that’s a long way to go for some boats.  He then said something about having to get him one and he left.  

Yesterday we went to Baton Rouge and walked around a bit.  The city is pretty much open.  There are a few folks wearing masks, but things are open.  We went to the state capitol which is a cool building.  It is also where the Louisiana Marathon was ending.  We took some pictures and decided to get closer to town.  Which in retrospect wasn’t that much further.  

We parked and walked the East levee.  The city is really clean and there were quite a few businesses closed as it was Sunday.  We did stop into a RiverBoat Casino which was a cool experience.  We were in there 10 minutes and came out a few bucks ahead.  We saw two BRPD officers and I decided to ask them what we should do.  I introduced myself and told them my background.  One put his hand out to shake mine and said, “I can hear some Yankee in your voice.”  He recommended going to the Jolie Pearl Restaurant.  

I thanked them for their time and we continued walking for a bit.  I of course took more photos and then we went to Jolie’s.  The drinks were good, the setting was great, the food was so-so and the service was also meh.  We came back and played a lot of Yahtzee for the rest of our lotto tickets.  No big winners.