Bayous to Beaches.Oct 19. Day 5. Cars,Guns n' Pies Natchitoches,Bonnie and Clyde Museum & Shreveport

[WileyCoyote]

Saturday 5 October

Yesterday is https://DIBB.in/14200399

As a reminder, we are now into the non Florida leg of this trip. We will return to the sunshine state in a week’s time.

For the next two days we are taking a loop around Louisiana and will visit Natchitoches, Gibsland, Shreveport and Baton Rouge.

Ahead of us today we have 326 miles before reaching our destination of Shreveport.

We are going there to visit my Dad’s elder brother and to catch up with an old family friend.

The plan is to break the trip with a lunch stop at Natchitoches - home of Lasyones famous deep fried meat pies and the setting for the film Steel Magnolias. If time allows, we hope to stop at the Bonnie and Clyde museum in Gibsland.

After pottering about for a bit we got up at 7 and were in a taxi to the airport pretty swiftly saying goodbye to the lovely Bourbon Orleans hotel. Until next time !

There was some confusion at the airport as we asked to be dropped at the car rental place and we ended up at the terminal - turns out its only a short walk but with all our cases it was set to be a bit of a pain until a helpful chap loaded us up onto his golf cart and whizzed us over there.

It was nice and empty

and we had high hopes of a speedy get away but the Dollar agent was most unhelpful.


We had booked a premium car and it appeared they didn’t have any.

But we could take one from a lower class. Erm no, I don’t think so

we weren’t even being offered a refund if we did.

And nor were we able to go up a class either.

It must have taken a good 30 minutes of eye rolling, teeth clicking and sucking before we were despatched with a wave of the hand.
Really quite rude.

We had opted to go to the airport to pick up the car as it was on the way out of the city and we thought it would be preferable to battling with the traffic and horrendous roads in the centre.

Eventually we found something and were on our way at 8.15.

The satnav told us we had 1000 miles to go which almost gave me heart failure until realising it still thought we were in Orlando.

Phew it re set itself to tell us we had 4 hours to our first stop.

We reached Baton Rouge quite quickly

but missed a turn and ended up doing a complete loop - which lost us quite a lot of time.

The roads were really busy as there was a Louisiana State University football match on and the routes near the stadium were jam packed.

We ended up going over the bridge for a second time.

There was lots of road

and bayous

creepy abandoned school bus - proper horror movie stuff

and there is always one of these car repair places in those horror movies too

and more road

and cotton fields

Before reaching Natchitoches at 1245

And discovering it was the weekend of their annual car festivall ( of course, proper holiday planning would have revealed this ).

It was rammed.

In some ways it added to the appeal of the place - it was really buzzing.

And in other ways it was a nightmare as everywhere was just chock full and my planned amble down the high street wasn’t going to happen.

Amazingly we managed to get a spot outside the restaurant.

Definitely a locals place.

Only one thing to have here is one of the famous Fatty deep fried meat pie.

Which we did with chips and gravy

I wasnt sure about it at first but as I went on I did quite like it. Andy says it reminded him of a Scotch Pie. The gravy was very flavoursome.

We thought it was quite funny that every server came over to ask if we were ok.

We could see them having a natter about us and we are sure that they did it because they wanted to hear us speak. I did duly oblige by declaring things to be absolutely super .

The queue for the loo was interesting at the back of the restaurant in the storeroom

Opposite the big meat locker

Bill was less than $25 .

It was a bit of a shame that Andy didn’t want to look around - he was too busy trying to arrange the bank transfer for the paintings as things hadn’t gone to plan last night and he was having to phone to deal with it.


Of course being a Saturday and with the time difference it was a bit challenging.

And we had managed to find a place that seemed to have no Starbucks or anywhere similar with wifi !

I had a bit of a wander - it was great with music and everyone looking like they were having a great time. The stores were small and quite packed out though so I didn’t get to browse.

It was cool looking around

But time to get on the road again and say goodbye to

[WileyCoyote]

Andy was a bit frustrated with the whole banking thing and suffering with his cold. The a/c in the car was giving him a terrible cough and was starting to get him down. It was all back roads to Shreveport via Gibsland so it felt like it was taking forever


We ended up down numerous wrong roads and seemingly endless right roads .

Lots of water

And houses built literally just off the main highway

and encountering problems like this

That the satnav just couldn’t seem t0 deal with and we had to resort to phone maps at one point.

We stopped for fuel and some energy drinks as we were both flagging.

I did offer to ditch the museum and just head straight to Shreveport as Andy was feeling so rough but he kindly said as we had come this far we would stick to the plan.

So more of this

finally - we arrived at the roadside memorial.

This is the place where Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed. They had been on the road from Shreveport as the Rangers had predicted.

I have no idea of the significance of the spring onions !

And then headed to the ambush museum.

It’s a curious place.

Gibsland looked very rundown to us - Andy opted to stay with the car as it had all our stuff in and we just didn’t feel ok about leaving it on the street.

I went into the museum - the chap who runs it was very friendly, chatting about the recent film the Highwaymen and telling me that Kevin Costner came to the museum but Woody Harrelson didn’t.

He also said there had been a surge in European visitors since the film - not many from the UK but apparently quite a few Scandanavians.

Its a tiny place - a lot of stuff to read, quite a lot is repeated and its a mix of real stuff, clippings and replicas

Its quite hard to pick out the actual artefacts.
And there is tons to read.

I found the replica car quite disturbing.

I know they kept the bodies of Bonnie and Clyde in the car when they brought it in to town.

Even though this was a replica, I couldn't look in the front. It was too gruesome - just peeking in the bad was enough !

The photos of them at the mortuary were also a bit disturbing

I did find it interesting but was very conscious that we were due to meet up for dinner at 6 and still had to get to Shreveport and check in

It took us about 30 minutes to get to the downtown area - it seems to have had a lot of investment and looked quite trendy.

It was also the weekend of the Red River Revel - a local music festival.

HAd I done some research we might have stayed longer as it looked well set up with stalls, street food and bands playing.

How about that 2 places we have visited today both with festivals


Our hotel was the Remington suite and we were really impressed

Our room was huge

and I loved the finishing touches - the tumblers were heavy crystal , there was a wooden bowl sink in the coffee making area and the vanity/dressing area off the bathroom was like something out of a movie set - fancy potions and amazing lighting

Plus the bed was huge and super comfy

It was fabulous

Unlike the view

Dangnabbit another jeffing wall !

Seriously , second hotel in Louisiana and a second wall view.

As we were headed straight out and also away early the next day it wasn’t a huge deal but I do wish they managed your expectations at check in ….

This corridor had quite the wow factor

But then we realised it was also super noise amplifying. There was a wedding party that night and you could hear high heels tippy tapping the whole length of the hotel, Thankfully they all called it a night by 1am

We got changed and headed straight out to meet a lady who has been a family friend for many years.

We had missed her on our last trip as she had been away.

Its been maybe 10 or 12 years since I last saw her and it was just wonderful to catch up - especially since we had lost my Gran and Dad so recently .

We had a fun time chatting and playing the slots at the casino
We didn’t win a fortune but we had a great time. The casino was very impressive.

We headed to one of the restaurants for dinner - We had nachos to start and then I had sweet and sour chicken while the other two had burgers. The food was nice, not amazing but ok - and just so much of it.

We were chatting and it didn’t feel right to be snapping away so just the one pic of my food

Huge. Would have fed the whole table ! Ended up giving it in a Go box to our friend to take home!

We had a really fun night. It was sad saying goodnight but with promises to catch up again on our next trip.

We were both tired by now, it had felt a long day and Andy was most definitely suffering. The smoke in the casino really aggravating his cough and loving wife that I am I wasn’t being hugely sympathetic.

I am terrible with anyone who is a sniffer or a constant cougher.

I know, in sickness and in health and all that, but that’s why I am not a nurse…...


Back to Baton Rouge tomorrow ……… which is HERE

[Melbatb]

The museum looks errrr different!

I hope Andy managed to get his banking sorted out and was feeling better the next day. And how lovely to meet up with an old friend!

[Sparksy72]

And I thought is was just my family that liked to take ‘scenic’ detours we are brilliant at missing exits and taking twice as long as we need to get to our destination! I completely feel your pain. It looks as though you had a brilliant time in spite of your travelling issues. I love all pics of the cars, they look amazing.

[Goldia]

Lots of driving today. Poor Andy suffering with his cold and having to deal with the bank. I like seeing all the photos of the bayous and the houses in the middle of nowhere.

Two festivals in one day, that was lucky, the classic cars all looked great. The Bonnie and Clyde museum seemed like a unique experience.

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

The museum looks errrr different!

I hope Andy managed to get his banking sorted out and was feeling better the next day. And how lovely to meet up with an old friend!

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Hello - happy new year
Yep the museum is definitely different - an interesting stop though. Poor Andy had a miserable time with his cold for the next few days

Originally Posted by Sparksy72

And I thought is was just my family that liked to take ‘scenic’ detours we are brilliant at missing exits and taking twice as long as we need to get to our destination! I completely feel your pain. It looks as though you had a brilliant time in spite of your travelling issues. I love all pics of the cars, they look amazing.

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Ha Ha thank you, The satnav just hated the back roads in the parishes and was determined to take us over that closed bridge. It would not re set itself to another route
It was a really interesting day - I thought Natchitoches was a really great place and the car festival was so brilliant.

Originally Posted by Goldia

Lots of driving today. Poor Andy suffering with his cold and having to deal with the bank. I like seeing all the photos of the bayous and the houses in the middle of nowhere.

Two festivals in one day, that was lucky, the classic cars all looked great. The Bonnie and Clyde museum seemed like a unique experience.

See more...

Ah Andy really was down in the dumps at times over the next few days as everything seemed to work against him. And with so much time on the road he did really well not to get completely fed up especially when we got back to Florida - the driving conditions were dire

It was great on the trip seeing the different scenery - some of these houses are like just off a major road , its quite bizarre !

[CrispyA]

Poor Andy with his cough - I’m not a nurse either!


I am intrigued by Louisiana - looks like the rural areas are quite “True Detective”!

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by CrispyA

Poor Andy with his cough - I’m not a nurse either!


I am intrigued by Louisiana - looks like the rural areas are quite “True Detective”!

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Thank you - he was really suffering - the air con in the car proved to be a major culprit so we did end up just having the windows down a lot of the time

Louisiana is a fascinating state - we hope to pick up Lafayette and the Tabasco factory on Avery Island on a future trip. Its proper spooky in some parts. That last series of True Detective was filmed largely in Fayetteville in Arkansas .. not too far from Eureka Springs. We do like these deep south locations, so full of history

[Fuellady]

It sounds like it was a very long day for you both. Poor Andy suffering with a cold, it's not nice dealing with that on holiday. The Bonnie & Clyde museum looks, well, interesting That replica car is very graphic

How lovely to end the day meeting up with an old friend.

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by Fuellady

It sounds like it was a very long day for you both. Poor Andy suffering with a cold, it's not nice dealing with that on holiday. The Bonnie & Clyde museum looks, well, interesting That replica car is very graphic

How lovely to end the day meeting up with an old friend.

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He didn’t get over that cold until we got to Florida. It was such a shame.
Yeah that museum is gruesome. Fascinating and just, well, quirky, but totally gruesome