Road tripping Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi style

With a new set of wheels to run in, we packed the boot and set out on our first Southern road trip.  Heading out of Houston we made our way through Beaumont and Lake Charles into Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Now I have seen pretty much every kind of road kill but a 13 to 14 foot alligator….that was new.  So too were the highways built over the bayou and swamps; these bridge-roads just go on and on and are quite amazing constructions and feats of engineering.

Coming into Baton Rouge is the first glimpse we caught of the mighty Mississippi River and she is awesome.  An enormous wide expanse that really is a shipping highway.  Every now and then you spy an old paddle steamer in amongst the container ships and other boats plying the river.  While our visit to Baton Rouge was simply a coffee break, its city centre and City Hall are really beautiful.  However, Baton Rouge has suffered serious flooding as a consequence of Isaac and as such, there was a great deal of clean up work going on with many streets closed.  So following a brief wander around and a coffee, we continued on our journey to New Orleans.  See my blog of 10 September for the N’awlins story.

From New Orleans we headed along the Gulf’s coastline into Alabama.  This was an amazing drive and it’s easy to see that the beaches are endless and quite beautiful – but no surf I’m sorry to say.  However, again, thanks to Isaac, all the beaches between Slidell and Mobile were closed with earth moving equipment shifting the beach sands back to the beach as opposed to the highway!  

This coastline is also the home of most of the State’s casinos and they line the shores.

We stopped in at Mobile to check out the USS Alabama.  Couldn’t quite pull off the ‘Cher’ thing as those guns are pretty big and I have decided that life in the navy ain’t for me.  But it was a really interesting naval and military museum and well worth the visit if naval military history is of interest.

Following my brief naval career, we then took some friend’s advice and chose Fairhope as our evening’s stay.  Fairhope is a gorgeous little coastal village on Mobile Bay.  Its lush, chock full of art galleries and antique shops and is famous for its authors, singer songwriters etc.  Most famous resident is Winston Groom, author of Forrest Gump.  

From Fairhope, we then headed back into Mississippi along beautiful country roads en-route to Jackson.  This area is divine; lush green forests, rolling hills and water bodies galore.  You can also easily picture the backcountry and swamp homes!  There are some wild looking camps in amongst the trees and all sorts of shacks out over the water. 

Jackson is the capital of Mississippi and is steeped in history.  It was a hub in the plantation era, home to both the Union and Confederate forces at one point or another, and is today an elegant city with some lovely architecture.  But it is a city nonetheless, so we chose Vicksburg on the Mississippi and State border as our next stop.  See my blog of 11 September for that story.

We then crossed back into Louisiana briefly, taking country roads passing through Shreveport and back into Texas to Caddo Lake and Jefferson. 

Wow – Caddo Lake is breathtaking.  It is smack bang out of some mystical movie set with its Cypress trees growing out into the lake and the Spanish Moss draping everything.  

No doubt some inspiration for the plethora of vampire stories around at present!! I’d like to come back here in winter as I anticipate the fog caressing the lake of a morning would make for some beautiful photography.  

Jefferson is another quaint and historical village.  It is one of those rare places these days where a significant number of the town’s homes and buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The region also has some great stories about Bonnie and Clyde, the Daltons, and Jesse James.   

Its also home to the Pulpwoodqueen Book Club and world famous “Girlfriends weekend” which has put it on the modern calendar.  So it’s a great spot to wander around.  We stayed in a B&B here for a couple of days and took in not only the wonderful country air, but also the local hospitality and the lakes.

With our journey coming to an end, we then headed down some Farm To Market roads to Henderson, Nacogdoches and Lufkin.  All worthy of a visit and what’s great about these towns is that they are wonderful country towns only a short drive from Houston.  So will have to make time to visit again during one of the many autumn and winter festivals that take place here.  There are also some amazing stories out of this region that are worth learning about such as the school tragedy of New London in the 1930s. 

Finally – back home.  Thoroughly enjoyed my first Southern road trip.  Not only has the countryside been surprising and really very beautiful, everywhere we visited we encountered super friendly people who were only too happy to tell you about their home towns and the best places to visit.  As is always the case, take the advice of the locals because we found spots that we wouldn’t have visited were it not for the wisdom of the locals.

Vicksburg, Mississippi

The plan on our road trip, was to stay in Jackson but with a little driving time left up my sleeve, we decided to bypass the city and find a quieter country town to stay the night.  So Vicksburg Mississippi was the stopping point and what an incredible little town this is.  So glad we went the extra few miles!  Little did we know that apart from being a pretty town on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River, this town was the site of one of the most important battles of the American Civil War. 

There is an amazing National Military Park on the site of the battlegrounds which has brilliantly preserved the entire battleground allowing visitors to travel a 16 mile route around where the Union and Confederate armies held their lines.  From what I learnt, the siege battle from May 18 to July 4 1863 was one of the final major military actions in the war with Union Major General Ulysses Grant pitting his forces against the Confederate army of under the charge of Lt. General Pemberton.  It seems that Grant was not having much success against the Confederate fortifications of the city so decided to besiege Vicksburg instead.  The Confederate army held out for more than 40 days before starvation, disease and fatigue won through and Pemberton surrendered to Grant. This combined with the capitulation of Port Hudson only a few days later yielded command of the Mississippi to the Union.  As I understand it, the surrender, along with General Lee’s defeat at Gettysburg the previous day, was the turning point in the war.

Tragically, this one battle saw Union casualties of 10,142 and Confederate casualties of 32,697. So today the Vicksburg battlefield is considered a War Cemetery and National Monument.  What I found sad was that the vast bulk of those who died are unknown and walking the battleground and cemetery was a disquieting experience.

The other thing I noted was how beautiful this area is and the banks of the Mississippi are.  It is hard to imagine the horror that was for all sides and the local townspeople over those months in 1863. It reminded me of the walk I took in the Somme – another beautiful country setting that now plays host to the souls of those who died in battle.  A beautiful place I suppose to rest!

Beyond the battlegrounds, Vicksburg is a lovely side trip off the Interstate – an historic town with some fabulous architecture and yet again, welcoming friendly people! 

If you are interested in reading more, check out the website for the Military Park – it really is an interesting place.  http://www.nps.gov/vick/index.htm

New Orleans

New Orleans, or N’awlins as its pronounced locally, is a strangely beautiful and elegantly decaying city.  Visiting immediately after Hurricane Isaac may bias my view, but while there is no doubt an obvious recent injury and weariness to the city, its possible to see that N’awlins is a tough, gutsy, spirited and sexy ‘in your face’ old lady.  I gained access to the city’s gateway two days after Isaac swung by, and was consequently confronted by breathtaking water levels, flood damage, uprooted trees and devastated washed away railway lines.   The locals I spoke with in the wonderful array of bars, commented that Isaac was worse than Katrina only in as much as Katrina blew through with horrific and devastating speed; whereas Isaac came in, lingered over the city for almost 24 hours, dumping 20 plus inches and throwing his wind at the locals.  As a result, the damage has been less ‘dramatic and interesting from a media perspective’ but more overwhelming and soul destroying from a local’s perspective.  Power was out in many areas for over a week and the majority of locals I met were escaping to the air-conditioned bars of Bourbon Street and the Quarter, just for a breather from their chaos.

But despite that, N’awlins is beautiful and interesting and worth every effect you make to visit.  Its unique – being a wonderful combination of gutsy French, spirited American and sexy Creole/Cajun influences.  It is full of amazing and tragic but determined history that is evident in so many aspects of the city from its architecture to its people.  For example there is one story of a fabulous old French Creole bird named Micaela Almonester Pontalba who survived three balls in her chest, shot by her father-in-law, but went on to build some of the most amazing and beautiful buildings that still exist today.  Or Marie Laveau, the most famous of all New Orleans voodooiennes (mind reader, witch or witch-doctor, or voodoo queen) who now has a museum established entirely around her voodoo and history.  The cemeteries are fascinating and one of the most visited grave sites is old Marie’s.

This old world mystique flavors the new, and the locals I shared a wine with are equally tough, spirited and determined.  New Orleans is their home and hurricanes make little difference to that.  A bit like N’Qlders really.  They love their city, its history and its value to what makes the South, the South.  They aren’t going anywhere and thank you for that. 

I am a lover of New Orleans Jazz and its was like a dream come true to visit Frenchman's Street and the Preservation Hall, and to see the streets on which some of the greats started their journeys.  The jazz I heard not only on street corners from buskers but also in some of the great little bars was beautiful and heart warming.

The Treme, French Quarter and Garden District all have scars and recent injury, and there is crime, but this city deserves continued support and visits.  She is beautiful and yes, she is tragic and damaged.  But who isn’t damaged right?

Glamorous no, but gilded and strangely stirring, you bet!!