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.
