On to Baton Rouge!

9 Mar 2011--Before I start on our Louisiana trip, I wanted to address the Paul Lynde story again from my last blog. Just so you know, I probably saw that particular show 40-45 years ago, but have never forgotten it. Paul placed himself front and center of where the TV tube would be inside the TV and said that "I've been framed!" comment..to this day it cracks me up. So when I looked up and saw Cathy back there, I immediately laughed and insisted she wait till I could get the camera. Needless to say, she didn't think it was as funny as I did, but she did play along for me...even going so far as to get back behind the TV casing so I could take the picture. What a sport!!!

So, we drove about 480 miles between yesterday and today; 400 of them yesterday before we finally stopped for the night. We are staying in Port Allen, basically a suburb of Baton Rouge, and a town named after Henry Watkins Allen, a plantation owner and the last Confederate Governor of Louisiana during the Civil War.

Although the state license plate is boring, the state flag is sort of interesting. All I know so far is that it is based on the state seal, but I have no idea why it has a pelican with 3 babies on it, or why the words Union, Justice and Confidence are there. I can see the 1st 2 words, but Confidence???

Interstate 10 from Texas to Florida is a pretty boring drive, but for those of you who haven't ever driven it, there is a bridge called the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge that runs 18.2 miles over swampland that is pretty cool. It is the 10 largest bridge in the world, and the 6th largest over a body of water. And notice all these 18-wheelers on it! If you are wondering why your grocery bills are going thru the roof, these trucks carry everything from food to furniture, and they all run on diesel like my RV; diesel gas prices are going crazy!

These swamplands are all you can see on either side of the bridge...They make me think of the movie "Deliverance"! I just know someone is up to no good in there somewhere!

Very prominent on every corner in every town you go thru are the casinos. Even part of every gas station...I guess they figure you will play to try to pay some of the gas bill!

In this little town I saw this sign urging Catholics to return to the church...I thought it was really bizarre until I turned on the TV tonight and saw a segment showing that the Archdiocese in Boston is urging their Catholics to come home...must be a nationwide push!!! (I also heard on TV tonight that Newt Gingrich, even before he converted to Catholicism, got the church to annul his 2nd marriage so that he could get married for the 3rd time in the church--I am not sure I want to belong to any organization that would have him! haha)

This is the RV park we are staying at...still very wet from all the storms they have had over the past few days.

A few state fun facts that I saw at the Visitor's Center, like Louisiana became the 18th state in the union in 1812, but didn't have their official state flag until 1912. Makes me wonder why it took them 100 years to come up with that pelican theme? haha

We'll be going to the Capitol and maybe one or two plantations over the next 2 days, so stay tuned! And Julie, we might even go to the Angola State Prison Museum if we have time...that is one of the ones you always watch on "Lockup, Raw!" It is about an hour away, so we shall see.