The ride over from Kemah, on I 10, was all jacked up. 2 lanes merged into 1 for some construction. It was slow moving for a while. They must have been moving some construction vehicles because a few times we didn't move for a few minutes. Then we'd crawl along a bit more before stopping again. My GPS time to beat increased an hour & 15. So what should have been a quick jaunt on the interstate became a stop and go ex. I think that is more tiring than just going all out for the same amount of time.
Vrai beat me to the campground by over an hour. Her waze app picked up the construction and headed her towards a faster detour. Anyway she called my and gave me a heads up about entering the campground. It's a roundabout. But the signage is confusing. Her tip was to look for the KOA sign then turn there.
So I get off the interstate. I see the enormous KOA sign. I get the yield sign that takes me to a small bit of road before the rotary. I have to take a right on a fairly busy road. My instructions are to go to the roundabout and look for the KOA sign. Now when I was watching the traffic, I could see the first right turn would have taken me into the campground. What wasn't evident was that it was a 1 way road. That is how people leave the campground. I may have been tempted to make the hard right turn since it did lead to the campground.
Anyway just driving a car through there is stressful enough. To make matters worse, Billy's boudin & crackling shares the road with the KOA. That place is jammed packed with people getting their crackling fix. More on that later. Yesterday while when we were coming back to the campground after visiting Lafayette, we watched an 18 wheeler zoom right into Billy's parking lot. He was going a lot faster than what was prudent. I guess he needed a boudin really badly.
Back in 2017, we stopped in Scott, LA when we were car tripping. We stopped at Don's & Billy's to sample the boudin. Vrai made the campground reservation, not realizing that we had actually stopped very close by before. We have been to so many places, that they run all together. So if you asked me last week if I had ever been to Scott, LA I would have said no. But I would have unknowingly been lying. Which leads me to the next point.
Cracklings. Now I know why the highly addictive modified cocaine substance is called crack. And it's no coincidence that you can't spell cracklings without crack. Those seasoned pieces of meat and skin are highly addictive. We can buy them at the place right next door to the campground. Man are they ever tasty. Plus they have a great consistency. They aren't like the dried pork rinds they sell in bags at the convenience store. These are meaty bits fried up crunchy with just the right balance of meat, fat and skin.
The other food oddity here is boudin. They are quite popular. Billy's has 2 hot bars billed with all sorts of boudin, boudin balls and assorted cracklings. They do a brisk business. People go in there and they stock up. It's not uncommon for people to leave there with several bags bursting with goodies. Scott, LA bills itself as the boudin capitol of the US.
This region is quite cajun centric as far as food is concerned. Boiled crawfish signs are all over the place. Gumbo, etouffee, jambalaya round out the bayou trinity of dishes. While we'll see these offered at some restaurants outside of this area, you almost never see the boudins offered elsewhere.
So we will get our fill of cajun food while we are here. Then it's off to Biloxi, Pensacola then Panama City Beach. At some point we'll turn around and head back to South Padre Island. Not sure of our route nor stops for that journey. I trust Elon Musk won't blow up SPI, or as they refer to it as a rapid, unscheduled disassembly. Who ever coined that phrase needs to get a raise.
I've been fishing hard since I got here. Just 2 fish to show for my efforts. The pond here is 30 feet deep according to the people in the office. It was a gravel pit for when they were building I10 decades ago. I see quite a few bass swimming around. Now to find the lure that will entice them to bite. Most of the campgrounds that have fishing ponds are catch & release. Here some people eat what they catch. I'd rather let them go so someone else can catch them again.
Our time here will fly by. It's our first stop outside of Texas since September of last year. Seeing how the days are getting longer & the temps are getting warmer, it's time for y'all to plan your next get away. Maybe we will see you down the road.
