On the Road 8 x 30; 24 x 7

02-21-2005 Lagniappe Too Cafe' and Laundry Day

I found a mailbox to mail my letters and we walked along Main and stopped in an antique store where I snapped some photos of their We didn't find anything in the antique store but I got a kick out of this little museum in the front entryway. We walked on down Main Street but found no other interesting shops. I did stop in the Coffee Break Cafe and bought a bag of Gingerbread Coffee. We crossed over to St. Peter Street, the westbound counterpart of Main. But there were no good shops there either. Finally we strolled west on Main past the old antebellum mansions.

We passed in front of Shadows-on-the-Teche, an elegantly restored 1834 sugar plantation home on Bayou Teche, built by wealthy planter David Weeks. A few houses down we saw The Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes shrine in an open air park. It was erected in 1941 in memory of the pioneer families of New Iberia. Just a few more houses down from the Grotto I snapped a picture of this shapely old

Bob and I started with a cup of Corn and Crab Bisque that was very spicy and tasty. They have been written up in travel journals as having outstanding bisque and gumbo. I ordered Beef and Shrimp Stuffed Eggplant and Bob had Stuffed Crab Shells. Both were excellent. The eggplant was very unusual, almost like a fine pate. Fresh steamed veges and a tossed salad rounded out the meal. Another couple came in while we were eating. The owner was circulating among tables talking to everyone as only Cajuns can. I heard him ask where they were from and they said they were RVing. He said they get a lot of RVers in their cafe. Our waitress asked about dessert and we tried Banana Mango Cake. What a treat. The cake was like old-fashioned spice cake with bits of mango and banana topped by a whipped cream cheese frosting and sliced almonds. As our waitress brought the bill, the lady owner came by our table and asked if we were the folks from Chicago. We said no, but is St. Louis close enough? She said she had a hard time adapting to the heat and humidity down here. In fact, she said she never really got used to it. She came down for college, met her husband and never left. I'd say they are 55 to 65 years old so that's a long time to live here and not make peace with the climate. She said the humidity is nice for your skin. She visited her sister in California for a few months and couldn't believe the wrinkles and cracks that showed up in her face. It was so dry out there! I told her I had a similar experience in West Texas (Midland/Odessa, sorry Jean) when my hands cracked after only a week there. This place is definitely on our 'come-back-to' list.

We headed back home and packed up the laundry first thing and drove it down to the laundry room at the other end of the campground. Talk about a steam bath. The temperature today is 79 with something around 85% humidity. The laundry room was even worse. A couple in a Class A pulling a red Jeep came in. Bob moved The Beast so they could get by the narrow road. He told them where to find the office. We were fooled too; the laundry room looks like the office. Several times today we saw a couple down the way from us sitting out getting some sun. She was in a bikini top and short shorts. He was in shorts with no shirt. We decided Bernie's rule of no going without a shirt after 50 should apply to both of them. Down by the laundry room we saw them playing Bocci Ball, still in their same lack of attire. What a sight! A slender young gal came into the laundry mat (well, a few years younger than us, which is young compared to most of the people we run into.) She struck up a conversation. Said she had a washer and dryer in her RV but they were small. She had several loads of throw rugs she put in one of the monster washers. I said the hard part was finding quarters. She said she was a bar tender and always had plenty of quarters. When she bent over in her tight jeans and cropped top, she had a big tatoo on her lower back that said "Jerome."

Bob found a posting on the laundry room wall for a guy who comes and does power washing at your site. We took the number down and may look into it later this week. The Beauty is not so beautiful at the moment. Back home we smashed all of the laundry back into the appropriate slots. Bob went out and hooked up the hoses for the holding tanks. We read the paper we picked up in New Iberia and had a snack. Bob turned the AC on. It's hard to believe we're using the AC in February. We hardly used it all summer up in the midwest. A guy came and got in the travel trailer next to us for the first time tonight. It has been sitting there empty since we got here. It is kind of weird that people leave their rigs here and then go away.