July 16, 2018
Monday
Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas
Today we woke up in lovely Natchitoches (nack-a-dish) Louisiana which, I didn't know until today is the name of an Indian tribe. And today, we played tourist for a while before riding out on what turned out to be a longer ride than we planned. That happens sometimes. No big deal. Road trips are about
the ride. Right?
I don't know what time it was that we cleared out of our motel. We are not very good clock watchers I guess. We rolled into downtown Natchitoches looking for breakfast or at least a morning snack. It looked like most of the gotcha shops would not open until 10 am if at all. Again, no big deal as I'm not much a doo-dad shopper. We were looking at architecture a bit off the main drag when we spotted a tiny café specializing in meat pies we had read about with a Veterans Park tucked in beside it. We visited the Veterans Park first which was beautiful with a fountain (not operating at the time we were there) and plaques bearing veterans names and scattered throughout the cozy area were personalized memorial benches bearing the name, rank, conflict and branch of service for the veteran. Very nice!
Eventually we wandered into Lasyone's Meat Pie Kitchen. We pronounce it Lazy Ones. We had read about this establishment in a tourist magazine somewhere so we thought it was lucky we found it with so little effort. Tim ordered up a meat pie, grits and eggs. I was happy with French toast and eggs. The coffee was excellent. It's a cozy establishment and the service was fast and friendly. We had to get out of there quick or start paying rent because they were bringing out pies and pastries that looked tasty!
Strolling the streets of Natchitoches - amazing architecture
Veterans Memorial Park
Tucked away in between buildings downtown Natchitoches
The park was lovely
Personalized memorial benches were awesome pieces of work
Lasyone's Meat Pie Kitchen
Tim is a happy camper - meat pie, grits and eggs
After breakfast we strolled the streets and along the waters edge of Cane River Lake which is directly across from the stores and shops that line the main drag. Across the way are homes and boat houses built along the waterway. Actually the lake/river runs throughout the town in about a 32 mile stretch. It began as the Red River itself. Early navigation above Natchitoches, was impeded by a 160-mile log jam known as the Great Raft. In the 1830s Henry Miller Shreve created the first snag boats to clear the Raft. Soon after the raft was cleared, the fickle river began to change the course of it’s main channel. Dams were built which separated the new channel from the Red River. The delightful result is Cane River Lake.
The Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
First Mass in Natchitoches 1716
The walk along the street or the lake in this area is amazing. We strolled from one end to the other remarking at the lush foiliage and the gigantic trees and bright flowers. A creole house was dismantled and rebuilt here. It is called Roque House circa 1797. We stopped at the Visitor's Center and inquired about the Creole Plantations in the area. Part of the loop to the plantations was under construction but we rode out for a glimpse of one of them a bit later. Like I said, the architecture and wealth of historical buildings and places in Natchitoches alone is amazing. We realized what we could see in what was left of the morning would be minimal. So we will return with more time for certain.
Just one of many oak trees in the area
Roque House circa 1790s
Roque House Historical Marker
The Steel Magnolia House - the family upon which the story/movie is based are from Natchitoches. The movie, Steel Magnolias is based upon a stage play by American writer Robert Harling, based on his experience with his sister's death.
We rode out eventually to see at least one of the plantations. The one we happened upon is Oakland Plantation on the Cane River National Heritage Trail. It was built by J.P.E. Prudhomme on a tract of land granted to him by the Spanish government in 1789. It is still owned by the Prudhomme family and part of it is still farmed today. Considering it was a ride-by, we got a pretty good look at the main house and 20 some odd out buildings including the plantation store. Cotton and corn fields and huge trees lined our route and knowing the river's proximity it's easy to get a feel or at least imagine how it all might have looked back when plantations flourished throughout the south.
Oakland Plantation House (stock photo)
It was time to ride out after we circled back to Natchitoches from the plantation loop. We passed lush cotton fields and corn fields and met a good many logging trucks. We rode a bit further east on Hwy 84 through the Kisatchie National Forest to the town of Winnfield where we picked up Hwy 167 and started travelling north. The day was warming up quickly and the heat wave we knew was coming felt like it had officially arrived. We rode by small villages, logging operations, rivers, bayous and lakes. As with most of the roads in Louisiana and for that matter southern Arkansas, the road was nice enough but rough. A trucker friend of ours told us about the roads, saying they are rough because they are built on unstable ground. He was right.
Logging
Gigantic sawmill
We continued north across the Arkansas border on Hwy 167/83 to the town of El Dorado, Arkansas. We thought this might be our home for the night but Tim did not like the town at all. Too much traffic. Too many people. Too hot. We did not make it to downtown but it was not the best time of day for ride-by tourism. Okay says I - roll on. We did stop for a cold soft drink before leaving El Dorado.
The best Magnolia, Arkansas (the next town west) had to offer was a downtown full of murals and few motels so we rolled on toward Texarkana. We arrived in Texarkana at rush hour or thereabouts. We found ourselves traveling in heavy traffic on I30 heading toward Dallas. Yikes! A few miles out of town we maneuvered our way north again on a country road to Hwy 82 near New Boston and started traveling west. We stopped for gas in Clarkesville with a thunderstorm threatening but other than a hot wind we got nothing out of it. The last pic of the day was taken in little ol' Blossom TX. We knew it was a longshot to find a place to stay in the small east Texas towns along Highway 82 so it was no surprise to us that we were in Paris TX before we found decent accommodations. Paris was our home for the night and a ho-hum steakhouse next to our motel was where we found sustenance.
Today's ride was 406.3 s'miles.
Slide show of Natchitoches Stroll and Ride-By of Oakland Plantation
Slide show of ride from Natchitoches LA to Paris TX by way of AR
