New Orleans to Highlands TX

Today we drove from New Orleans to Highlands, Texas, just east of Houston entirely along Interstate-10.  The day started out cold as predicted but the skies that followed behind the remainder of the cold front we experienced the previous night were eventually clear and sunny.  As we left town we saw one of the famous New Orleans cemeteries along the road.

The clear day then gave us a pretty view of the bayous and woods we passed along the elevated highway just west of New Orleans.  In spite of the cold winter, evidence of spring is visible with more budding trees in shades of light green and red with an occasional flowering shrub and a verdant carpet of grass wrapping itself around the forest floor. 

We passed signs proclaiming the vendor has the “best chitlins” (also known as chitterlings) along the highway.  I have no inclination to even try these.  Made from the intestines of pigs, this food originated during American slavery.  Pigs were slaughtered and the owners took the meat leaving the intestines behind for their slaves.  Apparently, the intestines are turned inside out and boiled for five minutes before being further cleaned by hand and then deep-fried. 

The other advertised food along the way that is much more intriguing is boudin, a sausage found in many cultures, notably French, Belgian and German.  This area is known for “boudin blanc” (a white sausage) that is becoming a daily staple right up there with gumbo and jambalaya for the locals.  It is quite good as we learned at the Gumbo Shop on Thursday where we both probably had meals containing boudin.  If you are really into Cajun food, you can order from the Gumbo Shop and they will ship.  The next time I am in the mood for New Orleans cuisine, I may try them.

When we reached Baton Rouge around 11 am, we crossed the Mississippi River with a floating casino anchored on its eastern shore.  The river was full and muddy from whence it got the nickname, ‘Ol Muddy.  I suspect we have crossed the river ahead of spring flood stage because of the cold weather lingering in the north.  A half an hour later we passed over the Atchafalaya River which seems just as muddy and runs even higher skirting the very trees along its banks.  By noon we pass the crawfish fields near Breaux Bridge, a town that is known as the Crawfish Capital of the World.

We were in Texas and crossing the Neches River near Beaumont by half past two where we saw a huge refinery from the highway.  The 419 mile long Neches River flows through 92,000 acres of eastern Texas before reaching our crossing point.  Trees with white flowers started to appear shortly before we passed an even larger refinery near Baytown, TX.

We stopped for the night east of Houston at an RV park called Houston Leisure RV Resort, which was packed with pipeline workers.  Their campers provide a virtual gold mine for the owners of the park.  As the sun began to set, we settled into our RV space ready for a relaxing evening following our six-hour drive for the day.  It felt good to have a few moments in the sun and even better to put our feet up in front of the TV.