More Louisiana

Pat in Manzur, La. with Mardi face

Tomorrow we depart south toward  Baton Rouge, Lakeside RV at Livingston, La, leaving this perfectly set RV site behind.  Here we have had  the cheapest rates anywhere, that our Passport America membership gets us $8 per night!  Full hook ups.  Cannot be beat!  Good Sam would only have been $15 but half is better.   However, I have encountered here some of the strangest people I have ever met strange talking when they do talk to you even if you are a customer and  strange to rude behavior. Remember I lived in CA over  40 years and so I know strange when I encounter it.  One example was the Wal Mart cashier who left us and her register mid way through checking us out to shoot the breeze with someone who appeared to be her friend.  No kidding she just walked off to continue her conversation without so much as a "just a minute."   Had I been shopping alone I would have left everything and given her the pleasure of figuring it out when she returned.  But Jerry is more patient than I am and so we waited.  This took only a minute or so but was very rude, I thought.  When she returned she resumed ringing up our items without any explanation or apology.  She seemed to have a chip on her shoulder that we and those behind us in line interrupted her time with her friend.  Wal Mart employees are usually known for courtesy and customer service but that cashier must not have been so trained.    

 It is Mardi Gras, evidently all over Louisiana. all month leading up to next Wednesday when Lent kicks in. This lady above, no not me, the one with the gold face is prominent everywhere with the colors of Mardi, green, purple and gold.  Many homes are lavishly decorated outside with the colors and the  party attire.  This was an out of the way antique shop of sorts in an out of the way tiny town, Manzur  sometimes spelled Masur, depending on which map one uses.  See what I mean, one tiny town, population of no more than 1000 spelled various ways. It is off Hwy. 1 close to Marksville, where we've set up at the Paragon  Casino RV.   The prices inside this Antique store surprised me because they were upscale for an area with limited traffic and off season.

We started out at some other local Marksville shops but found nothing we could not do without.  Although this handsome handmade  rocker, on the primitive side was tempting,  how to get it into the RV to take home was the challenge and so we passed on it.  I should admit, I passed with Jerry's adamant insistence that this would not fit anywhere.  Notice the sign  over it?  Some kind of sense of humor, don't you think for this handicap accessible rocker..And that was not all that caught my eyes at this shop, Treasures, in.Marksville which has spaces rented to those who would sell their collections. 

Remember the song, Coca Cola Cowboy?  It was  a 1979 single written by Steve Dorff, Sandy Pinkard, Sam Atchley, and Bud Dain and recorded by Mel Tillis. The song was featured in the film, Every Which Way But Loose, starring Clint Eastwood.  Well, here in the south where coca cola rules, this store offered a coca cola rooster.  Something else we resisted purchasing, but intriguing none the less, which is why I so enjoy browsing these places. 

One example of the strange culture of this area where the people are Cajuns and other mixtures, tied tot he swamps was this tourist center which was touted for several miles into town.  Isn't this a fine gesture, parking for tourists only the sign reads, by order of the Police no less.  Well, this is  the site of the Hypolite Bordelon Home Museum, a historic site.  It is one of the few surviving mud and moss homes and was built back between 1790 and 1810 in the French pattern of two rooms centered by a double fireplace  and a small back cabinet room behind.  The history of the Bordelon family in Louisiana and in the area  here known as the Avoyelles parish is   intriguing.  But let me continue.  We had looked for a tourist center as we came into Marksville but  decided wherever it was it must have been closed on Sunday.  Inquiring at the  registration desk at the Paragon gave us  the response "no such place in town that I know of." 

So I satisfied myself that there was no tourist center and that if we wanted to  know about the area and what to see, we"d have to try to look online and punt.  It is a quaint area and worth driving around, so this was not a big issue.  The levee roads are interesting drives, many aged  outskirt homes and some new ones here and there.  Then yesterday enroute to Mansur we stopped at  the 4 H Museum on Hwy 1.  There was a  full scale visitor center with several helpful women who showered us with maps and brochures about sites to not miss while we were here.  This Bordelon house is one the women explained we might enjoy seeing and they said,  the Marksville tourist center is inside.  On our return trip we decided to  continue to town to see this tourist center which we surely had missed repeatedly.  And we were interested in seeing a house that old with mud and moss walls.  What would the architecture resemble?  You can see it in the following photo right next tot he parking area reserved for tourists.  We'd passed this repeatedly and it did not register with us.     

This sign is prominent.   

Only one little issue,  the home/museum  is absolutely not open, closed and it did not appear to be just for the season.  Jerry was braver and ventured up onto the porch and tried the door which had no handle, just in case there was a way in.  There was not, but we could park there, here is Jerry looking around.     

Now to cap off our visit to this town, I had been noticing drive through Daquiri huts and buildings some along side bars and some free standing only similar to   drive up wondows at fast foods or coffee shops.  But this takes drive up to a new meaning, booze and beer right out your car window.  When I told a shop keeper I had to take a photo of the sign and the building she  said I would not be the only one to do so.  When people come from out of town they notice it immediately. 

I admit that this afternoon I felt  we could not leave Marksville without my trying the drive through.  A 20 ounce strawberry daquiri for only $4.  Brought it back to enjoy at the motor home, although since Jerry was driving, I could sip along.  Notice the guard alligators at the entrance and the teddy bears which were on sale for Valentines' Day. 

There is interesting architecture in town too, like the courthouse in the midst of the town adjacent to the district attorney and  the police station.  The town appears to have a flourishing attorney industry as the law offices have taken over several old homes   downtown. 

The last tidbit about Marksville"s  emblem, a broken wagon wheel.  Legend has it that the  founder of the town, Marco Litchie a traveling peddler from Venice Italy  who migrated to the area in 1794  set up a trading post when his wagon wheel broke.  He married Julie Carmouche in 1796 and obtained more than 400 Spanish land grants.  The area became known as Marc's place and finally Marc's ville to the name today.  There are more than 100 historical markers around the area.  This last photo of the sculpture alongside the highway commemorating Marc;s broken wheel  is courtesy of the local Chamber of Commerce.