The Wedding(s) Blog #4 (A Snake, A Beaver & An Old Favorite)

     Our 2018 Wedding(s) Road Trip has begun. In fact, one wedding is already in the books. I'll have much more on that coming up. But first, how we got here is one part fun, one part, tiring and one part potentially life changing. I'll start with the latter of the three.

     Before we ever got out of Snyder, America, in fact the night before we left west Texas, we had possibly one of the top five worst things that can happen inside a house.
     I was already in bed. Teresa was turning off some lights. My house were closed. Then this is what happened....

     "Bill! There's a SNAKE!!!"
     "What? Where?"
     "IN THE HOUSE."

     Yep. Enough said. I didn't see it. T said it was the diameter of her thumb and the length of her forearm. It disappeared under the refrigerator. We slept on the couch at the ranch that night. Suffice it to say, we didn't exactly rest too easily that last night before blast off for the weddings.

     The abbreviated version of the road trip is: Two cars, nephew's wedding in Baton Rouge, son's wedding later in Nashville, first night Shreveport, next few nights New Orleans & then on the road to Nashville.

     The drive from Snyder to Shreveport was nothing out of the ordinary. We made it through the metroplex, got to Shreveport, stayed the night & left for New Orleans. Besides the SNAKE scare, the meat of this blog began Thursday morning.

     First stop, the home of maybe the most famous beaver I know... Buc-ee's in Terrell, Texas about 45 minutes east of Dallas.

      Next stop after overnighting in Shreveport, Lea's Lunchroom in LaCompte, LA. Growing up in Baton Rouge, driving to Lea's for their pies was apparently commonplace. Personally, I never did it but I can't count how many times friends would say "mommas going to Leas for pies."

Lea's Lunchroom/LaCompte, La

     About 10-miles off Interstate 55, LaCompte is a lot like most little towns in Anywhere, USA. The city's named after a quasi-famous Bayou State racehorse, but it's famous for Lea's and their pies.
     So when in Rome... We ate pie. We bought Pie. We browsed and we got back on the road.
     Now after all those years, I understand why all those 'mommas' drove from Baton Rouge to LaCompte.


    We didn't eat lunch at Lea's because we were bound for Baton Rouge and one of my long ago favorite places for lunch.

George's/Baton Rouge

          A lot of things have changed, most things have changed since my Baton Rouge/South Louisiana days, but not George's. It's under I-10 on Perkins Road, you still can't find a place to park, and it's still a grungy, dark place with arguably the worst restrooms in town. But without question, George's still serves a fantastic cheeseburger with a single order of fries or onion rings that's enough to feed four and still have leftovers.
     The inside is kind of pie shaped. The bar's packed with eaters and drinkers. The little tables seat two, but regularly accommodate four or five or even six.
     There are no waiters, just bartenders and cooks. You write your own order get your own drink (non alcoholic,) and stack your empty plates but it's worth every penny. And that's practically what you paid, because it's still cheap, cheap, cheap!
     So by 1:30 on this day, we'd had pie, burgers, fries and onion rings.... in that order. Oh yeah, we had a giant but only mediocre breakfast at our Shreveport hotel.

      We got out B.R. much easier and quicker than we got into B.R. By 5:00pm, we were checked-in to our home away from home in New Orleans (NOLA.) We didn't have too many hiccups in that leg of the drive, but like getting around any real city at rush hour, it wasn't quick or easy.

     Next time, Fun in The Big Easy, Karaoke Cab and Wedding #1 at The White Oak Plantation.