New Orleans to Baton Rouge to Dallas, TX

I feel like I come up with all my good material on the road and by the time I get to sittin’ in front of this computer, it has escaped me. I need to start recording and transcribing this stuff so you can get the full effect of this roadtrip because I guarantee I’ve already forgotten some of the good stuff. So where was I? New Orleans heading to Dallas. Got to drive through the marshy areas again… still definitely the best landscape so far. I decided last minute (when I was practically on top of the city) that I wanted to stop in Baton Rouge. I called some people to try to get some food recs as it was around lunch time yesterday (thanks B and Mom) but ended up driving around for awhile and then parking downtown and walking around for a couple of hours with Gheera, who completely rebelled against the walk (well, that and the heat). We strolled down third street and were both sweating like crazy a couple of blocks in (well, I was sweating; she was panting and I was almost panting.) Anyway, so walked down third all the way to the state capital building and an awesome lake sprawled out behind it. Gheera found a tree she wanted to lay under and parked it there until I started dragging her again. We went through Spanish town, saw some gorgeous houses and then I made the best discovery of that stop… Poor Boy Lloyds. (Before we got there Gheera had tried to go into every air conditioned doorway and plop down in the middle of the sidewalk in the shade several times.) Back to lunch. I have to give them a shout out because the food is awesome (I got a shrimp po boy and gumbo) and I had a lovely conversation with the older gentleman who rang up my food. He had lots of questions for me about where I’m from, where I’m heading, what I do and ended with saying, “well when you write a book about your travels, make sure to mention us.” I smiled, as I was completely unaware that writing a book was in my future. So Poor Boy Lloyd’s. Check ‘em out. Baton Rouge, LA.

The drive to Dallas from Baton Rouge was my first excruciating one of the trip. I am NOT looking forward to the drive across west Texas that everyone has warned me about. I was impressed that the Texas welcome center was right at the state line (usually it comes a couple of miles into the state) though AND they provided me with a huge glossy guide book to the state and a huge state map. (Yes, I intentionally used the word “huge” twice in a sentence about Texas. Seemed appropriate.)

I didn’t get into Dallas until about 9:30pm last night. First stop, Kelley’s in-laws house to see Kelley and Ty and get hugs. Then I moved onto my hotel, which turns out, doesn’t accept dogs. I’m going to shorten this part of the story because even writing about it makes me mad all over again. The ending was sweetened by a stranger though who called another hotel for me, got me a discounted rate and let me follow him there, talked to the lady at the front desk for me and shook my hand goodbye. Ralph or Roger and Rodney or something. Thanks dude. I’ve met some great people on the road. Maybe there is still some hope for mankind.

When all that was said and done it was pretty late by the time I finally went to bed but getting up was easy because I got to spend the entire day with Kelley! She picked me up for breakfast and we went to a place by the name of Legal Grounds where I got a delicious cappuccino and we split a pancake piled with homemade granola, bananas and strawberries and eggs. No, the eggs were not ON the pancake but some salt that Kelley poured on the eggs, which were on the side, ended up on there. Anyway, amazing breakfast with amazing company. After that we ran errands and I got to see their newly renovated house. Fish and shrimp tacos for lunch, a nice walk around her neighborhood in the afternoon, which Gheera boycotted halfway through as well. I can understand though. It was, literally, 100 degrees outside. Later I had dinner with Kelley and Ty’s family and watched the Mavericks beat the Heat. Fun game. That brings us to now. I’m about to post the photos from yesterday and today so keep checking out that site by clicking on the link to the left. More Dallas to come!