New Orleans, Louisiana - Monday, 30th September
The final day of our journey celebrating the 50th anniversary of Easy Rider and we continued east out of Lake Charles once again in sunny and humid conditions. Our mid morning coffee stop was at an old bank building now the Java Square Café in the town of Opelousas before riding on to Krotz Springs which is (spoiler alert) where the dramatic final part of the movie was shot and where our heroes, Billy and Wyatt, met their end at the hands of two (genuine) local red necks:
From there it was a short ride to the town of Morganza home to the original café where Billy and Wyatt first came to the attention of the local red necks. Amazingly we had quite a reception with a warm welcome from the local mayor and media there to record the occasion. Our leader, Alan, being interviewed:
Commemorative plaque:
The original café was actually demolished in the 80s but the resourceful locals, with an eye on the tourist trade, have put in place a false frontage:
On then to our lunch stop at Hot Tails in New Roads where Tracey and I sampled the delights - as recommended by Alan - of blackened alligator. Very tasty it was too.
The final leg of the journey in to New Orleans took us over the longest continuous bridge over water in the world - the Lake Pontchartain Causeway (24 miles long). We arrived at our hotel in the heart of the French Quarter, the Dauphine, having passed through 7 states in 12 days, with barely a drop of rain and having covered over 3000 miles:
Tracey and I ventured in to Bourbon Street in the evening for more Cajun food at Le Bayou restaurant washed down with a couple of celebratory cocktails (Hurricane for Tracey and Madam Laveau for Chris). Tomorrow we are off on a Louisiana swamp tour and, in the evening, for our farewell meal with our travelling gang.
From there it was a short ride to the town of Morganza home to the original café where Billy and Wyatt first came to the attention of the local red necks. Amazingly we had quite a reception with a warm welcome from the local mayor and media there to record the occasion. Our leader, Alan, being interviewed:
Commemorative plaque:
The original café was actually demolished in the 80s but the resourceful locals, with an eye on the tourist trade, have put in place a false frontage:
On then to our lunch stop at Hot Tails in New Roads where Tracey and I sampled the delights - as recommended by Alan - of blackened alligator. Very tasty it was too.
The final leg of the journey in to New Orleans took us over the longest continuous bridge over water in the world - the Lake Pontchartain Causeway (24 miles long). We arrived at our hotel in the heart of the French Quarter, the Dauphine, having passed through 7 states in 12 days, with barely a drop of rain and having covered over 3000 miles:
Tracey and I ventured in to Bourbon Street in the evening for more Cajun food at Le Bayou restaurant washed down with a couple of celebratory cocktails (Hurricane for Tracey and Madam Laveau for Chris). Tomorrow we are off on a Louisiana swamp tour and, in the evening, for our farewell meal with our travelling gang.
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