New Orleans, LA – Duncan, OK
10 am – our first stop today was the French Quarter, we headed out to taste some beignets. A Beignet is a French doughnut served on a bed of confectioner’s sugar and generously topped with the same! Thanks to Wikipedia, we landed up in Café du Monde, a café chain in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. Café du Monde is located on Decatur St, it’s a local favorite and a tourist spot so it’s always packed. You walk in and seat yourself but nobody brings you a menu. I ordered coffee and a plate of beignets and looked around to find the same combination on every table! We then noticed the menu (I should say a list of beverages available and the beignet) stuck to the tissue dispenser on the table! So, this is the place-to-be in Nawlins for those beignets!
Later, we walked down Decatur St. and checked out some seasonal markets and other stores. The area looks old but pretty! That can be said of New Orleans as a whole I think, be it the structures, roads, homes – everything does look old and worn out. But if you look at some of the buildings (especially in the French Quarter) closely, they have a strong French character and definitely worth a click! Much of the worn out look is being attributed to Katrina and LA is clearly a poor state but there’s no stopping the tourists! Another noticeable feature in New Orleans is the people – they are extremely warm and friendly.
12 pm – okay gas-up time and we are back on I-10W and then I49N. We catalogued all our gas fill-ups across the country; you can find the tablehere!
4:30 pm – our next stop was the historic town on Natchitoches (pronounced Nak-utush). The story of
Natchitoches dates back almost 250 years! The brick roads in the historic district, the Red River, the buildings – the story is all about the local tribes and the battles they fought! The town is famous for its plantations but we were short on time so decided to just drive through the historic district. We also visited one of the stores **** in the historic district …. Don’t forget to sample their dips and flavored oils. The friendly storeowner Kim was kind enough to take us for a quick tour around a few buildings and also briefed us on the history of the town!
6pm – 12am: We spent longer than expected in Natchitoches so once we left this town, there was no stopping. We jumped on I-20N next and drove through Texas, along the outskirts of Dallas and into Oklahoma. Our evening snack and dinner were on the move!
Once we were in OK, we got on I-35E N followed by 70W and then 81N – we will never forget this 2 hour stretch to Duncan, OK! Both 70 and 81 felt long, dead and they best fit the description “in the middle of nowhere”! This is not a stretch you want to cover during night time. We drove from 10-12 am Madhav didn’t stop saying his prayers! It was quiet and our only company that night was the full moon! We tried our best to spot buildings or signs of human existence but we hardly saw any light! All we saw was some farm animals grazing in the fields. A day later, when we continued our drive out of OK, we figured out that we were driving through miles and miles of fields, farm houses, barns and silos – welcome to Oklahoma!!
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