Read about our music travels through Shreveport Louisiana
The King Is Here
Some days you just don’t get a lot done. It started out well. The Chrysler Town and Country is a nice vehicle, the one we chose at Dallas had satellite radio. But little did we know that it included “Elvis Radio” which plays nothing but Presley tunes, broadcast from Graceland. The King will be with us wherever we go!
From that momentous discovery, our plans went awry.
Almost #1
The Barksdale US Air Force Base is close to Shreveport and has a museum “attached”. Richard was keen to go to this aviation museum as it has a large collection of military aircraft and historical artifacts that dates from the early days of United States military aviation as well as the history of Barksdale Base, the formation of the 2nd Bomb Wing and the formation of the 8th Air Force.
Noting some shortcomings in our rental GPS, we finally found the Air Force Base. This was despite Sandra asking a local for directions who claimed he had lived there for years and had never heard of an Air Force Base. He said this as a jet fighter took off nearby.
The information officer at the Base was very helpful but instructions were delivered at such a frantic pace that Richard returned to the group, confused and only capable of estimating where we would find our destination with a probability factor that was statistically insignificant. Alas the GPS was confused also and we abandoned our quest for greener fields.
Almost #2
Jenny liked the sound of a trip to nearby Mooringsport and a visit to its Mini Museum where we could enjoy Caddo Indian relics and memorabilia from 1837 to 1940. Huddie ‘Leadbelly’ Ledbetter, “king of the twelve-string guitar” is featured in the museum and his gravesite is nearby. So off we go with Elvis by our side and soon enough we were in the centre of Mooringsport. The museum was to open at 2 pm being a Sunday so we had an hour to kill. We couldn’t use our phones to google the gravesite as there was no network coverage. Not one shop open either, well there was only one store at all actually.
So we walked down to the nearby lake, ventured to the local cemetery and searched the grave stones and markers (no Leadbelly) and, in an act of desperation to fill in time, we found a gas station about 5 miles up the road for some food and drinks while we waited. To say that the locals were surprised that a group of four Australians had walked in, was an understatement. Sandra handed over an Aussie $5 note for a staff member to keep which seemed to make her day. We found our way back to Mooringsport just in time for its opening …except that it didn’t and we never found Leadbelly’s burial site. Here’s a picture of the museum anyway.
Mooringsport Mini-Museum
Almost #3
Our plans were to stay the night in Vicksburg Mississippi. This was before all the time spent on Almosts #1 and #2. By 5pm we had reached Monroe, Louisiana and that was enough. We found a reasonably priced Best Western, nearby were some restaurants and another shopping centre (more fun tomorrow).
The evening meal was spent in Applebee’s, a true sporting bar with steak as its speciality. We also happened upon the 2-for-1 margarita special day, which worked out to be $3.05 each – a new record low!
A quiet and early night. Tomorrow, we make for the crossroads – Clarksdale Mississippi.
Read about our music travels through Shreveport Louisiana
Read about our music travels through Shreveport Louisiana
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