Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Down South...Day Fifteen...Monday, December 14, 2009...Out of Texas






It's another foggy day in Galveston. Walking over to the hotel office to get coffee this morning, I can barely see across the parking lot.
By 10:30AM or so, I'm packed up, checked out and on the road. I'm heading for the town of Winnie, Texas for lunch at Al-T's Cajun Food and Steakhouse for lunch...this place was mentioned in the Saveur Magazine's "Texas issue" as another hidden "gem".
In order to cut sixty miles or so off of the trip, I take the Ferry from Galveston to the Bolivar Peninsula...a fun twenty-minute boat ride across part of Galveston Bay. The fog prevents me from seeing very much, but a boat ride is always fun...and this one is free.
The Bolivar Peninsula looks like it was recently "carpet-bombed"...Hurricane Ida has done a LOT of damage here. Demolished homes, collapsed businesses, piles of rubble and uprooted trees scatter a barren landscape.
Around noon, I'm sitting down for lunch at Al-T's...and it's as good as promised. I order a plate of batter-fried Boudain (dirty rice stuffed in a sausage casing), a cup of smokey rich chicken and sausage gumbo, and a bowl of crawfish etoufee...along with a beer. Everything is excellent...including the coconut pie for dessert...and all for under $20.00. Full, happy and satisfied, I get back on the road...destination: Lafayette, Louisiana...about 150 miles.
Within minutes of leaving Winnie, the rain starts...really, really heavy rain, and it is relentless. It rains so hard that water starts leaking inside the Escape from the sunroof...a first for that. Cars, semis, and a few motor homes have skidded off the highway into deep water-filled ditches...State Troopers block several water-covered exits off of I-10. Pretty soon, my speed is down to 30mph...the expected two-hour drive turns into a tiring four and a half-hour "crawl".
Around 5:30PM, it's getting pretty dark as I finally reach Lafayette. My plan is to stay in Lafayette and drive ten miles or so to Henderson, LA for dinner at Robin's...a great Cajun restaurant where I last ate some twenty years ago. Finding a hotel next to a friendly tavern proves problematic...it takes me over an hour to finally find a Holiday Inn Express strategically located next to a Chili's.
By now, I'm so drained by the day's drive that I decide to eat close to the hotel and defer Robin's until lunch tomorrow. A local chain Mexican restaurant, Posado's, is close by, but the "vibe" is not good...at 6:20PM, it's completely empty...except for me. I limit myself to a Margarita before heading back across the street to Chili's...a few beers, but I'm still stuffed from lunch. So...I head back to the hotel, and heat up some of my leftover Boudain from lunch...just what I need.
A little Monday Night football...then off to bed. It's been a long day.

No comments: