Monroe, Louisiana

Louisiana 1 May to 4 May
We arrived in Monroe, Louisiana and picked up our hire car from the airport. We went for a drive around the East and North parts of Monroe. Living standards are quite diverse, some streets looked a lot like the Caribbean while others looked a lot like Australia. There are vast areas of Bayou and hence lots of woodlands and national parks, it’s very beautiful. Wed we drove to Vicksburg which is a town on the Mississippi and also has much civil war history. There is the famous siege of Vicksburg where the Union solders, led by Grant, tried numerous times to take heavily fortified Vicksburg without success. He then put the town under siege. The Confederates and townsfolk were basically starved out and surrended after only 6 weeks. We visited the National Military Park where we drove around and could see where the battles took place, including preserved trenches and tunnels. There are monuments everywhere for both sides and the confederate and union battle lines are also clearly marked, some only feet apart. There is also an ironclad battleship on display. It was very moving and I learned a lot of civil war history.
We met up with Jerry and Phyllis and had a lovely catfish and shrimp dinner and a restaurant overlooking the river. Jerry invitied us back to their house and I drove !!! It was cool. Jerry is really into technology and loves tv and related gagets, he has a tv in just about every room of their home! Steve was envious. I also drove back to the hotel. I am so pleased I purchased the USA map for our TomTom, it as been brilliant.
Thurs we drove around the West and South sides of Monroe and were able to get close to Lake Cheniere (pronounced Shenny) and did a bit of off road driving. There are lots of farms all through the state and we saw mainly corn crops. We met Jerry and Paul at Bayou Internet and did a tour. There is a radio station next door, well actually about 10 stations all transmit out of the one building, each has their own booth but all the audio is held in a small server room managed by the guys. Bayou is a typical ISP, tech gear everywhere with grotty tech support staff and harassed looking sales people.
We met with them again for dinner at the Cheniere Shack. They are famous for crawfish, Paul and Steve ordered a 10lb platter and Paul had a great time teaching Steve how to eat it. Steve had a great time eating. Steve also got to try some local beer. I got to drive back to the motel. We really enjoyed Louisiana and great Southern hospitality.