Cross-country to Key West: NOLA to Taos
Rio Grande Gorge looking north towards Colorado, where it starts.
We left NOLA for Taos, NM by way of Shreveport, LA, Denton, TX and Amarillo. No trip to OK since Lisa and Paul were on the road in their runamucka with the jeep trailing behind. Shreveport’s in the heart of Cajun country. It’s cattle and horses and farms. Ain’t much bayou up in this part of the state. Lots of grass and woodlands with friendly people.
As we passed through Opelousas it was getting to be lunch time so we started scouting via the web for local places to eat. As luck would have it there was a beacon, a sign provided. A billboard advertising Billy’s Boudin Balls, “The Best in Town”. Well, we’d seen boudin balls as appetizers in almost every restaurant we ate at in NOLA and we decided it was about time to try them. We pulled Billy’s up on the map app and exited the interstate. It took about 10 minutes to find the place, back in towards the center of town. A small place with quite a few cars in the lot for an afternoon, so we thought. Upon entering this definitely local establishment we saw about 5 people in line ordering. They have around 10-12 types of balls, starting with Billy’s Balls. There was an older gentleman sitting at one of the dinette set tables looking at us when I turned around, we were definitely not locals. Didn’t match the skin tone or have the accent. I asked him if the food was good and he replied that he eats lunch there 6 days a week and was picking up a take-out for a friend.
For the uninitiated boudin balls are the Cajun version of arancini, the Sicilian street food, and Billy’s were as big as the ones you get on the ferry from San Giovanni to Messina. The Billy Balls, were chicken, andouille and rice rolled with spices then dipped in the batter they use for their fried chicken and deep fried. We got 2 Billy’s balls and 2 crawfish balls with a small bag of cracklins. Cracklins are pieces of pork belly cut into 1/2 inch cubes and deep fried. Get the salted ones. Everything was delicious. Stopping at Billy’s is a good side trip.
That evening we found another great small restaurant, this time in Shreveport. Again, by scanning the apps for local, non-franchise places. Only this time we were looking for something that wasn’t fried. Good luck in most of the south. We found a place, Crawdaddy’s Kitchen, that offered grilled fish and shrimp and etouffee so we headed there. Again, we were obviously the only non-locals in the place. SCORE! The waitress was a sweetheart. I told her we had been in NOLA for 4-5 days and I hadn’t had any etouffee while there, which is really unusual. Cathy had grilled shrimp while I opted for the Cajun Supreme, which was crawfish etouffee over a large piece of crawfish cornbread, and when she brought it she said that she had added extra etouffee. Damn fine eats. The next day when we checked out the desk clerk asked where we had eaten the night before and when I said Crawdaddy’s she said that was the best in town. Then I told her that we had stopped in Opelousas and ate lunch a Billy’s she jumped and exclaimed we had done it right and gave me a fist bump for our choices.
Leaving Shreveport we headed towards Taos, NM via Denton, TX, just north of Dallas. Not much to relate about this stretch of country. Pretty much the same view all the way. From Denton to Taos, it’s over 9 hours so we planned to stop in Amarillo, for our second time there. One thing of note is that it’s a US 287, mostly 4 lane and not a lot of traffic. Most of the small towns along the highway, except for Wichita Falls, appear to be dying, slowly. Most store fronts are empty, boarded up or windows papered over from the inside. It’s not pretty in the hinterlands. No wonder the GOP fear-mongering has taken hold. There is not a lot of hope for these folks from the looks of things.
Only a few unusual roadside attractions. One of which was in Bowie, TX. Naturally, it’s the largest bowie knife in the world, allegedly. We had to stop and catch a photo. While it’s big, it’s not sharp. Kind of disappointing. I was hoping it would have an edge. Not a lot to say about Amarillo either. There’s construction on I-10 through the town so getting off and to your destination is confusing. We had to pass exits and drive a couple miles worth of frontage roads, also under construction, to get where we needed to go. On our last trip through here we found Crazy Larry’s Bar-b-que and we went back for dinner this trip. It’s worth looking for. Get there early in the evening before they start to run out of the good stuff.
If we’re ever through this area again I’d like to drive to the Palo Duro Canyon, just southeast of Amarillo. It’s the second largest canyon in the US. There are some roads down and across the canyon but not much of anything up through it. There are small town along the edges, or a few miles from the edges, but I’d not plan on staying in any of them unless there’s no alternative. I imagine they’d have pretty sketchy accommodations, judging from the towns along the highway to Amarillo.
Leaving Amarillo we drove pretty much due north then west into New Mexico. Two years ago we headed through the central part of the state, and this time we went further north through Dalhart and Clayton then west towards Cimarron. In May the lower Cimarron Canyon experienced one of the many wildfires of this year. In fact, the folks in the town of Cimarron were on the verge of having to evacuate due to the blaze. As you drive up through the lower and upper canyons there are signs, posted and visual, of the flash floods that have been hitting the canyon when it rained. We stopped for lunch in Cimarron and spoke with the lady at the visitor center. She and her family almost lost their home from the fire but the fire crews were able to stop it from consuming the town.
On the way through you could see the effects of the fire, until you got to the upper canyon, past the Palisades Sill, a beautiful rock formation created by uplifts. After you pass up through the canyon you get to Eagles Nest, a large beautiful valley in the mountains. My brother has driven through here on his way to and from Arizona and recommended it. We then stopped at Angel Fire, one of the ski areas outside of Taos. The chair lift starts about 8000 feet and the top is close to 10,000. We hoped to get to ride to the top but we got there 10 minutes after the last chair left. RATS!!
This was the first time I noticed any effects from altitude. At 8000 you’re above the level that aircraft pressurize their interiors and it was apparent. Walking up to the chairlift station and back to the car with less lung than before was noticeable. I got somewhat winded before realizing why. Taos is at 7000 and as we walked around the town over the next couple days I could feel that altitude as well.
Palisades Sill on the Cimarron River
Well, this gets us to Taos. Next time I’ll get to our trip to the Taos Pueblo and beyond as we head to Copper Horse vineyard to see my niece and her husband in the foothills of the Chiricahuas
Ciao for now.