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The server at Suire’s Grocery was apologetic. They had just finished their lunch period and only had sandwiches left. Would that do? But before we could register a response a voice piped up from behind the hatch in the servery, insisting they had one last hot plate to offer. It was boudin and rice in gravy, take it or leave it.
Gratefully, we agreed to take it. We had hoped for their “legendary” Turtle Sauce Piccante, or Catfish Po’boy, or something else from their daily chalkboard of Cajun delicacies, all redolent of 300 years of southern Louisiana’s cultural hot-pot. But boudin and rice sounded intriguing. “What’s in it?” we asked, naively. The person next in line piped up. “Best not to ask,” she insisted. “But it’s good eatin’ all the same.” She wasn’t wrong.
Traditional boudin is a sausage made from pork meat, rice, vegetables and seasonings that vary from kitchen to kitchen and can include liver and heart, hence the whispered advice to stay ignorant of the recipe. We took the plunge and savoured a deeply flavourful plateful. The sausage had the consistency of pate and the thick gravy added a delectably gooey texture that hinted of bourbon, tabasco and something essentially earthy.
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St Martinville was founded in 1765 and is the setting for Longfellow’s poem Evangeline (Simon and Susan Veness)
Read more: A fiery new food tour across America’s Deep South
Family-run Suire’s, in the rural town of Kaplan, was exactly what we’d hoped to encounter as our year-long RV circumnavigation of the US reached its 11th month. Southern Louisiana held the promise of experiences beyond the usual tourist trail, and we were soon immersed in a world of historical intrigue, ancient waterways, crawfish farms and fabulous food – the legacy of the 18th-century French Catholic expulsion from maritime Canada.
Here, along the Cajun Corridor Byway, we explored St Martinville, founded in 1765 and the setting for Longfellow’s epic poem “Evangeline”. We continued to the shrimping centre of Morgan City and White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area, where we were advised to keep an eye out for alligators. We also discovered Hebert’s Meats and dined on superb etouffee, jambalaya and more boudin.
Heading further east brought us to history-rich Baton Rouge via the 18-mile marvel of Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, an extensive causeway across America’s largest river swamp. From the elevated seats of our 36-foot-long Winnebago, we enjoyed a grandstand view of this million-acre wetland that is effectively the Mississippi’s dramatic overflow basin.
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Crawfish farms are scattered across southern Louisiana (Simon and Susan Veness)
We checked in to the chic Tiger’s Trail RV Resort, an adjunct to the neighbouring L’Auberge Casino and packed with amenities like a swimming pool, lazy river feature, laundry and pickleball courts, plus the friendliest camp hosts we’d yet met. Fully in tune with the campground camaraderie we had come to expect, the Tiger’s Trail folks made us feel part of their family with a friendliness that was genuine and unmistakable.
Baton Rouge introduced us to the massive Louisiana State University campus with its stunning 102,000-seat American football stadium and an urban profile packed with modern art and period architecture, including its neo-Gothic Old State Capitol building, St Joseph Cathedral and Magnolia Mound Plantation House. The city’s oldest neighbourhood, the Civil War-ravaged Spanish Town, offered a collection of period homes, as well as the nearby temptations of Cecilia Creole Bistro, where we sampled fried oysters and alligators.
Resorting to our trusty tow car, we ventured in search of the rural towns and backwaters that reputedly make up 80 per cent of the state. Here, we could drive part of the Great River Road National Scenic Byway, a homage to the mighty Mississippi, studded with landmarks from the plantation era, notably Houmas House with its stately mansion and gardens.
Sunset from the New Orleans RV Resort (Simon and Susan Veness)
The classic waterway of Bayou Manchac took us back into the 19th century, and the Southern Swamp Byway took us further still, with a timewarp journey into backroads where gators and turtles were often the only living creatures and crawfish farms were commonplace. Back in the 1940s, rice farmers realised their flooded rectangular ponds were the perfect breeding ground for crawfish, which thrived on the rice stalks, and promptly set up a two-for-the-price-of-one industry that supplies 100 million pounds per year of this delectable freshwater crustacean.
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This symbiosis of backwater industry and dinner-table staple reached its zenith in New Orleans, where, for once, we were willing to drive our RV into the city to be close to the attractions. The New Orleans RV Resort & Marina proved yet again that a decent place to pull up and plug in is always on hand, and we dropped anchor for a week of Big Easy sights and tastes. Especially tastes.
Read more: Move over New Orleans, Lake Charles is our new favourite destination for Mardi Gras
Lafayette and Baton Rouge had whetted our appetites for the rich, rustic cuisine of the bayous, and we expected this foodie-centric city to raise the bar considerably. We weren’t disappointed. While we delighted in the unique French-Spanish-British culture that underpins New Orleans life, we happily soaked up the likes of shrimp etouffee, fried okra, gumbo and andouille sausage, all of which came with the Cajun “holy trinity” of chopped onions, celery and green bell peppers for stews, soups and sauces of lip-smacking pleasure.
City Park is the second largest park in the US after New York’s Central Park (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
We arrived just in time for the Wednesday concert series in Lafayette Square, a free weekly festival of live music and food kiosks that immediately got us up to speed on how to enjoy the city, especially when we came across the urban oasis of City Park, the second largest park in the US after New York’s Central Park. Its mixture of botanical gardens, amusement parks, museums, sculpture gardens and dog parks was balm for the soul and a feast for the senses, especially when we happened upon the beignets.
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Aah, the beignets! These little portions of fried dough delight are a local speciality dating back to French immigrants from the 1700s, and Café du Monde has been serving them since 1862. Now in locations throughout the city, they are as iconic as Mardi Gras and twice as delicious. City Park’s café lacked the crowds of the downtown venues, hence we sat and ingested with enormous relish.
Read more: How to do the perfect New York city break
While New Orleans beguiled with its cuisine, music and culture – including the renowned National WWII Museum, which brought us to tears with its section on the Holocaust, and Chalmette Battlefield, where the 1815 Battle of New Orleans effectively ended colonial claims on America – the rural areas south of the city caught us off guard. The painfully impoverished towns of the Mississippi River Delta were a reminder of a tragic past and uncertain future, with its historic high poverty levels now exacerbated by a succession of hurricanes that have left deep scars, along with the climate change forecast for more.
Historic high poverty levels in Louisiana have been exacerbated by a succession of hurricanes (Simon and Susan Veness)
The state of Mississippi presented us with dazzling Gulf Coast real estate. As we pulled into Buccaneer State Park, another superbly equipped campground right on this captivating coast, we were aware of the beach just a few yards from our site, while the coast road disappeared to the east in a whispered promise of new discoveries.
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Sure enough, we were right on Beach Boulevard Scenic Byway, a pristine 13-mile stretch of wooded seaside nirvana studded with two utterly charming towns in Waveland and Bay St Louis. While New Orleans grabbed all the tragic headlines of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Waveland was actually ground zero for the monster storm, with only one building left standing on the high street thanks to a 30ft surge that pushed miles inland and left 57 dead (out of a population of 8,361). Amazingly, the rebuilding effort has created a new-town appearance with old-school sensibilities, and the Byway provided outstanding sight-seeing as well as blissful beaches and the eclectic Mockingbird Café, a survivor of Katrina and now a community focus for breakfast, lunch and heavenly coffees.
The 26 miles of white sands wouldn’t be out of place in the Caribbean (Simon and Susan Veness)
The coastal idyll continued as we took Highway 90 through Pass Christian, Long Beach and Gulfport to Biloxi Bay RV Resort, and another exercise in high-quality camping. With its own lazy river feature, swimming pool and bayfront bar, we were totally cosseted for another week, while also enjoying local highlights that included the eclectic arts community of Ocean Springs – packed with restaurants, art galleries and its own beachfront – and Biloxi itself, with more dining delights, as well as 26 miles of white sands that wouldn’t be out of place in the Caribbean.
In many ways, we had uncovered the essential Zen of RVing with a totally chilled state of road-going mind, but there was more in store as we considered the final month of our grand adventure through Alabama and back home to Orlando.
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How to do it
RV Factfile:
‘111 Places in Orlando That You Must Not Miss’ by Simon Veness and Susan Veness is out now for £13.99.
Read more: US cities for solo female travellers you might not have considered
RUSTON, La. (KNOE) – Louisiana Tech University’s College of Education and Human Sciences announced it has established a new Center for Literacy and Learning designed to expand evidence-based reading support for children and professional development for educators across North Louisiana.
The university’s Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership said the launch of the Center for Literacy and Learning at Louisiana Tech, also known as L3, will provide diagnostic assessments, tutoring and workshop opportunities, combining academic research with hands-on clinical practice.
“As literacy rates and reading achievement continue to present challenges across Louisiana and the nation, the Center for Literacy and Learning is rooted in supporting evidence-based instruction, applied research, and community partnerships,” said Dr. Dustin Whitlock, interim department head of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership.
Officials said planning for the center began more than a decade ago as faculty sought to expand literacy services for local schools and the surrounding community, but the effort faced delays due to space and funding challenges.
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University leaders said momentum increased after faculty partnered with the Louisiana Department of Education and literacy experts nationwide to create a professional learning course for Louisiana K-3 educators. The course, “The Science and Art of Teaching Reading,” focuses on structured literacy practices aligned with Science of Reading research. Louisiana Tech said funding connected to the course and the state education department helped make the center possible.
Megan Hunt, a teacher at A.E. Phillips Laboratory School, was selected to lead the center. Whitlock said Hunt brings a strong background in foundational literacy instruction and is working toward becoming a certified UFLI coach.
“Mrs. Hunt’s skill and expertise allow her to support both students and educators through high-quality literacy instruction and professional learning,” Whitlock said.
Hunt said the center is aimed at building long-term support for literacy instruction through collaboration with districts, families and community partners.
“Literacy affects all aspects of life and is ultimately how people access opportunity and how communities grow stronger,” Hunt said. “When children become proficient readers, it represents more than just academic progress; it changes the trajectory of their lives.”
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Local school leaders also praised the partnership. Michelle Thrower, K-2 facilitator for Lincoln Parish Schools, said professional development and resources connected to Louisiana Tech have supported literacy growth in the district.
“Our collaboration with Louisiana Tech has been a cornerstone of our success in elevating literacy proficiency across Lincoln Parish Schools,” Thrower said, citing DIBELS growth tied to the UFLI Foundations curriculum in K-2.
Louisiana Tech said the center will operate through three main components:
The Literacy Clinic
The Literacy Institute
The Literacy Resource Center.
The center is expected to provide individualized assessments, targeted intervention services, literacy workshops and educator professional development.
Officials said the components will be developed in phases over the next few years.
For more information, Louisiana Tech said the public can contact Dr. Dustin Whitlock at whitlock@latech.edu.
The U.S. Department of Energy announced Tuesday that Louisiana was one of the few states chosen for a $134 million rare earth element initiative in a move that would give the U.S. more independence from China, Reuters reports.
ElementUSA has been awarded about $67 million for a rare earth refining facility projected to cost $850 million in St. John the Baptist Parish to ramp up its production of core material for military vehicles, naval ships and aircrafts.
Louisiana’s rare earth element initiatives are aimed at relocating the critical American minerals supply chain for electric vehicles, renewable energy and national defense. The minerals include bauxite residue, which is a waste product from aluminium production. The plant is expected to produce roughly 150-1,000 metric tons of rare earths annually.
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Oklahoma was also chosen to receive grant money for a refining facility in Tulsa.
A Department of Homeland Security watchdog report revealed that staff members at an ICE detention center in Louisiana used a prohibited chokehold to “gain control” of a person being held there and stabbed another in the hand with a pen when an officer could not close the door to a housing unit.
The newly released findings about Winn Correctional Center in central Louisiana follow the DHS inspector general’s review of video of the use-of-force incidents as part of an unannounced facility inspection. The report, which was published on the DHS website, also noted that the officer who stabbed the detainee with a pen was disciplined.
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Staff members failed to maintain safe and sanitary conditions, the report says, noting leaking vents and ceilings with insulation falling through. Staff members used napkins and Styrofoam containers to collect the water from the leaks, according to the report.
Scrutiny of conditions inside ICE detention centers that house more than 60,000 detainees has been growing.
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Earlier Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended his agency’s detention standards on Capitol Hill amid complaints about ICE’s Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. That center has been the site of frequent protests.
Rep. Tim Kennedy, D-N.Y., accused Mullin of leaving detainees without food or medical care.
Mullin rejected the claims. “You can say all you want, but don’t accuse me of something that’s not accurate,” he said.
The inspector general made nine recommendations, ranging from environmental health and safety standards to proper handling of use-of-force incidents and maintaining food service standards.
ICE is working to address all of the issues, including by providing additional staff training, a spokesperson for the agency said.
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“These minor infractions included failing to provide detainees exercise equipment, record keeping errors and leaking vents. Another infraction included providing a shared computer for legal research that would allow other detainees to see other detainees’ case information,” the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for DHS said the report shows that the facility complies with detention standards.
“ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens,” the spokesperson said.
Winn Correctional is one of the largest ICE detention centers in the country, housing more than 1,500 men. It opened in 1990, and ICE took it over from the state in 2019.
The report was produced after an unannounced inspection by the DHS inspector general, whose office recently got an infusion of $20 million and plans to boost its inspections from four to six per year to potentially as many as 40 to 60.
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ICE lists 70% of the 1,500 detainees at Winn as having “No ICE threat level,” meaning they do not have violent criminal histories.
Winn is an hour north of Alexandria, which is one of four hubs for ICE deportation flights around the country.
