Shreveport, Louisiana

I've talked to people who are from the midwest, the south, the east coast, etc...and when asked about their impressions of California, it's usually "Beaches, sunglasses, Hollywood, movie stars, great year-round weather...things like that". So, when people think of Louisiana, what comes to mind? Swamps, alligators, New Orleans, Mardi Gras, seafood.....Right? But....

....in the northern and western part of Louisiana, it's all forests like eastern Texas. Lots of trees. Gorgeous country.

We decided to stay in Shreveport (once time capital of the state) for the Christmas holiday. We were not used to being in a big city (250,000) but our RV park was on the western edge of the city so it wasn't so bad.

Our RV neighbor put up Santa next to us so we quickly got in the Christmas mood.

...not a lot to do there except ... Bass Pro Outdoor World !!!

You cannot believe how huge this place is....they even have a bush plane hanging from the ceiling !

If you wanted anything in the hunting/fishing gear, you had your choice of dozens ! There must be at least 500 fishing poles to choose from !

This is what greets you when you first walk in.

Of course, no home would be complete without Camo Furniture !

We enjoyed our Christmas (first one in our coach). Kim did a great job of decorating the inside.

Even Nattie got in the act.

...and Hobbes got to help us with our jigsaw puzzle.

Someone got a bunch of new clothes this year.

...and someone got Santa PJs.

Our "Santa" neighbor got me free tickets to the Independence Bowl that was played in Shreveport between Missouri (his and his wife's alma mater) and North Carolina. I was expecting 80,000 screaming banshees.....but...it was very rainy, cold (34 degrees) and dreary.

I wandered around looking for a tailgate party to crash. As it turned out, I found an RV just like ours! So, I struck up a conversation and hung out for about an hour swapping RV stories, but they NEVER OFFERED ME ANY FOOD or drink! Phooey.

The stadium sure looked splendid but the crowd was a bit sparse.

...before anyone came out for warmups

Both teams out on the field for warmups.

Missouri coming out of the tunnel for the start of the game

This is about halfway through the first quarter.

This became a real wind tunnel. I did not stay here very long.

This is about as full as the stadium got. But both teams seemed not to notice...especially Missouri (they won handily).

Other than that, we saw a bunch of great Christmas lights.

And I went for a few runs on the side roads. You should've seen people's expressions as they drove by me..."What the heck is that ??!!"  

We found a terrific fried fish place. Their cooks seemed not to be able to count very well. We ordered 6 hush puppies and they brought out 10. We ordered 3 catfish strips and out came 5. We had to take half our food home...but was it tasty !

Next stop: Monroe, Louisiana