Day 24 - March 24, 2011, Thursday - Chuck Wagon Report #3

We are at the Coushatta Casino & Resort, near Kinder, Louisiana (oh no, I am starting to sound like this* famous travel blog).  Today was another Rest Day.  We stayed at a nice Day's Inn.  We slept in and checked out a little late, we even had the maids standing around outside our door waiting for us to vacate (they were nice about though).  After doing the laundry and washing the car we came here, where (unlike those other travelers who are self-contained) we paid to camp at the Casino's RV Park.  We spent the afternoon lounging around the pool, reading, blogging and doing taxes.  Then we enjoyed a meal of local cuisine at a nearby restaurant.

This section of Louisiana is known as the Cajun Prairie.  And like the American western prairie, it is miles and miles of farm fields.

Except these are Crawfish fields (although they also double as Rice fields, or is it the other way around).  The fields are enclosed by low dikes, flooded, and seeded with adult Crawfish in the spring.  In late Summer, the fields are drained, so the Crawfish burrow into the mud and reproduce.  In the fall the fields are flooded again, and the Crawfish come out of the burrows.  Between fall and spring the Crawfish are trapped.

 They use these customized small boats.

We have been stopping at local restaurants sampling Crawfish Étouffé, Shrimp and Crawfish Gumbo, Catfish, and trying to find the elusive Boiled Crawfish.  It seems the places we stop never seem to have Boiled Crawfish.  We have seen places (and small roadside stands) that do, but it is never near mealtime.  I fear we will pass out of the Cajun Prairie without sampling this delicacy, like we passed out of Alabama without sampling Boiled Peanuts.

Speaking of rare delicacies, how many of y'all broke down and fixed Macaroni and Cheese with Chocolate Milk just to see what it tasted like?  I know from the comments many of y'all expressed an interest.

*Which is the inspiration for this blog.  And these experienced travelers provided us with many tips for living on the road.