"Loo zee ann uh"

Driving north to Natchitoches we pulled up at a stoplight next to a gas station in DeRidder.  Two cars were filling up at the station and both drivers were excited to see Vanna.  One guy (no teeth) yelled over to us "I'd drive the f*** outta that!"

How do Louisiana women resist such charms?  But then again Vanna is a vixen.

We stopped for gas ourselves at the next town and were horrified to see the woman (few teeth) in front of us pumping  gas while smoking a cigarette!  She threw the cigarette on the ground when she was done pumping the gas!  Where is Darwin when you need him?

And who knew gas stations drew such an odd assortment of characters?

Also from the drive today we know for certain we are now in the Bible belt.  We passed a Baptist/Pentecostal church every couple of miles.  No kidding.  They became more frequent the closer we got to Mississippi.  In some towns we counted half a dozen or more per mile.  Most were small and almost all had a portable illuminated reader board with a bible passage or exhortation of some sort. My favorites were:

"If god is your co-pilot change seats"

and

"7 days without prayer makes 1 weak"

Here's a typical one.  Note the reader board.  

The other common sight was the mobile, oops manufactured, home.  We drove through some very poor areas and mobile homes were the preferred mode of housing.  Many had a satellite dish too.

While Baptist churches and mobile homes were common what seemed to be rare in this part of the country were imported cars. Domestics rule here. At one busy intersection we didn't see a single import.  Clearly America is not a homogeneous country.

Natchitoches (pronounced nack a tish) was a fascinating small town. It is the oldest town in the Louisiana Purchase, predating even New Orleans, and was established in 1714.  Many of the buildings have wrought iron balconies like those in the French Quarter.  The town is famous for their Christmas lights; they were everywhere but we were there too early to see them lit.  "Steel Magnolias" (Shirley McClain, Dolly Parton, Olympia Dukakis, Darryl Hannah, Julia Roberts, Sally Field) was filmed here.

Here are some scenes from the town:

We drove straight on to Natchez, Mississippi and are spending the night at a B and B in a beautiful old home near downtown Natchez.

This is our room (nice enough, but not in the main house 'cuz we have dogs)

Tomorrow we tour Natchez, drive the Natchez Trace, and slowly make our way down the Mississippi River, stopping along the way to see antebellum mansions.  I wonder what a hoop skirt goes for these days?