Marksville Louisiana - December 2019

In Minnesota, November is like giant roulette wheel, the weather, you never know what it will be. We indulge ourselves in guilty pleasures, see our friends one last time and hit the road. We hope to not have to drive through a snow storm across Iowa. We sneak away between two winter storms and drive until we see no traces of snow and the hint of green grass.We have our new van fully loaded with exactly what we need and a little bit of what we think we need. We have more space now so it's been harder to not bring more stuff, yet still trying to be smart about it. We are making our way southbound to escape the northern winter.

Welcome to Louisiana. Bienvenue en Louisiane. Our first real stop is in Marksville Louisiana to meet up with a guy we met a few years back. Back when we were still travelin in a Honda Element and sleeping in a tent. We were staying at Lake Fausse Point State Park near St. Martinville, visiting many of the little nearby towns and eating ourselves silly. One day we were eating lunch at the Kajun King in St. Marinsville and ran into the doppelganger. We have kept in contact a bit here and there and from time to time I would contact Terry because I couldn't ever get my gumbo the right color. Terry would tell me that it is because I need to drink more beer. There in lies the problem. I don't drink beer. This is a case where social media wins. We have somehow managed to keep in contact enough to warrent a visit. So we decided to stop through, get to know each other and tell some stories. We had a great time. Terry treated us like family, styled us up with some history and cooked up some fabulous meals for us. Fresh pork sausage, rice and gravy and then the Gumbo. Heavenly. Absolutely lovely. Terry DuPuy is good people!

We took a quick ride out to the historic Fort DuRussy Cemetery. The drive in was beautiful through the tunnel of trees. It is supposed to be the most haunted place in Avoyelles Parish. We however had a very serene visit, ate a little sandwich in the parking area and walked reverently among the headstones. It might have been a more haunting activity had we visited during the night time. 

We attended the lighting of the Holidays Tree at the Marksville town square and experienced a big rise of Americana. Santa arrived in the fire truck and several local choirs sang on the courthouse steps. It was there that I read that a peddler, Marcos Litche, a native of Venice Italy was passing through the Avoyelles Post in 1794 and his wagon wheel broke. He decided to stay and established a trading post. The place became known as Marc's Ville and was first noted on survey maps in 1809. He was known then as Marc Eliche and donated most of the land that makes up the present courthouse square.

Marksville Courthouse 

I love Louisiana. There's no place on earth like Louisiana, and there's no city on earth like New Orleans. It draws me back time and time again.

Next Stop: New Orleans