Play Time at the 'Shoe

Before starting, you might want to get a nice cup of coffee, because this is going to be a long post. Better yet, get something stronger; you'll probably need it to help relieve the boredom.

Donna and I left last Sunday for a quick trip east. Our final destination was the Horseshoe Casino in Bosser City, LA. We wanted to spend our first night, though, in Tyler so that we could visit an old colleague from our Region 7 ESC days in Kilgore. We spent a couple of hours with Jay and his better half, catching up on common friends and other things. Jay is an old inbred hillbilly from East Texas, and he always has some funny stories to tell. And he is quite the musician, too. Jay is such a hillbilly that when he travels, he always looks for hillbilly motels, such as the Hillbilly Inn in Branson, MO. Yeah, there is an inside joke here. We really enjoyed visiting him and his patient and delightful wife.

This is Highway 31 somewhere between Corsicana and Tyler. Notice the stripes on the road. We saw these our entire trip, on state highways, US highways, and Interstate 20. Anyone know what causes them? Can it be from salting the roadways in icy weather?

The next day, we were in no hurry to leave, for we were meeting some of Donna's old girlfriends for lunch. So, after a leisurely breakfast, we took a short drive around Tyler. Jay had told us how the area at the northeast corner of South Broadway and Loop 49 (the new toll road) had recently built up, so we wanted to see for ourselves. Wow! It is like an outlet mall, but with more, especially more eateries. Nice place to shop.

From there, we took some back roads over to Kilgore and had a look around. Of course, we drove by our old home and were disappointed to see that they cut down the maple tree I had planted in the front yard. That tree really had some nice color in the fall. Otherwise, the house was in good shape, and the neighborhood seems to be holding up fairly well. Downtown Kilgore is really attractive. And we had to drive by our old place of work, Region 7 ESC. It looked good as well. 

Since we had time, we drove on up to Longview to look around a bit there as well. Lots of new places have opened there since we lived in the area. We lived there briefly while looking for a place to buy in Kilgore. After a brief visit, we headed to I-20, where we met 3 of Donna's friends from work at Cracker Barrel. The girls had a great visit. I finally took a break and headed out to the front, where a row of rocking chairs beckoned me. The day was sunny and fairly warm, so I was able to sit in the sun and rock while allowing the girls a chance to get some good shop talk in without me hampering them.

From there, we headed to Shreveport, where we would spend the next 3 nights at the Horseshoe Casino. Now, on the Monday of our arrival, the weather was great, but that night, an arctic front moved through, bringing much colder temps and some snow. From then until we left early Thursday, temps never rose above the freezing mark.

For a while on Tuesday, Interstate 20 was closed. Interstate 49 and parts of Loop 220 remained closed the entire time we were there. We stayed inside on Tuesday, which was the worst day for travel. On Wednesday, we ventured out to see how the roads were and to eat at Ralph and Kacoo's. Although it was really cold -- in the teens -- the sun was out and the snow was gone from the roads for the most part.

We had not eaten at Ralph and Kacoo's for about 15 years or so. At that time, we were with Donna's sister and her husband and, to tell the truth, I really didn't enjoy my meal. I think the problem was really me, that I wasn't really hungry. But on this visit, I really enjoyed my meal. Ralph and Kacoo's bills itself as New Orleans style Cajun food. We had a difficult time deciding what to eat, as the menu is really extensive; I just had a hard time making up my mind (see menu here). I finally decided on the the Shrimp Special, which is fried shrimp and shrimp stew over rice. The fried shrimp were served over fries. The shrimp were lightly fried, which is the way I like them. I don't care for shrimp that have that heavy, hard crust. Donna had the Shrimp Trio, which consisted of gulf shrimp grilled, fried, and scampi style, served with braised potatoes and the vegetable of the day, which happened to be green beans on this day. We both enjoyed our meals. Oh, and the rolls and hush puppies are quite good.

My Shrimp Special. I think I enjoyed the shrimp stew (right) more than the fried shrimp.

Donna's Shrimp Trio. The shrimp scampi is center, over rice. I tried the braised potatoes and really liked the seasoning on them.

From our room on the 11th floor of the 'Shoe, we were able to watch I-20. Early in the day, the i_20 bridge over the Red River was closed, but they opened it pretty quickly. We saw how traffic crept along on Tuesday, but on Wednesday, it looked as if traffic was moving at its normal pace, so we felt confident we could leave on Thursday with no problems. And this proved to be the case. On our trip home, we saw quite a bit of ice along the edges of the road, but very little on the actual roadway. There were some exceptions to this. Once in Texas on Highway 31, we saw patches of ice on the east bound lanes, for those lanes were shaded on the south side (the sun side) by tall pine trees, which kept moisture on the road. But the west bound lanes were in good shape. All snow disappeared somewhere between Athens and Corsicana. (No, we don't stay on I-20 from Shreveport all the way to West Texas. There is no way this country boy is driving through the DFW metroplex if I can help it.)

To end our trip. we stopped for lunch in Brownwood at what has become one of our favorite eating places, Prima Pasta. I do not believe they have a web presence, but you can see their menu here. The restaurant is right on the highway, so it is convenient for us. It is just a down home eatery. The menu is good, prices are reasonable, service is excellent, and the facility is clean and comfortable. On this trip, we both opted for the special, spaghetti with meat sauce. The salad was good as always, and we love their bread. It was a good way to end our trip.

From Brownwood, it is less than 2 hours home, and we were glad to be back in San Angelo again.

Below are some snow pictures from Bossier City as well as some pics of the Horseshoe.

Shops along hallway from parking garage in the Horseshoe

Just inside the main entrance

Million dollar wall along hallway from hotel/restaurant area to casino

Entrance to casino at end of million dollar wall

This photo was taken from the 3rd floor of the parking garage. It looks north towards the Louisiana Boardwalk. That is the Texas Avenue bridge crossing the Red River. Shreveport is on the other side of the river.

Another photo from parking garage, this one showing the railway bridge over the Red River. Downtown Shreveport is on the west bank of the river.

The following pictures were taken from the 11th floor of the hotel; some were taken from our room while others were taken from a window at the end of the hallway. Because they were taken behind glass, you might see a bit of a glare. Yes, not the best of pictures, but I wanted to show the snow.

This looks south across Interstate 20 towards Boomtown Casino. Lots of snow for Bossier City. If you enlarge the picture, you'll see traffic is being detoured off the interstate.

This is the Interstate 20 bridge across the Red River. Notice there is no traffic. At this time, the bridge was closed.

Swimming pool at the Horseshoe. Anyone up for a dip?

Interesting picture taken later in the day. Notice the V shape of the clouds. At bottom center is the actual casino at the 'Shoe. The casino is actually located on a permanently docked riverboat, as with 4 of the other casinos along the river. Only Margaritaville is land-based.