State motto: Our parents were so poor that...(everybody there starts their sentences like that...)

Actual comic character residential town that really exists: HOUMA (it's down by New Orleans - SWAMP THING lives there...)

Concerning I-49 from Lake Charles (supposedly) to Shreveport - The last time I tried to use it, it only existed in mapmakers wet dreams...
I got half way up and the road abruptly ended outside Alexandria - 50 miles out of my way (when I got to Alexandria the only decent greyhound ride I ever had happened to me...)

Rob on edge of town w/Chicago sign;
Greyhound bus pulls over - 'My shift goes to Little Rock'.
Me: no $ for ticket.
Driver: get on the damn bus!
Me: YES, SIR!
Weird thing was no one on the bus even noticed this smelly hicthiker get on the bus - they all had this zombie look on their face (the zombie ghost bus from nowhere to Chicagooooo...)

CAVEAT: don't go to LA looking for a job - they're poorer than you...(well I can't pay ya but if you come over to my place on saturday and work all day I'll buy ya a hamburger...)

Expect to deal with a lot of drunk drivers and hear a lot of racist jokes...(on I-20 especially you might get drafted to drive around 'Monroe' - it's where people on Atlanta - Dallas trips start to get REALLY tired in either direction...)
2 other things: the roads *SUCK* and you are generally allowed to walk on them...

I've never been to a concert in LA so I can't tell you how to get there - I do know that the Super Dome is in New ORLEANS and it is a dangerous town...(people regularly break into other cars for ashtray change down there...) (also if your car DOES break down DON't leave it - PIRATE tow TRUCKS cruise CONSTANTLY...)
And from what I've heard the cops are REALLY DIRTY too (not word of mouth - AP WIRE REPORTS).

I wish I'd had enough money to eat the times I went I'd hip you to good spots on I-20 (I've either a: had no money or b: rode straight thru). Sorry about that..:(
The I-20 corridor doesn't seem uncool...
I could live my entire life w/out going on I-10/I-8, and you read about north - south.

Some long walks but no real creeps, lotsa humidity and rednex tho.
My fave were the two bounty hunters w/AR15s - really. One black guy / one white guy - in a new 4runner - I thought they were bankrobbers...
Boy was I wrong...
See a smart bounty hunter, if TX based, always picks up hikers in Louisiana - y'never know, they explained, you coulda been a Dallas bail jumper they told me...
huh!

So coolness of 20 minus
10 for raisng the drinking age again...
Max xing = 5-20 hrs any direction.

What do Louisiana and Maine have in common? Mosquitoes and rednecks - see ya there...

LOUISIANA UPDATE

I-49: Shreveport to I-10 (outside Lafayette) has been COMPLETED!
Life is WAY easier now...
Louisiana has video poker in TRUXtops now too...
Go figure...
And the House of Blues has an OTB nearby.
# 2 horse the other nites name: 'Mr.Hempglass' a Louisiana bred qtr horse (really)!!

Write to Legendary Rob.