No rain during the night . . . yippee. We’ve had enough to last for a couple of weeks . . . but more on the way tomorrow. Today would be an easy 35 mile ride ride to Mamou, where we would see two of the most authentic Cajun cultural icons around, T-Boys Meat Market and Fred’s Tavern.

. . . but not before adding another species to the my list of road kill . . . a boa constrictor that tried to constrict a car tire but lost the battle . . 

Our half way point today (at the 15 mile mark) is Mamou . . . not to be missed.

Tommy Boy stopped in to make sure everything was going OK at his meat market . . .

. . . where you could not only get award winning boudin . . .

especially the crawfish version . . .

but just about any Cajun meat product you wanted. Along with pigs ears and snouts!!!!!

Let’s see . . . can I balance a bag of crawdads on my bike rack until I get to our overnight school 15 miles down the road . . . a deal at $50!!!!

Next stop was a local, and state landmark, Fred’s Tavern . . .

located the Cajun Capital of the World!!!!

Evidently Fred past away a number of years ago and his widow, who wanted to close the bar down, was persuaded to keep the place open and the traditions alive. Now . . . the bar is only open Saturdays, from 9:00am until 2:00pm!!! When we got there at 9:20am, it was already standing room only and the Bloody Mary’s were flowing like water!!!

The band was in full swing when we arrived and this Vet was really cutting the rug, one song after another, with a different woman each time!!!!!

Seemed like every band member was smoking and this steel guitar player didn’t even put his cigarette down in between song’s. Great dexterity!!!

This Cajun dancing star was heading out about 10:30am. While checking his cell phone, I asked him if he had a date, resulting from all of his dance moves. He said  . . .”No, he was heading home to take a nap!!!!

Across thee street was the lunch stop for the day but because it was only 11:00am we decided to move on to Eunice and have lunch. I did stop at the Donut Queen though for a couple of dozen donut holes. More fried food!!! It was just the young girl behind the counter, an older gent and me in the store. They wanted to know all about the ride we were on . . . I didn’t understand much of what they were saying though. Listen to the woman reading from the script in the movie above to get a sample. English, French, Cajun all mixed up together. I just nodded my head and smiled a lot!!!!

Enough to feed an army!!!!

On the way into Eunice, we finally saw several of the boys using small boats to harvest the crayfish. They lift the screen traps out of the water and dump the dads’  into a cooler in the boat. The water is probably only 12-15 inches deep so the boat is propelled by a rubber paddle wheel on the back. You can see it churning around on the port side!!!

Another quiet night for me at the Comfort Inn. Some of the people sleeping in the gym, at the overnight school, do tend to go a little overboard with their accommodations!!!!!

Had a little tummy ache tonight . . . too many donuts holes, fried food and Cajun spices . . . I think!!!!