coon-ass camping

lb and kp, aka bonnie and clyde

or as one of our weekend neighbors said: "i thought y'all's just campin' trash"

i started talking about our canoe-camping trip moments after we moved in. i'd been ready to go camping for months and couldn't wait to explore some cajun country. in late september, however, kp did a boys camping trip at caddo lake, so when i really started campaigning in mid-october, he'd already scratched the itch and was not interested. you may not know this about my husband, but he's a strong-minded individual. stubborn, you might say. a leo. but i kept at him and eventually, he got behind the idea... right around the time we got the fire going and cracked open our first beer, but better late than never, no?

kp made our reservation for us at lake fausse pointe, which despite its french spelling is pronounced "fossey point" (welcome to louisiana!), and being the generous man that he is, got us a "premium site." nothing's too good for his little lady... right? but premium is for campers. these sites come with electricity and water hook-ups, so you can imagine how ridiculous we looked showing up after dark (went in the long way, through some deeeep cajun country) and setting up our two-man tent. our neighbors, who were rolling in a camper easily the size of our apartment, were rocking their stereo when we arrived and spent a good portion of saturday afternoon watching the lsu game on the tv they set up by the fire!

to say the folks we met that weekend were colorful would be an understatement... to say the least. there was tim and paula, who fed us and were generally pretty cool, and then there was terry and gene, who were drawn to t&p's by the sound of football and the site of t's confederate flag (a little beauty he'd picked up at talladega last year...) terry was very suspicious of our california plates and immediately took to calling us bonnie and clyde, which i didn't mind one bit (i love that song). he also offered us some "abstinence," which we politely declined. but his take on katrina left a foul taste in my mouth, as did the rest of his generally predictable but still rather shocking back-country racism.

kp was fascinated by the transgression of it - he knew they knew it was some sort of perverted and self-indulgent performance - and tried for a bit to challenge terry, reason with him. i took a walk.

but i digress. i didn't go camping in coon-ass country to try and get some cajun coon-ass (self-proclaimed) to recognize how his own socioeconomic position and cultural inferiority complex determine his ideas on race in america. i went camping to roast hot dogs, drink beer, and do some canoeing!

and it was glorious. we saw a baby gator sunning on a log... and the mama's eyes as she watched from her spot not too far away. kp wanted to get closer but after hearing t&t's stories about frog-hunting-related gator run-ins and the poor ecologist who was testing the water after the BP spill and got her arm taken off, i thought not.

we spent two nights at fausse pointe. it was the second most bizarre camping experience i've ever had (second only to big sur 1999, when my friend jon and i were assaulted by hungry raccoons and ended up taking down the tent at midnight and sleeping in the back of my truck). tim said we should meet him at talladega next year, and i think kp is actually considering it. after we packed up, we went exploring a bit, stopping for fried chicken in st. martinville and tabasco-flavored ice cream on avery island (which was just as disgusting as you imagine it to be). we saw the evangeline oak made famous in longfellow's poem and learned a little bit about the expulsion of the acadian people from canada after the british took control of the region.

we're thinking of a family trip to sabine lake in the spring... and i hear mississippi is nice. might as well get as much in while we're here - who knows when we'll be back around these parts.