CAJUN CLAWS, ABBEVILLE, LOUISIANA 3/23/2011

While driving along Hwy 82 we began to see what looked like flooded rice fields. But they had what looked like crab pots spaced throughout the fields. We wondered what they were. Then we came to Forked Island where there was a fork in the road and Wayne thought he took the wrong one. So he backed into a parking lot of what looked like a warehouse where they were bagging pecans in order to turn around.
Seeing several workers doing something in the sheds, he decided to investigate. He found they were not processing pecans, but crayfish! As he asked questions he found the workers were more than happy to share how and what they were doing. Seems we backed into a buyer/wholesaler/purging place for a local favorite food, crayfish.
Seems the fields we had been seeing were rice and crayfish fields. Part of the year they grow rice and after that is harvested, they grow crayfish. The baskets we saw were traps for catching and harvesting crayfish. Then the farmers sell their crayfish to wholesalers who purge them and then market them to restaurants in the area. The purging process takes place in these tanks where the crayfish are placed for several days and fresh water is continually pumped through. The Crayfish are not fed, but they filter the clean water through themselves and thus purge themselves of the wild flavor.
Then they are scooped up daily and sold fresh to restaurants for their diners that evening. The owner of this business came and talked to us awhile and told us his wife owned a restaurant in nearby Abbeville, LA that was very popular and invited us to come eat there and park our trailer for the night around back of the restaurant. These bags below were headed to his restaurant for tonight's dinner.
Here's one that got away and was beating tracks back to the rice field. But the owner caught him and threw him back in the purging tubs.

Here we are at the "seats only 70", "well known by the locals" restaurant, Cajun Claws. As it is off the beaten path, if we had not been traveling on a small road and stopped to turn around, we would have never heard of the place and would have missed out on the experience of a lifetime!
We parked around back and then Wayne went and sat in near the front door, so when the bar opened at 4:00 PM he could sign up on the list to get in. By 3:00 PM there were 40 or 50 people lined up on the front porch.....behind Wayne. When the door opened at 4:00 there was a rush to get signed up. Wayne got our names on second. The restaurant did not open until 5:00 PM, so Wayne went back to the trailer to wait a bit. At 4:45, we went and seated ourselves in the bar to wait to be called. We sat with 2 other couples that Wayne had befriended while he was waiting outside earlier. They had driven from 90 minutes away to come eat here. The two men were cousins, and they and their wives come here twice a month to eat boiled crayfish. We all were called in at 5:05 PM and we 6 decided to sit together, so they could teach us what to order and how to eat it. This is Donnie, the owner. He and Jodie run the wholesale business and the restaurant together. They are both mighty fine and very friendly people.
Here he is cooking and serving up orders of fresh boiled crayfish, seasoned just right!
This is what Ann and I shared plus a plate of fried shrimp. We ate it all!!

We and our newly made friends.
Ya'll just dig in and eat till yor buttons pop!!!

Then, the next day as we traveled we saw more high rise homes....

...more moss covered trees...

...more alligators....

....more bayou....

...and more evidence of the devastation caused by the last two hurricanes that struck this area, Ike and Rita.

Louisiana is a fascinating place to visit!!!!!!