15 Jan 2019 - USS Orleck, Charpentier Historic District, Boudin & Cracklins Lunch, Mardi Gras Museum

15 Jan 2019
Busy day here.  We are only here for one more night after today, so we made a list and checked it twice - we already know who is naughty and nice!  Cold last night again 35F.  We just did not ever dream we would have temps like this, and it is going to get colder before it warms up.  Our next stop is College Station TX and they are predicting 26F.  Oh well!

So back to the list.  Here is what we did today:
- Toured the USS Orleck - a WWII Destroyer that served until the early 80's
- Toured the Charpentier Historic District of Lake Charles
- Had lunch at 'Famous Foods', a creole barbecue place that serves boudin and cracklins
- Toured the Mardi Gras museum
- Replaced my awning light strip
- Expedient repairs to a piece of RV trim aluminum
- Cooked ahead on the barbecue

USS Orleck:
This morning we toured the Gearing Class destroyer USS Orleck DD-886.  This ship is currently located on the Calcasieu River in Lake Charles LA.  It is named after a World War II Commander that was killed in action at Salerno, Italy in 1943.  So why here?  The ship was originally built in Orange TX and commissioned on 15 Sep 1945.  It was modernized and served in Korea and Vietnam and then was decommissioned and transferred to a NATO partner Turkey in 1982.  It was used in Turkey for 16 years and then was decommissioned again in 1998.  It was transferred to the Southeast Texas War Memorial Heritage Foundation, since it was built in SE Texas.  It was damaged during Hurricane Rita and remained in storage dock until 2010 when it was moved to Lake Charles. 

The ship is in satisfactory condition.  There has been a lot of work done on it but it's propulsion system is inoperative.  It was steam powered and the boilers are serviceable.  The screws are inoperative also.  The good news is the rest of the ship is intact and unlike a lot of tours we have taken, this is a low budget operation and we had access to about everything!!  There were some areas off-limits but very few!  The local power company was able to provide 480 volts AC power, so the whole ship is efficiently shore powered - most everything!  They could actually spin the radar antenna if they wanted to!

We boarded the ship and were greeted by a retired Air Force vet so we hit it off good right off the bat.  Part way through the tour we were joined by a couple from Marshalltown IA.  The wife's father served on the USS Orleck during World War II, so it was interesting talking with them.  Our tour was very thorough, to say the least!  I took a lot of pictures but here are a few:

The USS Orleck docked on the river.  Nothing fancy!

The infirmary.  The autoclave was steam powered.

The ship's admin office, still used today

 

Kitchen

Officer's kitchen

Ship's namesake, Lt Orleck

From the ship's bow looking back at one of the 38 caliber guns

Damage Control area

 

Fore Birthing area

Plotting area

Electronics Technician area.  I used several items in this shop!!!

The munitions and powder charges were sent up to the guns above

A shell and a powder charge (empty)

The armory.  A couple Garrands, a Thompson, some munitions, grenades, a 50-cal machine gun and a beautiful 1911 here.

This ship carried a DASH - drone anti-submarine helicopter.  It was unmanned and could deliver a torpedo

Torpedos

RT-524/URC Low band VHF FM radio.  I worked on these for the Iowa Air National Guard

An R-390 HF receiver.  I was trained on this at Keesler AFB in 1973!

The bridge

Combat Information Center

Sonar Position

Charpentier Historic District

After a short drive we arrived in the Charpentier Historic District of Lake Charles.  It was basically a driving tour of an area around Broad, Kirby and Pujo streets.  Some beautiful old houses that have been very well-preserved.

The Mardi Gras museum did not open until 1300 hrs so we decided to head for lunch.  I wanted to try the boudin (boo-dan) and cracklin's.  Doreen had smoked chicken and it was really tasty!

Once they found out we were from north of the Mason-Dixon line, they put together a sampler of all three flavors of  cracklins:  Original, smoked, and soft/spicy!  Very good!!

I sampled one of their smoke turkey wings

Boudin is a rice, meat and seasoning mixture stuffed into a sausage casing and in this case, smoked.  Delicious!

Cracklins are similar to our fried pork rinds but they are seasoned and have meat on them too.

Needless to say, we had quite a bit of food left over to take back to the RV for future meals!  It is sure fun sampling the local cuisine!

Mardi Gras Museum

After lunch we headed to the Mardi Gras museum.  After visiting Mardi Gras World in New Orleans, I was not expecting much here but boy was I wrong.  WOW!  They take great pride in their Mardi Gras history and have assembled a huge display area in the second floor of what used to be the old  K-12 school here in Lake Charles.  

So speaking of the school, these pictures reach back in time when the boys and the girls used separate doors and had separate locker areas.  They attended co-ed classes but recess and everything else was separated.  

We made our way to the second floor and were in total awe with what we found!  Room after room after room of Mardi Gras decorum, costumes, and other paraphernalia!  Many of these costumes cost between $5000 to $8000 according to the staff. 

Some of these are massive, weighing upwards of 50 lbs and carried on the shoulders.

Each krewe comes up with a theme and then creates a costume based on that.

This is a concept drawing

This is the final result!!

 We got back to the RV and took care of a few maintenance tasks including replacing my awning light strip and reinforcing a piece of trim aluminum that had cracked.

Not sure what tomorrow, our last day here, will bring yet.