It’s that time of the year again… time for Bayou!
As ususal, we’ve got the whole crew of Louisiana and Mississippi teams attending. There’s a few newcomers as well and some old friends that have attended in years past.
364 is really excited for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We hope the competition is fierce and the event runs smoothly this week.
I want to give a special good luck to our rookies: 5819, 5829, 5863, 5864, 5872, 5953, 5965, 5971, 5997, and 6103.
See you all on Thursday!
Spectrum is happy to be returning to Bayou, we have a few of our good friends from Texas (2587, 4063, & 5829) coming along as well. Looking forward to playing with all our Bayou region friends plus teams from SC, FL and more. Should be a very good event.
The Devastators are excited about going to the Bayou Regional for the first time. Are there any places to eat that you guys recommend to check out?
We are looking forward to visiting Cafe Du Monde for Beignets again 
Along with Cafe Du Monde, you could also try Cafe Maspero which is right down the street in the French Quarter. For as many times as I’ve been to New Orleans with my family, we have almost always eaten there.
See you all Thursday!
You can hardly go wrong with local restaurants in the New Orleans area. If they’re outside the tourist areas and they’ve been open more than a year, the food is good - or they won’t stay open. Williams Boulevard (the road from I-10 to the Pontchartrain center) has a number of good restaurants, but the mother lode in the vicinity is on Veterans Blvd. From the Pontchartrain Center, go down Williams, past I-10, and turn left at the next light. More retail area per linear mile than just about anywhere, practically all of it is on the ground floor, and much of it is restaurants.
If you want to try genuine beignets and cafe au lait but don’t want to go the whole way down to the Vieux Carre, I recommend the Morning Call near Lakeside Shopping Center in Metairie (pronounced “MET uh Ree” or simply “METry”, please not muh TAIR ee). Even though indoors, it somehow captures the distinctive feel and aroma of the real CDM in ways that the airport and strip mall venues bearing the CDM name do not.
On more practical matters, there is a TruValue hardware store about a mile down Williams from the convention center on the right (heading away). Another couple of blocks farther on the left is a strip mall with both an Office Depot and a Party City. WalMart is another block down, and another block yields an Auto Zone for electrical needs. To get to a home center, you need to go past I-10 to Veterans, turn left and go about a half a mile to Home Depot. The nearest Lowe’s is another couple of miles down Vets.
OBTW, there is nothing much in short walking distance from the Pontchartrain Center except Lake Pontchartrain and some apartment complexes. For food and drink, plan to pack it in, buy it there, or drive. The Pontchartrain Center does not allow outside food and drink, so “packing it in” means to the parking lot. They don’t mind you taking a picnic lunch on the levee, but last year they asked us not to eat outside food in the shadow of the building.
One of the distinctive traditions of Bayou is the annual “second line” parade on Saturday. Prizes for the best dancer in the parade (a 3946 alumnus won in his senior and first college years, 2013 and 2014). Bring stuff to throw to the judges and audience - that’s a New Orleans area parade tradition going back about 100 years. Probably not buttons with pins, but things like wrist bands and beads and 3d-printed logos are fan favorites. (Also, the usual ban on musical instruments has traditionally been relaxed for the second line. Appropriately enough, the music played for this is the song “Second Line”.
Don’t worry about door width - once inside, there are no doors, just passageways to navigate. Pits are the full 10’x10’ that you would expect, or so close that we’ve never noticed the difference.
It looks like I10 may be closing due to flooding near the Texas/Louisiana border. The recommended alternate route is via Shreveport, a 240 mile/4 hour detour for those coming from the Houston area.
I-59 and I-10 at the LA/MS borders were expected to close due to flooding on the Pearl River, but they’re both open now and the river appears to have crested. There are plenty of local roads innundated, and several stretches of US-90 between New Orleans and Lafayette, but the Interstates are open.
Hopefully Interstate 10 re-opens soon !
(link to press release) posted on March 15th
Press Release 15
Due to high water, sometime after 7:00 AM Interstate 10 is expected to be closed.
Traffice will be diverted to Highway 62.
Traffic will also be encouraged to reroute in Beaumont to Highway 69/96 (Highway 287).
It is unknown how long the interstate will be shut down.
So the Awtybots have been looking for some different routes to avoid I10 (though we hope it gets cleared up by tomorrow before we leave) and we found this route.
https://goo.gl/maps/4CRXidXBi4D2
It triples the time but it’s the fastest route we could find. If anyone knows of a faster route, please let us know. The school is allowing us to leave at 1 pm so it’s not a huge problem but we would like to load in on Wednesday.
On the Houston news tonight, they said that I-10 might be closed for a week. EEEKK!!! :eek: Good luck and safe travels to the teams that are attending Bayou.
Has anyone gotten a pit-map or schedule yet? I don’t believe we have received an email.
The schedule is posted at http://frcbayouregional.com/event-info/
They are finalizing pit assignments tonight, official email should be coming soon.
Google Maps still shows this route open: https://goo.gl/maps/z2fDuuRMmCM2 crossing the state line at South Toledo Bend.
Thanks!! We’ve been looking for routes all day. We’ll definitely check that one out tomorrow before we head out.
Y’all be careful driving over. I can’t wait to see all of our Bayou family again.
Google Maps is showing an alternate route from Houston that goes south along the coast. One would exit I10 at Winnie, take 73 to Port Arthur, take 82 to Holly Beach then take 27 to rejoin I10 at Sulphur. The Beaumont police have just said this route is open but not recommended since it is a small road with many vehicles on it.
A longer alternative route is to go up Hwy 59 to Luffkin, take 103 then 21 through the Sabine National Forest to Many LA, take 45 to Opelousas, then 190 to Baton rouge where you will rejoin I10. The Sabine County Sheriffs Office said that route is open. This route is significantly shorter than going through Shreveport.
There appears to be 2 possible wildcards at Bayou.
233 - Winner @ Orlando
3039 - Wildcard @ Arkansas
I’ve taken this route before. Under normal circumstances, it isn’t a bad way to go.
However, the roads aren’t real wide so bring plenty of patience.
I expect it would be faster than the “advised” route of going through Shreveport.
Just arrived in Lake Charles via the southern route. It added about an hour to the travel time. Just a few minutes delay where 82 meets 27 and at the 2 traffic lights in Carlys.
Cafe Du Monde, here we come!!!