#7: Hold-Up at the Baton Rouge Terminal

Louisiana-Bound! (2008) Part 7: Hold-up at the Baton Rouge Terminal After the unscheduled off-the-record bus stop made by the sleepy bus driver, we continued on into the terminal at Baton Rouge. Our next and final destination was Lafayette. But we ran into a snag when trying to collect our luggage. Way back in Bay City, our luggage had been tagged with New Orleans tags. I watched for our luggage to be unloaded here in Baton Rouge but it didn't happen. Neither was it going to happen unless I took steps to make sure our bags didn't continue on to New Orleans without us. I had to convince the attendant that our luggage was supposed to go to Layfayette. He looked over at the tags which had our Bond name on it, then at our tickets and agreed that it was a match. His suggestion was to have the luggage relabeled with the final destination as Lafayette, Louisiana. So that's what we did! We waited patiently for several minutes at the Information Desk for a ticket agent to give us some assistance. Two female ticket agents agreed after glaring at the labels that it was okay to make the switch on our tags. The new label was difficult to read in its small font and non-bold letters. That was the best they could do at Baton Rouge. It could be their luggage in the future. Attendants do not take much time to look at luggage tags. But it proved to be enough. I was there to make sure of that. Though we were scheduled for a 30-minute layover in Baton Rouge, there was at least another hour's delay before we departed for Lafayette. We took advantage of this lull in time to check out the cafeteria. Feeling generous, I agreed to purchase two baked chicken dinners which came with soft fluffy biscuits, a side of corn, and either a bag of potato chips or french fries. Melanie enjoyed her well-seasoned crispy fries dipped in ketchup. The baked chicken was surprisingly tasty and tender. It was a satisfying meal and a providential one because as things turned out, we would not eat another meal until the following day. The timing worked out beautifully for us. After we had finished eating our meal, we didn't have long to wait until the call for boarding the bus to Lafayette was announced. We headed west on I-10 and unknowingly crossed the Great Atchafalaya Swamp as darkness fell. We covered about 60 miles and soon arrived at Lafayette. Written by Harvey A. Bond and Ipo May 4, 2008

 

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