Discovering WESTERN LOUISIANA

Curiosity seekers forsake trampled tourist trails and get acquainted with a different side of the state

[TOUR OF THE MONTH]

Alas, many travelers rush across westem Louisiana to get to New Orleans, missing, in their haste, some of the state's greatest offbeat attractions--everything from the Bonnie and Clyde death site to a general store with its 1949 inventory still intact, plus a number of places colorful enough to have served as major movie locations.

An easy drive from Shreveport to Lake Charles covers the highlights in a couple of days, but the area is so beguiling you could easily spend a week poking around. During our several visits to western Louisiana, we've traveled by motorhome and camped in the excellent state parks and private campgrounds, but a journey by car is equally rewarding. Lodging options range from restored historic hotels to picturesque bed-and-breakfast establishments, modestly-priced chain motels, and splashy casino resort hotels.

Spring and early summer is a good time to visit Shreveport/Bossier because the 40-acre gardens of the American Rose Center are in peak bloom. (Take exit 5 off I-20 and follow the signs.) Check out the always-moored casino boats along the Red River, the thorough-bred racing at Louisiana Downs (the season runs July through November), and the renovated 1925 Strand Theatre; pick up some bargains at the Libbey glassware factory outlet; see fine collections of Western art by Frederic Remington and Charles Russell at the R.W. Norton Gallery; and visit the downtown statue of legendary blues singer "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, a native of Shreveport.

When it's time to hit the road, head east on I-20 for a rendezvous with an unlikely pair of lovers. Sixty-seven years have passed since May 23, 1934, when Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were ambushed near Sailes, Louisiana, cut down in a fusillade of 167 bullets shot into their car in only 12 seconds by six lawmen, two of them Texas Rangers operating outside their state boundaries. The pair of Depression-era killers and bank robbers (later glamorized in the 1967 Arthur Penn film Bonnie and Clyde starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty) still holds an obvious allure, attested to by the site marker by the west side of the road along route 154 south of Mount Lebanon near Sailes. Chipped away over the years by souvenir-seeking vandals, the simple granite stone is scrawled with initials and graffiti, including one written in lipstick--"When I grow up, I want to be just like you."

Collectors of American crafts should follow I-20 a bit farther east to Odell Pottery on the frontage road at exit 84 in Ruston, where award-winning potters Bruce Odell and his wife Tami produce dramatically fired raku and hand-painted majolica pieces.

From Ruston head south on U.S. 167 to Winnfield, ancestral home of Louisiana's Long family, where the Louisiana Political Museum housed in the town's railway station on East Main Street high lights life-sized figures of brothers Huey P. and Earl K. Long, each standing on a separate platform addressing the constituency. (Earl bears only a passing resemblance to actor Paul Newman, who portrayed him in the film Blaze, shot here in 1989.)

Also in 1989, much of the popular film Steel Magnolias was filmed on location in the historic old city of Natchitoches (pronounced NACK-uh-tush), 25 miles west of Winnfield via Route 6. Founded in 1714, several years before New Orleans, and chock ablock with elegant antebellum homes with wrought-iron balconies, the town and its highlights can be easily seen by following Jefferson Street in one direction, then turning and following Second Street the other way. Pause at 622 Second Street at Lasyone's Meat Pie Kitchen long enough to sample the flaky fried meat pies, along with dirty rice (cooked with chicken giblets), hushpuppies the size of tennis balls, and rich Cane River cream pie, named for the stream that meanders through town and south past plantation homes. (The next pilgrimage of Natchitoches' historic homes and plantations is scheduled for October 12-14.)

Another 25 miles east of Natchitoches is the town of Many (pronounced MANee), gateway to the vast Toledo Bend Reservoir, which separates Louisiana and Texas and is famous for fine fishing. If you prefer a golf club to a fishing rod, search out Cypress Bend Golf Resort.

South of town along U.S. 171, en route to Hodges Gardens, watch for the turnoff to the red-dirt sawmill town of Fisher, a 1930s lumber camp with board sidewalks and a Sawmill Days celebration in mid-May. Another five miles to the south is Hodges Gardens, planted for yearround display, dazzling with springtime bulbs, summer roses, and fall chrysanthemums. It also has a wildlife preserve. Right in the heart of the state on I-49 is Alexandria and the graciously restored Hotel Bentley at 200 DeSoto Street.

For a more downhome touch, swing south 12 miles on U.S. 71 to the hamlet of Lecompte and Lea's Lunchroom, renowned since 1928 for its pies--pecan, chocolate meringue, banana cream, lemon meringue, apple, blueberry, and cherry--and whole baked hams encased in a dough crust.