None of this hard road work just happens. There is traveling to do before getting THERE  As I travel I see things that have to be saved for posterity and my only means of saving them is to take their picture. Such was the case in Bunkie. I'll officially start the trip here on US.71 north of where I was going to start it, LeBeau.
    Why LeBeau, I don't neaux.
    Of course that is a big old service station. I suspect it was very "Full Service", able to install tires, fan belts, change  batteries, grease jobs, wheel bearing packing, etc. When was the last time you had your bearings packed? Thought so. Why? These guys aren't around because you wanted to fill your own tank. Now you get to fill your own tank and have to go to garages where some pimply faced teenage dropout forgets to tighten the oil plug.  Look at the gas prices, boy did we save. Oh, the trip.
     Bunkie is a medium sizied small town. It had its own C C bottling business. Now, those are gone. This one has been reinvented into an upscale furniture store. I dont think I had to take its picture to save it. Looks like the home folks are doing just fine.
    Do you remember the smell the old drugstores had? Bet Bunkie Pharmacy still smells just that way. I'm going to have to ponder that thought. Put the two pictures together and there's a memory. Cokes were sold at drugstores where the syrup and carbinated water were mixed.
Then there was cherry coke, my favorite.
   There is a mural movement in South Central La. I have seen great ones all over the area. Bunkie has three I can think of. I featured the McKnab Music Store in a previous article and on this trip I found two more. I think they are great art and portray the stories of historical businesses.
   Below you see  cotton fields, the cotton gin, railroad tracks and woods. There's more if you look closely.  Joe M., sorry I missed your whole name. Nice work.
More on Bunkie, CLICK HERE.
Next up the road is LeCompte. I have featured it also on several other outings, but this is new. Click Here for the old page.
      The 1949 (?) Studebacker belonging to Mr. Lea did reside in the parking lot. No longer, it has its own display with floral trim and a new paint job. Snazzy, Mr.(General) Lea would approve. Located between the north and southbound lanes of US 71, Lea's is a monument to Southern Entrepreneurship. Get ur done. Pies and the best ham in the Universe. Get a ham sandwitch and a piece of pecan or apple pie. Then try to ride that motorcycle.
    See the guy looking at me. Wonder if that's the rent-a-cop that chased me at the sugarcane mill years ago? Notice he didn't try again. Full-a-pie.