Bonnie & Clyde Met Their Demise in Gibsland, Louisiana

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  • -Our return to where Bonnie & Clyde were ambushed-
  • -Home base was the Lake Bistineau State Park-

When we first married, we camped in a tent on Lake Bistineau, and rode to Gibsland one afternoon, to see the roadside marker that shows the location where Bonnie & Clyde were ambushed. You may have seen the many movies that portrayed the story of Bonnie & Clyde as a romance. We discovered that the story of the romance sounds likely, but the couple, with some others, left a trail of death from the many crimes that they committed in several locations throughout the southwest. Since our first visit to that area, 40 years ago, we visited one other time, to take Teri’s mother on an rv journey, and show Mama Joie the Bonnie & Clyde Ambush Museum and the Authentic Bonnie & Clyde Festival Museum. Both museums seem to be rivals, within 75 yards of each other. Teri & Tom recently returned to Gibsland, Louisiana and found that more memorablia (including “death car” replica, that might have been used in a movie) had been added to the Bonnie & Clyde Ambush Museum.

Next to the Bonnie & Clyde Ambush Museum is a café, where it said that Bonnie & Clyde stopped & bought sandwiches to take with them down the highway. After driving 7 miles down the highway, Bonnie & Clyde met their demise.
Inside the Bonnie & Clyde Ambush Museum, Tom poses with, what has to be, a replica of the Death Car. This car was likely used in any of the many movies about Bonnie & Clyde. Clyde actually wrote a letter to Henry Ford, praising the Ford Motor Company for building a great car with excellent horsepower V8 engine. That letter is posted in this museum.
The Bonnie & Clyde Ambush Museum has a film to watch, that includes Mr. “Boots” Hinton telling the “real story” of Bonnie & Clyde, with great video footage from that time. Mr. Hinton’s father was a part of the ambush. We met Mr. Hinton years ago, at this museum, but he passed away in recent years. This museum has so many photos, documents and memorabilia to view.
Inside the Bonnie & Clyde Ambush Museum, are replica grave markers of Bonnie & Clyde.
That doesn’t look like Clyde, does it? It’s not. Tom never misses a chance to pose at cardboard standups, where ever we go.
The rival museum in town offers free admission, but does not have near as much memorabilia as the nearby Ambush museum. It was interesting to stop in at the free museum, and put some bucks in the donation jar to support the annual Bonnie & Clyde Festival in Gibsland every May. May 23, 1934 is when Bonnie & Clyde were ambushed nearby. When we stopped into this free museum, there was a 93 year old lady working there, that had a lot of knowledge of that time period to share with us.
Tom purchased a cap and made a donation in the free festival museum. Tom, thoroughly, enjoyed the conversation with the pleasant 93 year old lady working in that museum.
Within 10 miles from the museums, is the actual location of where the Bonnie & Clyde ambush occurred. Looking in both directions on the highway, it can be noticed that it was a perfect location for the ambush. The marker on the left has been there for many years and has many chips, from where people must have chipped off pieces to save. The marker on the right is newer, and was placed there in recent years.

This weekend started with the Tom taking the TomsMaHauL motorhome to Lake Bistineau State Park. Teri had business to take care of, so she joined Tom the following day, and brought the Jeep.

Teri stoking the fire pit in our Lake Bistineau State Park rv spot.

Even with the lake draw down, the Lake Bistineau area is, still, a beautiful place to visit, and camp. We’ve enjoyed attending many events around this lake, over the years. Lake folks are good people! We keep hoping that the state politicians consider funding & over-seeing upgrades in this north Louisiana state park. Twice in the past year and a half, in 2 different rv spots, the power boxes (breaker switches) failed. During this recent trip, after a phone call to the Lake Bistineau State Park office, a gentleman came out right away to replace the power box breaker switch, which saved us from loading up and moving to a different park rv spot. The Lake Bistineau State Park group camp is a great place for rv groups to camp, but those rv power boxes are in need of repair. For several years, we’ve stayed in that group camp with an rv club, and several of the rvs had to use their onboard generators, because some of the rv power boxes did not work. That rv club has since decided to move their annual gathering to Grand Ecore RV Park, that was built by the Red River Waterways Commission near Natchitoches, Louisiana, and has level concrete pads, park area, boat launch onto Bayou Pierre & beautiful community center as the entire park is extremely well maintained. But, back to the Lake Bistineau State Park, which offers a great area for Frisbee golfers and for folks that ride horses. Some festivals and other events are held at this park from time-to-time each year. We will always support Lake Bistineau State Park, and continue to hope for better times ahead for this park. Through the decades, we’ve had many great memories of times at this park, and we still make memories here.

There are other camping parks in & around the Gibsland area, including the Bonnie & Clyde Trade Days RV Park, where we stayed serveral years ago. On some weekends, they hold the Trade Days flea market, concerts and other entertainment. There are other rv parks in this region, that we’ve visited many times, and will cover in future Journal posts.

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We welcome you to check out some of the places that we enjoy exploring around the ArkLaTex region and… beyond the outer parameter. Visit our Journal page HERE
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You’re Trippin’ With Tom & Teri. Our location is a space in time. No matter where you go, there you are, and at the moment, We Are HERE.
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Tom shares some of our motorhome preparation, maintenance & projects…along with expecting the unexpected. Visit our Projects page HERE
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