The Sunrose In Baton Rouge

Howard and I got to Baton Rouge, about 2 hours before sundown, yesterday...
Finding a place to sleep was the priority. This was complicated by the fact that, like the typical bus terminal, theirs was located right in the heart of the downtown, urban, "crack-town" ghetto. No surprise, there.
Howard was like a fish out of water.
It was up to me to read the signs, both literally and figuratively, to figure out where we were, get ourselves rested, fed and on a train out of here by tonight.
The bus terminal was where 22nd street crossed. I knew that the descending numbers would lead to the "center" of downtown, probably named Main Street, or Center Street, or Huey P. Long Blvd, since he seems to be a legend here, whomever he is...
We walked in the direction of the ascending numbers, ran into a couple guys, whom I grilled for information.
My plan was to go to the bus terminal, first thing in the morning and check their map for the locations of libraries, such as this one.
I need to abandon this blog and find the railyard, or maybe a truck stop, so that we might be out of here shortly.
We stopped at a convenience store by this library, run by perhaps Syrians, or Hungarians, or something.
They asked me where we were coming from.
I told him "New Orleans," then, since I was holding my guitar, added "I play on Bourbon Street; but I need a vacation from it."
One of the two, behind the bullet-resistant glass said "You should sit in front of store, maybe make money playing!"
I have gotten this reaction in the past from store owners from countries where busking is considered to be an enhancement to the atmosphere of their business; quite the opposite of panhandling, and thier attitude is "Look, we even have entertainment for you, while you pump our middle eastern product into your tank!"
I had almost forgotten that aspect of busking. The last time it happened it was a Morrocan lady at a Kangaroo station in Jacksonville, who would almost command me to get out there in front of the store and make some money (what are you waiting for?). That produced around 75 bucks in about 4 hours on a typical night, as I recall.
Eventually, of course, someone "higher up" than the Morrocan lady put an immediate stop to it.
If some car jumped the curb and hit me while I was playing, I could sue Kangaroo.
If Kangaroo was robbed and I was hit by a stray bullet while playing, I could sue Kangaroo.
If people throw a few bucks in my hat, then they will have a few bucks less to spend in the Kangaroo (like anyone is going to not buy their cigarettes and beer, but rather throw the money to a busker and then go home and "jones" all night, give me a break...)
The downside was too large for Kangaroo, despite the fact that I was running in the store in between sets to spend my tips in there, on my own cigarettes and beer...but
The Syrians, or Albanians, or Croatians probably own the store outright and can do whatever they want, so, after this computer boots me off in 21 minutes, after my (only) one hour on it, I will go and see if I can busk in front of the Sunrose convenience store (no, I don't think it's a misprint of Sunrise; it's Sunrose...it's a Syrian thing, you wouldn't understand....)
Howard is in a daze.
When we walked past a yard that had dozens of city buses, all parked in parallel, he actually asked "Is that the bus terminal?"
When our bus pulled in this morning to take us here, with a huge LCD display atop the front window which said "10 Scotlandville" in large, red letters, and I started to pick up my pack and guitar, he asked "Are you going to go back and sit inside to wait?"
I said: "Look that way, Howard, do you see anything of note?"
"Oh, is that our bus?"
"Didn't I just tell you that we were waiting on the number 10 Scotlandville, which was supposed to be here in 10 minutes, 10 minutes ago?!?"
I may have underestimated the degree of disorientation that the guy labors under, or have forgotten how it was when he was following me around Mobile, like a lost soul. But, he's a nice guy and his company is some measure of compensation for the inane questions, which make me roll my eyes...
I need to find a map and get going. I paid 4 bucks for an all-day bus pass, ostensibly to get from here, back to the terminal (after busking and hopefully paying for all of todays expenses) and then out to a railyard or truck stop....