Loving Louisiana

Many times, when I tell people I’m on a road trip by myself, they tell me I’m brave.

I guess bravery is something you have to practice - when I left home, I wasn’t feeling particularly brave.

After extensive discussions, Harry and I had decided I should take his little Honda Insight on this trip rather than taking the Dogmobile, partially because the Dogmobile’s struts are going out, but mostly because the Honda gets 40 MPG - just about twice what the Dogmobile gives me. It was a good decision, but still, even though I’d packed the “Baby Beast” the night before, getting going was tough.




When I plugged in my newly-updated Garmin that morning, I found that the update had cleared out all of my past trips and addresses. Luckily, I had Jolie’s address in my own personal portable memory (a/k/a my head), so I put it into the Garmin, put the Baby Beast in “Drive,” and set out into the darkness.









After driving a block, I realized I couldn’t see the speedometer - I had no idea how fast I was going, and had no idea where the “tilt” mechanism was on the steering column. I pawed at the steering column until I found the lever, and then noticed the gas gauge registered less than a quarter of a tank. I never start a trip on less than a full tank of gas. When I stopped at the gas station to fill up, I discovered I had no idea how to open the door to the gas tank! I can only imagine what the convenience store clerk thought, watching me out there thumbing through the manual of the Honda at about 2:30 a.m. So, all in all, it wasn’t the best of beginnings for a 13 hour drive. I felt unsettled - a bit rattled, honestly - and that feeling persisted for quite a while. It didn’t help matters when the Garmin tried to tell me I needed to go south on Highway 75 instead of I-29, which is the highway I knew I needed to take. (I learned later that when I updated my maps, all of the Garmin’s settings had reverted back to the factory settings, and it was set to “Avoid Traffic,” which took me on every toll road possible, and on what seemed to be every single Oklahoma and Louisiana back road. I saw some beautiful scenery, to be sure, but it wasn’t necessarily a time-effective route).



But after the rocky start, the miles peeled away, hour by hour, and I settled into the drive and eventually ended up at Jolie’s place. She and Jim live in a beautiful cabin that Jim built, nestled into a clearing that he carved out of a patch of thick woods.

Jolie introduced me to the Goobersmooches gradually. I’m not sure if she was afraid they’d scare me off or if she was worried that they wouldn’t react well to me, but we all got along just great.



After the long drive, I was ready for some relaxation with the pups. Patrick and Magoo seemed to be having a competition to see who could give me the best, most thorough facial, but Roudy and Aliah would join in and help from time to time. Merry and Goldie were the most laid back of the bunch. Lovely pups, each and every one of them.





There wasn’t a dull moment during the visit to Goobersmooch Acres. Jolie and I went to Gators & Friends, a local petting zoo, while Jim smoked ribs and worked on things at the house. I can’t remember the last time I’d been to a petting zoo, and I had a great time feeding the various animals. And then, of course, there were the ‘Gators. Jolie made sure we got there in time for feeding time, which was announced by a keeper shaking a big bucket of what sounded like kibble. As the gators slowly gathered, so did the crowd, and the water roiled as the alligators competed for the kibble that was tossed in the water.



After the feeding, I got in line for the photo op. I sat on the patio bench, and the keeper handed me a baby alligator, whose little snout, I was happy to see, had been taped shut. I am still fascinated by the feel of his skin and the coolness of his body. He had eyes of different colors - I’m not sure if he’d been injured, or if that is common. Definitely a moment to remember.



After an excellent rib dinner, Jim took Jolie and I the scenic route to Shreveport for the MudBug Festival. We passed areas that looked remarkably like Oregon, and true Louisiana bayous - it was just beautiful.




Just so you know, a Mudbug (aptly named) is also known as a crawdad. The music at the Mudbug Festival was loud, the crowd was dancing, and there were long tables piled high with bright red boiled crawdads. Too bad I’d already eaten ribs for dinner! I wasn’t up for an order of boiled crawdads that night (even if I had any idea of how to eat one), but I did try a breaded fried mudbug. It mostly tasted like fried breading.








After the festival, we walked along the river - there's a great fountain there that children were running through.



There was one more VIP that I met while in Louisiana - a little guy named Elbie. I'm thinking there may be a whole new chapter about to start in my life, but time will tell.



You can see photos of Sewing Day on Jolie’s Facebook page - we had a great time making pajama pants. We used my machine, because Jolie’s Singer has a ton of attachments, some of which look like teeny-tiny torture devices, and I felt much more comfortable with mine. Her pajamas turned out beautifully - a great first-time pattern-reading project!

The next leg of the trip: Hurst, Texas, to visit my sister, Pam!