Hello Louisiana!

7 Feb 2013

Before the sun even thought about rising this morning, we were awake and having a cup of coffee.  It was so quiet in the night, so the minute the traffic on the road next to us picked up, I could tell it was morning.  We were well on our way before sunrise, but Kaleb opted to stay in bed and sleep away the morning.  Such a tough life. (The photo of the sunrise today was taken while traveling at 62mph...).

It’s hard to believe it takes two full days to drive across Texas, but it does and now we’ve done it.  We are safely on the other side, at yet another Walmart parking lot in Louisana.  Kory really wanted to dip off one of the side roads we passed tonight as it was getting dark, and rough it in the wilderness, but I put the ka-bosh on those plans.  I feel much safer with security cameras circling me, so we kept going to the next town with a Walmart.

I was under the impression that every town in America had a Walmart, but they were few and far between today on the road less traveled.  We stayed off the freeways again today except when going through the Dallas/Fort Worth area and Shreveport, Louisana.   There’s just so much more to look at on the side roads, even if all the towns are falling apart.  There’s a charm in that, too.  And thankfully, we didn’t hit any traffic jams on the freeways, so we made pretty good time, even if we were going 15mph under the limit all day.

We made it within 30 minutes of our goal city for the night, in order to be back on track, so the stress is gone.  We’ll have Kaleb to space camp on time, afterall.  Whew.

The landscape changed quite a bit today – from brown earth, prickly pear cactus, no trees and massive amounts of dead skunks on the roadside, to tall trees, green grass and swamps dotting the landscape.  The absolute flatness around us was eaten up by hills and corners, so driving took a bit more concentration.

I swear we passed a hundred mega churches today on the freeway going through the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  And there were plenty of smaller churches, too, so there is no doubt we are in the Bible belt.  Each church looked like it’s own convention center – just massively huge with one right after another.  Oi.

Kaleb poked around all day and didn’t do much school work.  If he spent as much time doing it, as he complains about doing it, he’d have a  year’s worth of work done by now.  He also complained about the fact I had him get his haircut today.  At one of our many Walmart stops, they had a hair salon and they offered to wash his hair as well.  After four days of no shower or hair washing, I would have paid anything for that - as that boy looked a mess.  He looks much better now, but can’t stop complaining about it.  It’s not even a full moon – go figure.

It was a long day driving, of which I did some, but Kory took the bulk of it.  I still like to sit up front and see the world go by, even when I’m not driving.  When I drive, Kory sits in the back and plays electronic games on his i-pad, but then he misses seeing signs like “Bush Hogging” with a phone number underneath.  I’m still wondering what that one means.  Or billboards that say,  “If you’re going to curse, use your own name.  – God “  I even saw a huge oil rig tower right in someone’s backyard.  It was a normal neighborhood, too, so it was like they somehow discovered oil back there and called in the troops.  Strangest thing ever.

I had to stop and buy local foods at several grocery stores along the way today, as I have done in days past.  There’s nothing like salsa from New Mexico, bar-b-que sauce from Texas or Cajun spices and hot sauce from Louisiana.  My stomach will long remember this trip when I’m back home and eating regional foods.  Plus, I’m always looking for more flavorings for Kory’s favorite snack food – roasted garbanzo beans.  He coats them in all kinds of things and bakes them for a crunchy snack.  They are pretty tasty – and I’m thankful he has to use his back teeth to eat them and not his front.  That tooth of his is holding on still, thanks be to God, but if it does fall out again, it seems he’ll fit right in around here.