Cajun Capers….

Thursday was our day off. The day began with me working till 10:30 on the rig, touching up areas where the paint had been chipped on the undercarriage of the RV. Since the heat index was up to steam by 10:30, it was then time to go for a swim and cool off after working on the rig. We walked up to the pool and swam for a while then came back to the Center for lunch. Lunch was King Ranch Chicken. Ever heard of it ? I hadn’t but everyone seemed to like it.
After lunch we decided to explore the area so after checking the map we decided that the Louisiana border couldn’t be too far away so we decided to drive from Livingston to DeRidder, LA…up to Leesville and then back to Livingston. At first we thought we’d take the motorcycle but then decided we probably should take the dogs since they only get out for any lengthy period of time on our one day off each week. At 12:45 we were on the road. We took route 190 east. Let me tell you there is not a whole lot to see on that route from Texas to Louisiana except pine trees, shacks, a few long horn cattle and a whole lot more pine trees. The pine trees around here are not like the ones back east. Tall, small in diameter and they have big, fluffy type needles. I want to say they are Loblolly pine trees but not sure if that is correct or not. They must grow rapidly as we saw many areas with new trees growing as well as a lot of mature timber. You see a lot of trucks on the road hauling the fallen timber and they look like stacked toothpicks because they are so small in diameter. Not sure what all they are used for but we did go by a plywood factory, paper mill and there is a landscape timber place near the Care Center. Guess that might be our answer.
An interesting thing about those Louisiana folk….they are about as ingenious as the mid-westerners with their reuse of household items. These folks must have a problem with critters getting in to their garbage cans when they set them out at the road for pick-up. Many houses had little roadside enclosures, for garbage cans, but one house had an old crib they were using….kids are grown so they figured what the heck….the right size and height to hold those garbage cans and no raccoons will get into their trash. Clever, eh?
They’re not quite as clever when it comes to naming streams. I wonder whose job it is to go around and name bodies of water…even small little streams. We went across Big Cow creek, Little Cow creek (back home we call them calves, not little cows but what do I know), Cat Creek…..the “creek namer” was on an animal kick during that stretch of roadway….Clear Creek, Sandy Creek, etc.
The trip wasn’t a total bust. We did come across a dollar store where we needed to pick up a few things. I found a turkey baster so I could replenish my bat trees….no, not bat trees…batteries…..Good Lord, now I’m starting to sound like a Texan ! To remind me that I truly was in Louisiana….As I rounded the corner into the toy aisle a woman was rummaging through a bin of stuffed animals when she exclaimed, “They ain’t got no dogs”….oh my…if my daughter was here she’d either have had a coronary or would have spent the next 15 minutes explaining to the woman what she REALLY should have said. Yep, we can say that we traveled to Louisiana and saw the best that they had to offer. I figure by the time we amortize the $45 we spent in gas, to make the trip, over the nine items we got at the DOLLAR store…..that made for a pretty expensive turkey baster!