Hot in Louisiana

Saturday February 14, 2015 Suite 207 Comfort Suites Leesville,Louisiana

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day. We left Natchez before 9am today and the temperature was in the 50’s and sunny.  Warmest start of the day yet. Last night when we arrived there was an adorable young cat in front of our door. She meowed sweetly and ran over to be pet. She rolled to have her tummy rubbed and I just fell in love. If I could have figured out how to take her on our trip—after taking her to a vet for a thorough check, bath and de-flea-ing and shots. Nothing came to mind and she wasn’t there to greet us this morning so that problem was solved. While the two outside our door this morning were also pretty, they were definitely feral and had no desire to be touched. As a matter of fact, they ran if we moved close at all. So the Natchez kitties will remain Belles of the Evening.

I had not noticed last night but this morning discovered that there were no towels in our room . There was one on the rack near the sink and I used it to wash up before bed. Come to find out, it was the only towel in the room. Bill went to the desk and the girl gave him two and said these small ones were all she had. Well, she gave him two bath mats!!!! I called the desk and requested two sets of towels and wash clothes. Fifteen minutes later we still did not have them, so Bill went back. She then went to a room two doors down from us, where it appeared her husband was staying and got the towels from that room. They were clean but what a strange situation. Next time we stay at the lovely hotel in Vidalia that you can see from the Mississippi River bridge. The riverboat is a casino on the Natchez side.

We made our way to Ferriday and the Delta Music Museum and after reading about the three famous cousins and admiring the checkerboard stars of Ferriday music, we discovered that the museum itself is closed on Sat and Sun. Too bad, I’ve wanted to buy the book about Louisiana rocks and the one about the cousins. Among other famous facts about Jerry Lee’s song Great Balls of Fire, my record was shattered into a zillion parts by my father who did not want me listening to that filth. In my innocence, I had no idea why it upset him so much. Needless to say, there was no more Jerry Lee music in my house!

So off we went doing our favorite thing—back roads and small towns—agricultural fields and pecan plantations.

At one point we pulled over to watch the acrobatics of a lovely yellow spray plane. There are a battery of jets on the underside of each wing and as he flies low over the fields they are blanketed in whatever insecticide he is using.

At one large pecan orchard the farmer was multitasking his land—grazing his cattle beneath the trees. A pretty bucolic scene.

It always amazes me when I find that someone like Jay Gould should ever have built a mill in this tiny place buried in rural Louisiana.

It is fun to see a town, the main street of which is only about the third of the length of Fairlee’s main street, find the need for three traffic lights—one at each intersection and Fairlee has none. And what Indians were building mounds in 200AD in a small area where a town with one of the prettiest cemeteries sits now.

Eventually we arrived at the Cane River and the Heritage area along it. By the time we arrived around 11 am the temperature had risen to 74 degrees and my light weight hoodie with the long sleeves caused me to get very overheated while walking among the old buildings. When we returned to the car, I got out my cold water and changed into a lighter weight blouse. The uneven ground also irritated this “pump bump”, a real medical term for it, and my Achilles tendon was killing me. I haven’t worn pumps in over 15 years and the tendon started to bother me on the way home in the Fall. Since then the bump has formed and now it hurts more than ever. I hope it isn’t going to be a problem on this trip. I decided to see the doctor when I got home but I may have misjudged the condition. I’ll try icing it and hope it helps.

At any rate, between the heat to which I am not yet acclimated and the heel, I decided not to tour Melrose or the other National site, Oakland. We will have to return either on the way home or next trip. We sought out more and, may I say some of the worst conditioned, roads running through the piney woods until we reached Leesville and our suite. We are near Ft Polk and there are several groups of young men off base going to party tonight—at least so they said as they rode the elevator with us. So far they’ve been pretty quiet.

In closing, I apologize for the duplication of some pictures tonight. I uploaded twice and each time the pictures of Magnolia Plantation did not appear in the album. So I uploaded those pictures as additions to the album and lo and behold, there are now two sets of them. I give up. Going to go and enjoy my chocolates that Bill gave me for Valentine’s and I shall share with him.

Don’t know where we are headed tomorrow other than farther south since icy rain and sleet are predicted here within a couple of days. Such crazy weather this year. Bill has said he’d like to back track to Lafayette since we have two months. Of course, at least one week is gone already. But I love Lafayette, too and though we’ll probably go there on the way home, it is fine if we spend a few days there now, too. I do want to spend several days in the Fredericksburg Texas area on the way home. Just as long as we have time in Arizona and New Mexico. I wish he’d spend more time in California but he has some sort of disinterest—personally, I think it has to do with money—he can be cheap at times—well, frugal, is a nicer term, I guess. he always says we don’t have enough time and we have to make sure not to run out of money. Strange, but maybe Barb and I can make another trip sometime..

For now, time to close—hoping you are all weathering those North East storms and cold okay. It sounds really awful listening to the reports on the local stations here.

Good Night,The Two Traveling Peas