Travel

Travel Day

Like last January’s trip to Santa Fe, I flew. I’ve got all-weather tires on the GTI, but if I were to have to drive through a real storm somewhere along the 4- or 5-day trip either way, they might not be good enough. They were fine for about 5 miles of slushy roads in Utah back in early December, but even if they can handle that weather, that many miles of heavy blowing snow creeping along on an interstate, I thought taking to the skies was the way to go.

Unlike last time’s direct flight on Alaska Air, I had a two-hop trip on Southwest. Southwest doesn’t fly direct to ABQ, and I had to use my vouchers from the two flights I cancelled during the government shutdown. That was two separate flights because of the 2-day stay in Vegas to see The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere, so they turned into 2 one-way flights between PDX & ABQ.

Welcome To Lake Bosworth

I am up visiting BIL Scott and family for Christmas. Because I wanted to have my own place to sleep instead of kicking one of the kids out of their bedroom, I rented a VRBO on Lake Bosworth, which is like 4 miles away. Turns out it is the exact same place Donna and I stayed at for a week back in April of 2015.

Back then it was a 2-bedroom, but now it is only a single bedroom; the door to that second bedroom is locked. I asked the host about it, and she told me it was a septic system issue; the previous owner let up to 6 people stay, and that amount overloaded the system.

Road Trip Day 5 – Paris to Amarillo

A 400-mile, 7 hour driving day that included an actual Dunkin’ store, a Cracker Barrel lunch, a mildly disappointing Buc-ees visit, an almost hotel mix-up and four bits of Roadside America.

Back in May of 2023 on Donna’s and my trip to the Napier’s Hometown we were in the Holiday Inn Express across the street from the Dunkin’ in the travel center. When I went in, I walked back out, because there was only one person behind the counter and too many people in line. This time it was me and Sally staying across the street in a Home2 Suites and I stayed because there were two employees behind the counter and no one in there but me. Turns out I probably should have left, they didn’t get the order right, regular means 3 cream – 3 sugar and all I got was 1 of each.

Cracker Barrel didn’t disappoint even though they didn’t have the Pot Roast dinner I wanted; the Sunday Special was chicken pot pie that put Swanson’s to shame. Sally’s trout was also excellent, but I had to take her word for it because she refused to share, (truth be told, she did offer and I declined.)

Turns out this Buc-ees did not have a car wash (aww..) and there were none of the free circle stickers either (crap!), but the rest was terribly weird as advertised.

I almost did the same thing I did once before on a previous trip with an overnight stay in a Holiday Inn property. While trying to follow the somewhat confusing frontage road situations in Texas I pulled into a Holiday Inn, and before I would have embarrassed myself, I checked the reservation on my phone and realized I was in the Holiday Inn lot and I needed to be on the other side of I-40 Business in the Holiday Inn Express.

We stopped at the Texas Best Smokehouse Travel Center in Henrietta, TX to photograph the Dinosaur Parade there. Next was a Quanah Parker Trail Arrow in the town of Quanah, TX. I was here before with Donna and even though I can find no reference to it the blog, I can say with all assurance that we were here on a previous trip because I remember visiting the museum that is in the same parking lot.

After checking in to the hotel, taking an hour to settle in, we went for a semi-long walk around the hotel area, we hopped in the car and grabbed a couple more Roadside America sites near Amarillo that I had never been to before, the giant Tex Randall Statue in Canyon, TX 20 miles south and the Giant Legs of Amarillo on the way back to the hotel.

Hammond – Day 7

Today dawned cold and breezy, so the walk for the morning latte was accomplished by walking briskly and cutting diagonally across empty parking lots. I think my plan of getting recognized in PJ’s is not really going to work; this morning one of the two baristas, who was in there on my first two visits early this week, didn’t show anything.

But coincidentally, I did get recognized, sort of, in the local grocery store after three visits. Sally and I went out to the local Piggly Wiggly to get some milk for her mom and for us to pick up some supplies for hunkering down on Tuesday when the Snowmageddon (2-4 inches) hits here in Hammond on Tuesday. When we got to the cashier, she said, “The kids are back.” Just by chance she was the cashier on our last two visits and remembered the pair of us together. I think if we ever go back to the Pig during this visit, we should seek her out and get in line even if it is longer than every other one.

We took a visit to Sally’s daughter’s Airbnb on the outskirts of Hammond, and it is a wonder. It is well off the main road on a dirt road back in the woods. Appropriately, the name of the home is Hobbit House. It would take several paragraphs to describe it, so hit this link.

After the house tour, we (me, Sally, Claire the daughter, and Mom/Grandmom Adele) headed south into the Louisiana bayou to a place called Middendorf’s Manchac for lunch. I got the Middendorf’s Special, which is several thin fried catfish fillets piled on a pile of french fries accompanied by two hush puppies and a bowl of coleslaw. I challenged myself to finish this off, and I would have had the hush puppies been any good. I took one bite, and it was dry and probably double-fried. I’m still digesting it as I write this about 8 hours later.

Hammond – Day 6

We are staying in an Airbnb across from the Neill Corp headquarters, and more than likely the owners of said Airbnb. If you have ever purchased an Aveda product, they are the sole distributor in the US and they bill themselves as an education company for stylists and salon owners in the culture of hair.

On their lot there a are several large marble sculptures of the ancient’s Four Elements with this marble plaque with the element’s names and an associated short poem. The (2) Goddess of Earth, the (3) Goddess of Air, (4) and the Goddess of Fire, featuring the (5) Goddess of Water. The Very Special Guests are the (6) Goddess of WTF and the (7) Goddess of Utilities.

Yesterday evening while getting ready for bed I managed to knock my electric toothbrush off the bathroom sink counter. Unfortunately, the three-foot drop was onto a tile floor. I picked it up and hit the go button and it didn’t go. 🙁 At least I could use it the old school way by moving my arm around. 🙂 When I finished in the shower I headed over to Amazon and ordered one to be delivered next day (today) to Sally’s mom’s house. This morning it was out for delivery.

Well, guess what? It didn’t work again in the morning either, but this afternoon I put it in its charging base, I been just keeping on the sink because it was fully charged when I left home, it the light came on. I picked it up, hit the go button and, “IT”S ALIVE! IT’S ALIVE!” Just a few minutes ago my, and now redundant, toothbrush was delivered. So, decision time, do I send back and get the Amazon credit, or I do keep it because how long will I trust to work, or do I keep and have one for travelling and one for home? I’ve 30 days to decide.

Hammond – Day 5

Another day, another repeat of the early morning routine, up before the sun & Sally, a walk over to get my caramel latte from PJ’s. And I plan on doing that for as long as it takes until they know my order as soon as I walk in their door or when we leave Hammond next Saturday. No post Office visit, but I did extend the walk, by turning corners randomly to get in more distance than a there and back.

There was several store stops in the morning. One for food replenishment for us, a stop to get shrimp for tonight’s dinner and a Hobby Lobby visit for a picture frame. Lunch of PB&J at the Airbnb for us before heading over to Mom’s place for some more reminiscing and a bit of yard work. Midafternoon I headed over to Mandeville. I was missing out on the dinner of shrimp etouffee to have a beer and conversation with a friend.

Heidi started out as a very good friend and school mate of Donna’s younger sister Sandy. After Sandy lost her battle with ALS, any time we ever came this way, which was often enough, we would stop and visit her a bit, so she became our friend. So now she is my friend. Heidi lost everything in hurricane Katrina and almost lost her life too. She had to bust through her roof to get above the rush of water after the the levee broke. When Sandy died her husband said take anything of hers that you want, so we packed up a bunch of her clothes and jewelry which Donna wore for the longest time. We also took her high school yearbook with us. Because Heidi was in Sandy’s class it was also hers, so a one visit down we gave to her.

There was more reminiscing between us over a beer, something on tap in a glass for her and German NA beer for me. It started with B•r•i•t something, something.1 I so wished I paid attention because that was the first non-alcoholic beer that I’ve that tasted like real beer. After the drink she drove me over to McClain’s Pizzeria for a meal of, you guessed it, pizza. We split a Roslyn: ham, cashew, garlic, and artichoke hearts. Even though it was a couple blocks away, we drove because she just got out a soft boot for a broken bone in her foot. Afterwards she took me back the “my car” so I could head west while she went east to go home.

Because I abhor an Interstate, I took LA22 to get back instead of I-12 and it bit me in the tukhus. Because of rush hour traffic on a mostly 2-lane road and I’m guessing the drawbridge over the Tchefuncte River was up for a while because the 40-minute trip took about 70. I didn’t mind, I’m on vacation and in no hurry.

Hammond – Day 4

Today I was up before Sally and the sun, so I walked the three blocks over to get my caramel latte from PJ’s and then walked 4 or 5 blocks further to mail a baker’s dozen of the postcards I discussed yesterday before retracing my steps back to the Airbnb. Sally and I got our hairs cut at a little shop that she always goes to when she is in town.

 
Fried Chicken Showdown Results:
Saturday 1/11 – Zaxby’s 1/2 ☆
Sunday 1/12 – Popeyes ★★★★
Monday 1/13 – Piggly Wiggly Deli ★★★★★ !Winner!
Thursday 1/16 – Raising Cane’s ★★★★
Church’s, Chick-Fil-A & KFC were not nominated

I hope the crappy chicken at that particular Zaxby’s was a one-off because I always loved their fingers back in my Aiken days. Today was my first exposure to Raising Cane’s, and it was like my prior Zaxby’s experience. Those two are very similar in execution: breaded chicken breast strips, fries, buttered thick toast, and a dipping sauce. The differences are that Zaxby’s has straight fries, Raising Cane’s has crinkle fries, and Zaxby’s toast is shaped like a slice of bread, while Raising Cane’s is longer and narrower. There is only a slight variation in the dipping sauce.

Our afternoon was spent at the birthday girl’s house with Sally’s firstborn, Claire, a cruise ship pilot in Alaska, waiting for the younger son, Stuart, who works in advertising in Baton Rouge, to show, so the “kids” could drive an hour and a half east to Mississippi to visit with their disgraced father. Below is a photo of most of the players from 30 years ago in Lexington, Virginia, cutting down that year’s Christmas tree.


From left to right: Claire, Me (I still have that coat), Stuart & Sally