Yesterday I headed out from Texarkana, TX in a rental car to visit family in North Louisiana while Joe did some maintenance and problem-solving on the E-M-F.  It was the first time I had driven a car in over 3 months and that was the longest time since I had started driving in the early 1970's that I had not driven a car.  Remember that Joe and I have been traveling at the speed of about 30-40 mph for our whole trip.

I found myself headed down the freeway with a speed limit of 70 and had been on the road some 30 minutes or so when I decided I'd better look at the speedometer because it felt like I was really speeding along.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing!  I was driving at the grand speed of 42 mph.  No wonder everyone was passing me!  My sense of speed was so attuned to our slow pace of 35-40 mph that at 42 mph it seemed like I was just flying down the freeway.  I upped my speed to 60 mph and after another 30 minutes or so rechecked my speedometer and I realized that my speed had slowed down again and I was going about 50.  It took me over an hour to get a correct sense of my car's speed.  It was a very weird hour of travel!

I visited with my uncle and aunt and a cousin in Ruston, LA in the upper portion of Louisiana.  If you think of Louisiana, you probably think of New Orleans, bayous and
Cajun cooking.  North Louisiana is a different world.  It is for the most part rural with only 3 towns of any size and chicken and BBQ are more common that Cajun cooking. Instead of bayous it is forest with oaks and pines and typically sandy and red soil. From time to time along the freeway I would get a glimpse of a pecan tree and once a pecan grove.  They are large, stately trees and the nuts are absolutely delicious! 

As I drove down the freeway, the exit signs were all towns that I remember and it was a real temptation to stop to see what they looked like after about 20 years.  I especially wanted to stop in Gibsland, where Bonnie and Clyde, the famous bank robbers from the 20's and 30's were ambushed by police on a lonely back road and killed.  Bonnie and Clyde had terrorized several states for a number of years and had eluded capture repeatedly.  Near Gibsland is the little town of Arcadia that has always felt like it was stuck in a time-warp from the 40's-50's.  It is now a hotbed of antique shops in the old buildings of downtown.  I had limited time, so passed by both Gibsland and Arcadia but a piece of me really  wanted to stop there.

Both my Mom and Dad were from little towns 10 miles either side of Ruston and had been high school sweethearts, best friends and soulmates all their lives.  I only have my Dad's brother and his wife of that generation still living and it was great to see them both.  I have many cousins - both first and second cousins, but only got to see one.  It was a great visit though. 

After about 3 hours, I turned around and headed back toward Texarkana, stopping about mid-way to visit my daughter and granddaughter in Shreveport.  I hadn't seen them in about 4 years so that was a very special stop.  My granddaughter, Maddie, is sweet and beautiful and quiet, loves to draw and to my surprise, loves ROCKS.  I could teach her a thing or two about Rocks!  When I said I could send her some, my daughter said, "Oh, no, not rocks!!"  She knows my passion for rocks.

My daughter was busy changing the location of her business, Shreveport Princess Parties, and I spent this morning helping her with some of the set-up work for her new place while she painted walls and waited for building inspectors to come and waiting for the electricity and AIR CONDITIONING to come on.  I had to leave about 12:30 and the inspectors had come and everything passed inspection but still no electricity or air-conditioning, but the promise that it would be turned on SOON.  I hope so.  It was hot and muggy outside and like a sauna inside the shop. 

Tomorrow we head on down the road to Natchez, Mississippi and the Natchez Trace, a parkway that passes through some of the most incredible scenery and old southern plantations from before the Civil War.