'You only pass this way once'

I was just outside Houston, TX visiting my cousin and her family.  It just so happened that I turned up a couple of days before her birthday so I stayed a little longer so I could celebrate with them. It feels strange to stay somewhere more than a night or two......the third night is pushing it!!!  We made a birthday trip to the mall  and when we came out 4 and a half hours later it was sunny, windy, rainy and hot all at the same time.....there's a little saying about the weather when it's that way:  the devil is beating his wife.....welcome to Texas!!!  They have four little people there, all adorable of course, but trying to keep track of them is quite a job. A very rewarding job, especially when they say things like 'you can't leave, you have no house', but oodles of work.  They also have a beautiful house but omg do I see the merit in having a smaller house when you have little kids. Only because in a decent sized house, by the time you track down what one is getting into, the other one (or two in this case) is/are getting into something else on the other side of the house. (Especially when they're 2, 3 and a recently turned 5 and mom is trying to take care of a two month old at the same time!!!)  I'm so happy that I got to visit.

I left Houston on, what day was that, this is what happens when your on an extended vacation from the daily grind....feels good though!! Friday....I left Friday afternoon and made

 my way to Sam Houston State Park in LA. to check in with the alligators.  While I was there I met some old guy

 (72)..........sorry gramps;) .....who was interesting to talk to at first. He had lived in Concord in the 70's, and had done a lot of moving around and eventually landed in Fort Mojave where he's a 'yard dog' for some contractor and where he rides his dirt bike all over the desert

t.  He's currently on his last 'big go around' of the US. Says it's on his 'bucket list' so

 he's riding his motorcycle around the perimeter of the country.  He was has been shocked and pissed off repeatedly when people ask questions like 'what's that' or 'where's that' when he tells them what he's doing.  I'm telling you the geographic literacy of the US population is appalling......what's more is that they don't know what perimeter means.

Anyhow, I tell him what I'm doing so we talk about that for a bit, and how hard it is to do something different. Now, I've met people like him before, and while I do believe you 

shouldn't put things off that you want to do because the opportunities aren't always there,

 I do not want to end up old and completely without attachments....relationships with others are too much a part of the human experience to chuck out the window so that you don't have to be accountable to anyone.  In his case he has had over 100 jobs, including cleaning portable potties, managing tire stores, and setting back odometers.  He has an ex wife, and an estranged daughter who he has tried to make peace with in the past but refuses see o

r talk to him, and that evening he had received a voicemail from telling him she didn't want him in her town, on her street, or in her house.  He 

says she's full of

 hate, and blames him for all kinds of things.  "You can't carry around all that with you, it just eats you up and touches everything around you."  Interesting because it turns out

 he's a f*&%$#@ racist.  We went around and around, and I know when someone's that set

 in what they think you can't change their mind but holy hell.  I have never met anyone that blatant and he says 'there are alot of us out there that feel this way'.  I'm not so naive to think that people like that aren't out there, and I recognize that it's there writhing around still having a profound affect on individuals and society as a whole but this old guy just took me 

by surprise. After, all I could think was "hopefully he'll die soon".    

I left that campground Saturday morning and headed to the New Orleans area.  woohoo!!!  It took me longer than I thought it would....I kept making all kinds

 of little stops....plus I took 90/49 instead of I10 which goes a little further south and bypasses Baton Rouge. Eventually, after stopping at my first piggly wiggly, I got to Bayou Segnette State Park.  It's about 20-30 minutes outside of New Orleans.  It's sooo hot and humid......and there are lots of bugs...I itch everywhere....yes I did put on bug spray....but not enough!!!!  I

 complain about the bugs but last night I was able to leave my rainfly off of my nifty

 little tent (I love this tent, definitely worth the last minute purchase) and while I was falling asleep I could feel the breeze and watch the fireflies light up the bushes around me. 

Today I went in to New Orleans!!! I started the day off with the 'must do' stop at cafe du monde for cafe' au lait...iced...and the little french donuts called beignets. It's basically

fried dough with powdered sugar on top.  They taste like what our family calls 'doughbo

ys'.  Then I just walked, and walked, then I took the St.Charles trolley to the garden district and walked some more.  I was trying to see the Lafayette Cemetery#1 but it just so happe

ns it's closed Sundays. But because I'm an Anne Rice fan.....was until she went uber-conservative christian....it was cool to see all of the houses and be in the areas she talks about.  I didn't hang around to take to the Vampire tour, or the Ghost Tour which is kind of a bummer. They didn't start until

 6 or 8 and I was just done for the

 day.....I also

 missed the Voodoo

 Museum...because by the time 

I found the parking lot I had parked in, I had already paid 14 for parking and just wanted to take a break.  It would have been different if I was staying the area, I could have taken a little rest in a nice air conditioned room and  been ready for another round!!!  

Maybe if my landlady had sent me the deposit check and I had more than like a hundred bucks in my account I would have gotten a room somewhere for the night!!!! On a brighter note; my mom sold my car tonight! I got a smidgen less than I was hoping but I'm just so hap

py it's done!!!  Thanks mom!!!!  Of course, now that I've gotten rid of my reliable little Honda this truck will probably give out tomorrow!!! (I'm knockin' on wood for that one....picnic table wood) 

If the thing starts in the morning I'm going to start heading up to TN.  I'm just going to  drive until I can't and then find a place to stay.  I'm still a little uncertain about this whole music festival thing. If someone had been able to go with me, that would have been one thing.But I don't know if I want to spend 4 full days at something like that alone. I'll be alone either way but I know that being in a crowd like that can make you feel terribly lonely. 

Although there is a cat that's shown up at my campsite who I call LuLu perhaps she'd like to see a concert. An armadillo also stopped by this evening...it's the first time I've seen one alive....I saw several dead ones on the side of the road....their little legs sticking straight up. In 

fact,  I have seen alot of dead critters on the side of the road on this trip and as I was driving across Texas there were tons of deer out on the side of the road just munching away, I was so scared one was going to leap out right in front of me my knuckles were white. On that happy note I hear my air mattress calling....I'm currently in the car so I have to make a mad dash to get to the tent before the bugs get me again.