Lessons Learned on a May Road Trip

Following a six hour drive on Monday morning, we met my sister, Gin and her husband, Thomas for lunch at a small restaurant near the Atchafalaya River in South Louisiana.  This was probably the emotional highlight of the whole trip.  Let me explain.

As soon as Gin walked through the door, there was a loud "Miss Gingie!" from a young African American woman standing in the middle of the restaurant.  Immediately the two were embracing and talking at the same time.  Kenny Boo soon won out and the rest of us stood by watching and listening.

She began to remind Gin of all the unfortunate things from her past - her poor, neglected upbringing, having a baby at 15, her drug addiction, having her three children taken away from her.  Then she began thanking Gin for always standing by her, encouraging and believing in her.  They continued hugging and Gin would occasionally hold her cheeks and wipe away tears on Kenny Boo's face.  Once, she held Gin's hand and said, "Don't do that, these is good tears!"

Kenny Boo then so proudly told Gin that her oldest son is now in college, her middle child is a senior in high school with a 3.5 GPA and her youngest is a sophomore with a 4 pt. average.  She went on to tell the story of how God had recently helped her pass all her tests and made it possible for her to be hired in a full-time position at the local elementary school.  The whole time she is thanking Gin for all she had done for her.  I was also in tears.

For over 25 years, Gin owned and drove a school bus in her small predominantly African American village and surrounding area.  She touched so many lives and multiple generations of families.  Kenny Boo is only one of many who have thanked her for making a difference in their lives.

The amazing thing about this meeting is that before leaving home that morning, Gin had prayed and asked God to let her see someone from her past that day.  God had answered her prayer by placing a most radiant, joyful and grateful Kenny Boo right in the middle of a small café in South Louisiana.  God had also answered other prayers by giving us all the opportunity to witness the miracle of a changed life.  I have now given her a new name - Sunny Boo.

From here, we went to Baton Rouge to spend the night with long-time friends, Vicki and Marvin.  There was a lot of catching up to do and we so enjoyed sitting out on their back porch and watching the many birds and squirrels romping in the yard.

Tuesday morning was my six-month doctor appointment and excuse for the whole trip.  Thankfully, I got another good report.  Afterward, we visited Dick's cousin, Kenneth and Lynn in Port Allen and loved recalling experiences from the past and hearing updates on all their grandchildren and greats as well.

Tuesday night was spent in Lafayette, and should you be in the area, let me suggest you eat at Bon Temps Grill on Pinhook.

We both had the Fried Catfish Mon Dieu for dinner, which is a plate of the most delicious catfish bathed in spicy crayfish etouffee served on a bed of rice.

The next day for lunch, at the same place, we met Charlene, my first friend after Dick and I married and moved to New Iberia, LA in 1965.

It was worth a repeat.  Dick and Charlene wanted another serving of the catfish but the Praline Chicken Salad appealed to me.  Our visit was too short but it is always a joy to spend time with this precious friend.

From here we drove west to Orange, TX, where we had lived from 1967 - '69.  We had not been back since leaving there when I was 7 months pregnant with our first child, John.  We wanted to see the house we had lived in and the church where we had served.

This was the sweet little house where we spent two wonderful years and conceived a baby.

And this was my massive head of teased hair back then.

One lesson learned:  Don't try to go back 55 years and expect things to be as you remember them.  By the way, the church has been long gone.

Needless to say, we didn't linger in Orange and have no reason to ever return.  We happily headed south west toward Galveston, with hopes of enjoying the Gulf Coast.

Our first glimpse of the water and waves was so refreshing and whetted our appetite for more.

The houses built on stilts reminded us that we were definitely in hurricane country.

The only access to the Island where Galveston sits, from this direction is by an 18 minute ferry ride.

After checking into our hotel, we agreed that we hadn't spent enough time in the car yet, and a drive further down the coast line was in order.

Along this stretch, there were so many beautiful homes, all built on steel pilings to ride out the storms.  Many reminded me of expensive stilettos.  The thing we noticed though was there were no cars around most of these opulent homes, so obviously these are play places for the rich Houstonites.

We saw this public access walk to the beach and decided that was exactly where we needed to go.

We were not disappointed!

The only other people there was a couple doing a bikini photoshoot.  I steered Dick as far away as I could, but decided to try my own version of a sexy pose.

Needless to say, it fell way short of anything remotely sexy.

This scene of seagulls flew right overhead, backdropped by the amazing partially cloud-covered sun.  We agreed that another lesson learned is doing something unplanned can be rewarding for many reasons.

Another unplanned experience was to eat a most delicious pizza in our car before going back to the hotel.  Lesson learned:  Gulf Coast birds are smart and feel entitled to share what you are eating.

This fellow found the whole process interesting and promising for leftovers.  It was fun watching him close-up until an ugly brown bird landed on my side mirror and attempted to share my pizza slice.  My scream ended that idea.

The final lesson learned  was to avoid driving the length of the state of Texas on any major highways and to avoid Houston and Dallas at all costs.  Of course the downfall for us is that neither could be avoided.  We made it home only by the grace of God!

This road trip has satisfied our desire for travel for the time being.  The next big one will be to Northern Indiana in late July to meet our 2nd great grandson, Jax Marcus.

We will be ready!