Lucky

Status: still alive, having fun, a few exciting adventures.

Left New Orleans and was directed by mom to take a highway and well, she was wrong. We drove for ages through a swamp. Upon agreeing that we were headed in the wrong direction we pulled off to turn around and were a little worried to see that the off ramp and under the highway was flooded. We braved the water and were thankful for the lame but tall mini-van. There was a Nissan that wasn't so fortunate.

We found our way to the places on our agenda. We toured two plantations. I love the big houses, but was worried they wouldn't mention the slaves. The first place we toured was much better about including information about the slaves and their less than delightful life. The other plantation -- the more lucrative (and still money making) site glossed over the slavery issue all together.

We spent so much time at the two sites (and our "good" lunch at Bonnie B's diner) that we had to take the freeway to "Cousin Richards". Getting from the side roads to the highway wasn't as easy as we thought, but we did "get" to cross the Mississippi again! , and then one more time to correct our mistake.

We had a little giggle about a stop at Grosse Tete. Gross Tit?

Meeting Cousin Richard was great. He and Mrs Richard were wonderful. We had dinner and talked for hours and hours. They have a stunning house at the end of a lane, next to the river.

Today we drove out to Jonesboro, where Richard and Judy have a house. (Her mothers) we stopped at the Walmart picked up dinner and have spent the evening in.

We did the cemetery thing today. It didn't suck as bad as I had feared. But it was hot as hell and I was looking forward to a cool shower. This house (worthy of inclusion into a museum as a stellar display of all that was un-holy about American home decor) has no showers. The bath was surprisingly good and I'm looking forward to a night in dead grandma's bed.

We also did laundry, but the dryer has only two settings: off and cremation so our clothes are a little crispy.

Tomorrow were off to see Marlene and I don't know what is on the agenda.

One last thing, we visited the town where Steel Magnolias was filmed. We learned that the movie was based on a book that was the true story of the authors sister written for his nephew so he could know something about his mother. The family is from the town. Who knew?