Roaming...Oct. 23 - Oct 26, 2017

Early this year, when we chose this week for a vacation, we assumed we'd go camping somewhere.  Life has a way of changing best-laid plans, and though we still took this week for a vacation, we did not go camping.  We batted around the idea of renting a cabin in the Ozark mountains, but the cabins where we wanted to go were all booked by the time we tried to make reservations.  It wasn't until the end of last week that we settled on a destination:  Poverty Point, a World Heritage site in Louisiana.

Monday morning, we hit the road to Louisiana.  We intended to try the tamales at Doe's Eat Place in Greenville, but discovered that it closes on Mondays.  We picked another spot and, to our delight, discovered that they served Doe's tamales.  YUM!  Bellies full, we headed on to Poverty Point.

Poverty Point is a site where a Native American community lived in the distant past, as early as 1600 BC.  That's BEE-CEE, folks - over 3,000 years ago.  The Mississippi River ran past the site when the people lived there.  The river has changed course since then; maybe that's why the people moved on.  In any case, what remains of the village are several mounds and faint indications of what once was a series of raised semi-circles, where it is thought that the people placed their tents.  Having lived near the Mississippi River all my life, I know that it regularly rises out of its banks, so I "get" the raised semi-circles.  What I would love to understand is the mounds.  There are five of them, the tallest of which seems to have had an earthen ramp built up to the summit.  The people would have built these mounds by hauling dirt in baskets - millions of basket loads.  Building these mounds was no small effort.  They brought in stones from as far away as Ohio (and maybe farther).  Why did they do it?  Standing atop the largest mound, over-looking the plaza below, it was easy to imagine people moving around, doing their everyday things.  But what happened on top of this mound?

The sun was starting to set as we left Poverty Point.  We had not made a hotel reservation anywhere - that's just how we roll, most of the time.  The closest town was Delhi, and the nice young woman at the Poverty Point visitor center said there was a motel there, but we decided to drive on to Monroe, Louisiana, thinking the hotel and dining choices might be better.  On the way to Monroe, I noticed "West Monroe" on the map.  I asked The Husband, "Why does 'West Monroe' sound familiar?"  His face lit up when he remembered that the Duck Dynasty folks (of TV fame) have their store in West Monroe.  We drove right on past Monroe.

It was dinner time when we checked into a hotel in West Monroe.  The friendly attendant gave us a book with restaurants and other points of interest.  Our first two restaurant choices were not open on Monday nights (do the folks in West Monroe not EAT on Monday, dang it?!), and when we arrived at the third choice, they wouldn't let us in because a private party had booked the whole place (double dang-it!).  We ended up at a place called "Copeland's," which was a happy accident.  The food was wonderful!  We had bits of duck stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped with bacon.  We had etouffe, and crab-stuffed beignets, and corn and crabmeat bisque.  And for dessert, we ordered (to go) a pumpkin bread pudding with dulce de leche sauce and candied pecans.  OMG!

Tuesday morning, we ate hotel breakfast food, then drove to the Duck Commander store.  We did a little shopping, watched a series of videos about the Duck Dynasty folks, had our picture made in front of a "green screen" - two rednecks holding shotguns.  We had lunch at Willie's Diner, then went downtown to shop Antique Alley.  Finally, about 2 p.m., we pointed the truck toward Tyler, Texas, where my cousin Tammy lives.  Tammy had offered to "put us up" for the night when she found out we were coming through Tyler.  We had a nice dinner with Tammy and her son, and kept her up too late talking about old times and catching up on the latest family news.  It was so good to see them both. 

Wednesday morning, we left for Waco, Texas, where TV personalities Chip and Joanna Gaines have their "Magnolia Market" store.  The place was crawling with people!  It was hard to move around without bumping into someone.  (I asked a cashier if it was always "this much of a mad-house," and he replied that Wednesdays were their "off" days.  I'm glad we were there on their "off" day; I don't like crowds.)  I was a bit disappointed by the inventory in the store - there wasn't a very big variety of stuff - but I thought that the store and the surrounding area were very "Chip and Joanna."  Behind the store was a big, open area, covered in astro-turf and dotted with striped bean bag chairs, where babies toddled and grown men tossed a football.  There was a covered pavilion lined with rows of picnic tables, and food trucks surrounding the lot.  We bought hot dogs and ate them under the pavilion, then drove around Waco to sight-see for a bit.  After that, we drove outside of town to JDH Designs, where metal worker Jimmy Don (who is sometimes featured on the show) has his business.  Jimmy Don was there, and he shook our hands and told us how honored he was that we'd driven all that way to see his shop.  I liked him!

Tammy's brother, Mike, lives in a little town near Waco, and we had arranged a visit with him and his wife, Liz.  Mike met us outside of town when his work day ended, and we followed him out to his place.  Mike and Liz own some land on which they built a house with their own hands.  It is a beautiful house, filled with Liz's paintings and Mike's wood-work.  Mike showed us his collection of arrow heads that he has found over the years, then we went out to the back porch, where we sat and visited until bedtime.  During the evening, Mike's brother Tommy joined us.  I had not seen Mike and Tommy since they were teenagers (too long ago to admit!), and it was wonderful to spend the evening with them and reminisce about old times. 

Mike had left for work when we got out of bed on Thursday morning.  Liz was still there, and we had a few minutes to chat with her before she had to leave for work.  When we were alone, we talked about what we might like to do for the rest of the day.  We had three more days to do as we pleased.  The Husband said, "I think I am ready to go home."  I was ready, too, so we threw our suitcases into the truck and struck out for Tennessee.

We'd planned to spend the night in Texarkana, but there was still a lot of daylight left when we arrived there, so we kept driving and ultimately decided to just come on home.  It was almost 10 p.m. by the time we pulled into our driveway.  We were both stiff and tired and ready for our own bed, and though we had enjoyed every day of our little vacation, it was good to be home!