Plantations On River Road

Today we visited two plantations – Oak Alley and a Creole Plantation.  It was very interesting to hear the history of these homes.  Both are very different but they both served the same purpose.  Even though mom and I felt rushed, the creole plantation was very interesting.  Our guide was very informative and she did slow down when requested or when we had questions.   I would recommend you check out the website. 

The live oaks at Oak Alley were breathtaking.  It is hard to imagine that the live oaks surrounding the house are “middle age” at 300 years old.  If I was one of those trees I would be a baby.  I am happy I am not a tree. 

Tomorrow we are planning on staying home.  Hopefully our mail will come in.  I need to do some work on the computer and get some pictures uploaded.  Sunday we plan to depart New Orleans. 

On our way to the river road we had to cross several bridges.  Mom was said “I am so happy that I got to drive over the sky bridges but it was a little unnerving.”  I don’t like to cross bridges either.  I am have a lot of anxieties folks.  I think my dislike of bridges stem from years of driving over the Little Niangua Bridge, the Hurricane Deck Bridge, and that god awful bridge by Macks Creek MO that was so narrow that two semi could not cross at the same time.  I remember being stuck on the the Hurricane Deck and the Little Niangua Bridge and feeling it sway.  No I don’t like bridges.  Yet, I am going to give mom a thrill and I am taking the Pontchartrain Bridge when we leave.  No I am not facing my fears because that is a load of crap.  I have crossed many, many bridges since being on the road and there is and always will be that “Oh No” moment.  I just don’t let it stop me.   As long as my heart is in good shape I will just keep on keeping on. 

Enjoy the pictures.

	Creole Plantation

	Oak Alley Plantation

Metairie Cemetery

The cemetery was everything and more - I just wandered and marveled.  Metairie Cemetery has the largest collection of elaborate marble tombs and funeral statuary in the city.  P.G.T. Beauregard and John Bell Hood,  Confederate Officers are buried there as well as Governor Claiborne, Hahn, Heard, Leche, Parker, McEnery, and Pinchback.   Norman Treigle, Louis Prima and Al Hirt headline there now.  The inventor of the Higgins Boat and the inventor of the binocular microscope call Metairie Cemetery home.   Dorothy Dix, Marguerite Clark, Grace King, The Lottery King, Mel Ott and a host of other fine folks are buried there as well.  I can visualize all them sharing a meal and being served by Al Copeland or Ruth Fertel.  What an amazing place.  I did not set out to find their burial sites.  I just wandered and took pictures of what interested me.

TWELVE
By the time you are twelve your affections are fixed.
Then come the decades that roll your heart like a cheese
In the sea. Yes, it is surreal.
Then you are twelve again, and old.
And you find the waxed red ball of your heart on the shore.
And you are not surprised by anything now except
That you should love at the end what you loved
At the beginning.
Stan Rice, Author and Poet

What A Week!!!

We have been in Marksville Louisiana enjoying the casino and too much buffet.  Kids I am happy to say we did not lose the farm, so to speak.  We decided to up the amount to $60 for mom and $60 and for me, we usually do $40 a piece.  We only lost $50 so blowing $70 for a week’s worth of fun isn’t bad.   We did see the latest Harry Potter movie and it was quite interesting.  I have never seen Harry Potter in a theater and the special effects was fantastic.  We also found a cemetery and did a little wandering around town. 

OH CRAP

The biggest issue I have with the van is when I check the grey and black tank levels it always reads full.  So every three days I empty and then I flushed the tanks.  When we arrived in Marksville the weather was warm and a couple of days later the temperature plummeted.  One night the temperature dropped below freezing and it was that day I decided to see if I can empty the tanks every four days.  To keep the water from freezing I let the water in the kitchen drip.  I also decided not to run the furnace but to use the electric heater.  That meant I needed to stay up until the wee morning hours because I don’t like running an electric heater unless I can keep an eye on it.  For those of you that live in a RV I know you know where there is going but bear with me.  I am curled up in bed watching a wonderful classic movie and I decided I needed a glass of chocolate milk.  I stepped into the kitchen area and the floor was unbelievable wet.  Oh yeah.  I immediately thought “leak” and looked under the sink but it was dry.  I thought to myself “Oh Crap, it is the toilet.”  So managed to look under and around the toilet and it was dry.  Now the water is getting deeper and the rugs couldn’t soak up anymore so I grabbed the two towels and two washrags I had.  The whole time I was thinking what is it?  Then it dawned on me that I needed to stay with the every three day plan.  My grey tank was overflowing.  I couldn’t run out and empty my tanks because of the noise the Macerator Pump makes.  So I turned off the water, finished mopping up the floor and just hung up all the wet stuff outside then I went to bed.  The next day was Laundry Day.  Never a dull moment around here, I will tell you.  I am thankful it was the grey tank. 

DysFUNctional

I am so excited about Christmas not because I finished all of the calendars but because of the gift I am receiving from my daughter, Hannah Jane.  When she was a teenager she was curious about my decision to remain single.  I told her that if she could find me a man that looked like Leon Russell I would give up my single ways.  As a family I never claimed that we were normal.  Well she found a CD by Elton John and Leon Russell (be still my beating heart) and then she asked me if I wanted it.  I was drooling and I said yes and I want it now!!!!  She is making me wait but I have been busy on youtube listening and is a fantastic CD.  Hannah why are you torturing me and making me wait?

Memories

A fellow blogger is building a home in Jamestown Tennessee and that is where the Peavyhouse family resided.  George Washington Peavyhouse, after the death of his first wife, married Melvina Jane Wright.  Melvina’s husband, Samuel Houston Albertson died young and she brought to the Peavyhouse family her 4 children.  One of her children was Hannah Elizabeth Jane.  When Hannah was 16 she married her step brother, Francis Marion Peavyhouse and they moved from the hills of Tennessee to the hills of Kentucky.  They are my great grandparents.  About 6 years ago mom and I traveled to Jamestown searching for the gravesite of George and his first wife, Rachel.  All I knew about the gravesite was the name of the cemetery, Jay Evans.  The librarian told us to go down the road to Forbus Tennessee and talked to the folks at the general store.  I asked where the general store was located and she said it was the only building left standing.  Mom and I drove to Forbus, located the general store and went inside.  We asked the clerk about the cemetery.  She said “if you want to know anything about this area you need to ask this gentleman.”  When I turned around I was face to face with a tall lanky man who was probably in his 80’s and all he said was “follow me.” 

Mom and I are very cautious people.  We know not to follow strangers but it all happened so fast. He walked out and we were running for our car.  We got in it and got it going just in time to see him take a turn out of the driveway.  It wasn’t “follow me” it was a chase.  We caught up with him and turned on a dirt road and drove about 5 miles before he took another turn down another dirt road.  There we drove for another good 5 miles.  He was in a pick up truck and we were in a car and he was hauling butt.   Then he slowed down,  pulled over, and got out.  Before we could get stopped, unbuckled, and unloaded he was was already in the woods. 

Mom and I are usually very cautious people and we know not to follow strangers into the woods.  What the heck were we thinking?  It was pure adrenaline, folks because we went chasing after him.  Part way into the woods an old coon hound came out and it was like something out of the movie Deliverance.  About a 1/2 mile to a mile hike into the woods we caught up with him and there it was.  A little cemetery that was slowing becoming earth.  Most of the stones were sandstone and they were just fragmented.  There in the corner stood, in perfect condition, the gravestone of George and Rachel Peavyhouse.   The man leaned against a tree and let us take pictures and pay our respect.  Then he said, “lets go” and we were off again.  He lead us out and back on the highway.

Like I said we are usually very cautious people. 

A few pictures I took of Sam Rayburn Lake, Cemetery in Marksville, and odds and ends.

About The House and The GPS

We finished all of the must repairs and promptly moved my son in. We then hit the road. It is nice to know that there is a place to hang my hat when I feel the need. Meanwhile my son gets to babysit the house. He works and attends school full time so having a rent free place is nice. The maintenance can be a headache and I am so glad it is his headache for the time being.

The GPS did pretty good today, it took us everywhere we wanted to go and I let my guard down. We made it to New Orleans at rush hour and the GPS told us to go left when we should have gone right and we were lost. I knew I should have turned right. Robin I hope you are right. If it doesn't straighten out we will be performing an exorcism on it using rocks.

Stuff

The GPS From Hell

My first GPS system was in the process of dying in October and my daughter, Hannah and her beau, Robert gave me one to replace it. Mom and I were absolutely thrilled with it and it worked great until I drove into Louisiana. Then something happened, it must be voodoo or maybe the GPS has been possessed by river demons – I don’t know. This I do know, it has taken us down every back road, back street and back alley from Many to Duson Louisiana. It doesn’t recognized interstates and only recognizes a few secondary roads. More times that I care to count it has tried to put me on a dirt road. I don’t have a problem with dirt roads as long as I can find a place to turn around if the road turns rough. I will admit that in a blind panic I have turned around in places deemed impossible. If I take the van down a rough road there is a possibility of rupturing my sewer tank and then I am slinging sh*t. I don’t want that. I have gone through every setting and made sure that dirt roads were one of the avoidances. It isn’t in the settings. It just wants to get us lost in the bayous of Louisiana.


I have good common sense, until sheer stubbornness takes over and then it goes out the window. When mom and I left Marksville we programmed Duson Louisiana and off we went. This is what went down.


After directing us 7 miles out of town:

GPS: Turn left on McMillan Road……
Pepper: Okay, there is not a McMillan Road. Heck, there isn’t a road on the left side of the road.
GPS: Recalculating…….. In .5 miles turn left on Smith Levee Road.
Pepper: There is not a Smith Levee Road. Heck, there isn’t a road on the left side of the road.
GPS: Recalculating….. In .5 miles turn left on Johnson Road.
Pepper: Ain’t happening.
GPS: Recalculating….


This went on for 40 miles, until I gave up and drove back to Marksville. Once we reached Marksville the GPS kicked in and directed us to Duson by way of back road, back alley, and back streets. Tomorrow we are heading to New Orleans and we are taking the scenic route. I also have a Louisiana map and we are going to use it. I also wrote down the directions taken from Google. God only knows where we will end up if we turned on the GPS. For chuckle and grins it will be on.


There Are Kind And Decent Folks In The World

When mom and I take off for a little sightseeing I just unhook. I leave my hose and my two chairs behind. The only item I take is my surge protector. I figure it lets people know someone is parked there and if someone wants to steal those things – so be it. Remember I had my sewer hose stolen once. Nothing surprises me.

This morning I unhooked and took off. Next door to the RV Park is a gas station so I stopped to gas up. My wonderful, wonderful neighbor thought we had left for good and forgot those items so he ran over to the gas station. I was totally blown away by his kindness and told him so.

Mulate's

After touring the Acadian Village in Lafayette mom and I went to
Mulate's for dinner. Even though it was a little pricy the food was outstanding. It was the best meal we had in a long time. What is interesting is they papered the ceiling with business cards. It was a nice place to eat despite what it looked like on the outside.