June 20 – “Into the East”

If you haven’t been watching us on FaceBook, Chris and I are not in Galveston today.  In fact we’re not even in Texas.  We are in the neighboring, potentially storm-sighted state of Louisiana.  Why?  Well, we actually came over last night to attend the funeral service of one of Chris’ uncles.  He’d been in Hospice care for two years, so the death was not completely unexpected.  Chris hasn’t had much contact with that part of her family for a long time, though, so we weren’t really sure if she would know even her cousins.  She did just fine, though.  One of her cousins greeted her, and the two of them rapidly did some catching up.  The service itself was a little odd.  The speaker was the local Hospice chaplain, but he was really hard to follow.  I think he presented the gospel six or eight times, but it was so jumbled that I couldn’t follow him.  I pray somebody was able to make the connection, though.  The gospel is the gospel, after all.

Our trip here was full of interesting sights.  There was a whole list of places we didn’t stop to eat: Stomps Burger Joint. TBone Tom’s.  Crazy Allan’s Swamp Shack.  Fasteau’s.  Chadeaux.  Herbert’s Boudin and Cracklins.  Burger Inn.  Paradise Catfish Kitchen.  Sigh.  We settled on Whataburger and Cracker Barrel.  Can’t go wrong with old family favorites.

We also saw the Sukup Granary in Fenton.  That’s all on that one. 

Then there was the Louisiana Rest Stop.  It was a dirt pull-off area with one port-o-potty.  Frightening.

The Rush Funeral Home.  What’s your hurry?

South Dakota Treasures.  Wait … in Louisiana?  But then, we did drive through Iowa at one point.

The Robert Strange Nursery had a big wooden cutout of him waving.  I waved back.

They were doing a major construction project somewhere in the middle of nowhere.  They were laying a sidewalk … right in the center median of the freeway.  What?

We drove through the town of Ball.  Ball had a Wall … Mart.  Awesome.  Also a National Guard Center.

We passed three or four prisons.  Louisiana must be a good spot for them. 

The search for roadkill pizza ingredients was really hampered here.  Oh, I saw roadkill, but for the most part what I saw was totally unrecognizable.  All squashed flatter than a pancake.  Except for the one possum skeleton I saw.  Totally complete, perfectly preserved skeleton on the side of the road.  I almost asked Chris to stop so I could pick it up.  Wonder how that would have gone? 

I suppose we’ll head back in the general direction of Texas sometime tomorrow.  We had planned to take a few more days off to make up for the shortened vacation attempt we made earlier (The Evil Shingles Trip).  And what should happen?  A potential hurricane in the Gulf, of course.   Nathan assured Chris that the weather in Galveston is gorgeous.  Maybe if texts her the weather report every morning … and three or four times during the day … we can still get in a few days.  Or we can just drive back over into Texas and get on the other side of the projected storm track.  Decisions, decisions.

James 1:22 says, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.”

Father, thank you for our safe journey to the funeral.  Be with the family as they take care of all the post-funeral arrangements they still face.  Amen.