June 22 – “608”

Well, we passed up the Elephant Sanctuary in Hugo, Oklahoma.  It was only open Friday and Saturday.  We also were disappointed to miss out on the Cockroach Hall of Fame.  Sadly, it has closed and moved to Phoenix.  Chris was heartbroken.  There is a Seasider who has a home in Atoka, Oklahoma, but we weren’t sure if they would be there or in Galveston, battening down the hatches.  So where to go next?  It had to be to the West, though.  Best we could tell from afar, Tropical Storm Cindy was going to be a major rainmaker in all of Louisiana.

Shreveport.  What could be in Shreveport?   Well, you might be surprised.  We uncovered a mural covering one entire side of about a five story tall building.  Even bled over onto another side.  And then there was the Giant Dalmatian waiting to use the facilities over in Beaumont (remember that giant fire hydrant?).  Right around the corner we stumbled across The Elvis Statue (There was one of that other guy, too – James Burton).  Gotta say, though, that the highlight of Shreveport had to be the giant chicken who was too “afraid” to cross the road because over there was the police department.

So that was enough Shreveport-ness for one morning.  Time for the international part of the trip.  We passed by Farkleberry Lane.  Best name of a road so far on the trip.  We saw a big cross in somebody’s front yard with a big roll of barbed wire draped on it like a crown of thorns.  Impressive.  Not sure where we were when we passed by the Blackburn Syrup Company.  We searched frantically to see if they had tours or something, but apparently their recipe for liquid sugar is a closely guarded secret.  I started getting hungry.  Miracle Mart for lunch?  Nope.  How about Nini’s Café?  No.

After a long drive, a really, really long drive, we found ourselves in Pittsburg.  I started looking for Pirates, but all we could locate was perhaps the result of one of their raids.  On the side of the highway, perched atop a building, was … a Giant Bo head.  Bo Pilgrim the chicken guy.  I never knew he was such a huge giant guy.  Sad that his head was all that was left of him after the Pirate attack.  Siri redeemed herself here for that Gibsland snafu.  She took us to a convention center across the freeway for a photo op.  My trip was pretty much made.

But I still had to make the ultimate romantic gesture.  I was taking my beautiful wife to Paris.  Pittsburg seemed too far north, so we made an adjustment.  That put us in Bogata.  Nope.  Too far south.  Rugby showed up for a quick game, but we didn’t stop.  Then we drove into Deport.  Only 578 residents.  Wonder why?  Think about it …

They did have The Dream Center.  What do you do at a Dream Center?  Sales?  Returns?  Nap?

We did finally reach Paris.  Never knew the Eiffel Tower had a big red cowboy hat on top, but we have the pictures to prove it.  Very romantic.  As was our quiet dinner at world famous Scholl Brothers Barbeque.  Shared sweet conversation and a stuffed baked potato.  As a result of our dinner conversation, we settled on a drastic change of plans.  We were heading south.  We were going to race Tropical Storm Cindy to Galveston.  The Island simple can’t have a tropical without us there to beat up on.  And we continued to make adjustments on the fly.  First we planned to spend the night in Tyler.  But no.  We got gas near there, I think.  We made our way through Palestine to continue the international theme.  We saw a live, walking around, pre-roadkill deer.  There was that beautiful sunset over a really big Lake.  And then it got dark.  I found the Astros game on the radio (They were playing in Oakland, so they didn’t even begin until 9 p.m.).  We were pointed South and on a mission to defeat that threatening tropical storm.

We finally pulled onto the island (ahead of Cindy, I might add) about the time the ninth inning of the Astros game began.  608 miles in one day.  I think we were in the house around 12:30 a.m. or so.  In my attempt to watch the last few seconds of the game on TV, I discovered that the TV had picture but no sound.  Not a problem for a baseball game, but we were also anticipating tropical storm coverage.  My early morning was cut out for me.  Not to mention that we had to make our usual post-vacation supplies replenishment run.  Will there be anything left at WalMart?

James 1:27 says, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

Father, thank you for the fun we had on this storm-shortened vacation.  Guess 2017 was not the year for an actual vacation, was it?  But we appreciate your care over us, wherever we are.  Amen.