Vacation, Days 5 & 6

Saturday after the Epiphany of our Lord
January 8, 2011

The Lord be with you

Kitty and I have been back from our vacation now for a couple of days but this is the first chance I’ve had to wrap-up the posts on our vacation as I’ve been going full steam since getting back to South Carolina.

On January 3, we got up before the sun once more and headed out on the first leg of our return trip. After a “quick” three hour jaunt we arrived at Isaiah’s home for breakfast. He purchased for us some “breakfast tacos.” The rest of the country would call these “breakfast burritos,” but “breakfast burritos” in Corpus Christi four or five times as large. We had placed our orders with Isaiah the day before. I tried two exotic ones. The first had chorizo for the meat and the second had a meat from the face of a cow (I don’t remember the name). The second one was quite greasy. I also had eggs on mine. Kitty played is safe with just bean and cheese. You can get just about anything on these (eggs, potatoes, rice, bacon, sausage, and so on). Isaiah feels that the majority of the people in Corpus Christi eat these for breakfast. The children were off to school and Athena was feeling ill (something was going around in their family) and so didn’t join us. After an hour or so, we were off on the road again. We made Baton Rouge, LA, by evening. I was beginning to feel poorly and hit the sack right away. If I had been feeling better, we probably would have pushed on a little farther. That night I think I was running a fever. I was shaking as if I was walking around on the North Pole in shorts. Two aspirins helped me sleep better.

On January 4 we got a late start, thanks to me. The skies were overcast and we faced rain on and off all day. I have a strong constitution and so had mostly shaken off what ever was making me feel poorly. As the day progressed I grew stronger and was able to do my share of driving.

I tried to keep my eyes pealed for the unusual names I spoke of before. Kitty helped, but I know we missed some. Some names that follow are here because they are a challenge for outsiders to pronounce. Others are easy enough to pronounce, I just felt they were fun names. (I can’t guarantee the spellings.) Any ways, here are some of the names of various sights on the trip from SC to TX (in no particular order):

Breaux Bridge
Opelousas
Ponchatoula
Lake Bigeaux
Poeagula
Bogalusa
Opelika
Escatawa
Esapwpa
Glaises
Mitydene
Lethatchee

Before leaving we checked out some books on CD to listen to while driving. On this trip we heard a couple of Star Trek books (Enterprise: The First Adventure and Strangers from the Sky). If you like Star Trek, you will like these stories. We also listened to Davis Bunn’s book Gold of Kings. It is an Indiana Jones like book, set in 2009 instead of the mid-20th century. They are looking for the treasure from King Herod’s Temple, and of course the hero and heroine wind up together. The last book was Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler. The premise of the story (that someone from the time of Pride and Prejudice switches bodies with someone from our time) was less believable than the Star Trek books. However it was entertainingly written and would probably delight any Jane Austen fan. Recorded books are the way to go on long trips. The miles melt away and you can listen to books you normally would never take the time to read.

Next time, we fly.

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert