Econo Lodge Inn And Suites Natchitoches

... and chicken gizzards, thank you very much) - feeling badly about not sampling the crawfish and creole cooking (as Mary and Murray would, and did, on their trip across to CA last Fall) - but today John had a spicy shrimp po'boy for lunch, and I ordered a  crawfish soup but they ran out and I got potato and ham instead.   Our home routines seem to prevail - I do the inside stuff (cook, sweep the floor, make the bed) and John does the outside (fills the water, hooks up the electric ...

Barbara and I briefly visited Natchitoches, Louisiana a few months ago when we got lost trying to get to Alexandria. We saw just enough to know it was a lovely place. Our daughter, Brittany, loved Natchitoches when she was here a few years ago for her Vanderbilt roommate's wedding, Kristen Gahagen. Natchitoches is a beautiful small town! Barbara and I loved the looks and feel of Madison ...

... we noticed how quiet it was, there was ************e around, and it's a fairly big city. It has to be said though, it does look to have seen better days. <br><br>So we now found ourselves in Arkansas (no welcome sign we might add) but only for a short time, as we took Highway 71 south and soon crossed the state line into Louisiana. It was quite noticeable that we were now in the deep south, the vegetation was very lush everywhere you looked. And it was hot and sticky with absolutely ...

I am still setting up my motorcycle for the trip. I still havent gotten luggage, a new gas tank, an quite a few other things that I need. Thankfully, I have gotten a lot of the comfort needs out of the way. I did install a windshield and bar risers. I scored a Corbin saddle off of ebay for pretty cheap. I noticed a huge difference in comfort this passed weekend on a 400 mile dual sport ...

... objected. We headed back to the ranch via the "Red Ribs" which was this kinda run-down barren shack place which did excellent ribs. We were on take-away as it was too early to eat and to while away the time MJ read the local free-ads paper only to find an advert for a new 6-bed mobile home of 1300 sq ft (or roughly the size of our house) for £30k delivered. WHAAAAAAT!!!???!! OK it's a mobile home but hell.... it's new and paid for so what chew ...

Lazy morning watching loads of boats wizz by up and down the river. Huck and MJ went down to fill up the party boat (a pontoon boat like we went on in Steamboat). There is a boat launch at Keiths a few plots down and about 2pm we were on the boat which is very luxurious - we steamed towards the town for about 45 minutes looking at the houses on the banks. The weather was reasonably sunny and we felt like millionaires. At one point we met the son of ...

... Hunter's Art Hunter has become one of the most well known self-taught artists, often referred to as the Black Grandma Moses. She is generally credited as being a social historian capturing portrayals of various scenes of a dying plantation life, including picking cotton, gathering pecans, washing clothes, baptisms and funeral scenes. Hunter was noted for painting on any materials, particularly discarded items such as window shades, cardboard boxes, jugs, bottles, and ...

Got up 10am and after a snack of Maw's brownies (which she brought round from next door on her golf-buggy) took a ride in Huck's golf buggy around the estate. We visited Keith and his wife who have the 10 acre plot down from Maw's and are currently living in a trailer while they finalise the house plans (they have a house and nursery business 60 miles south). Soon after we returned a friend of Huck and Kathy's called Dan turned up with his ...

... by the huge median's between the highway which appear to need mowing - it must use a ton of petrol and seems entirely gratuitous. Not really much to report - just a day in the car but when we got the Huck's place....well it is an estate. He must have originally owned 90 acres along the Cane River Lake which is a wide as the Thames around Reading - it is dammed at each end but has a small current flowing along it. He's sold some plots off but there is a mile dirt ...

... enough to see when Rory returns to the tent. "Huh? I wonder why she took the fly off already?" From inside the tent, "Rory?" "It's me. Why'd you take the fly off?" "Rory, the tent is blowing away! I'm the only thing holding it down! (giggles)" Rory is sure glad to hear Chere laughing about this. A short but strong gust of wind had come through and torn off the tent fly while he was in the restroom. The fly was stretched out ...