Louisiana

Made it to Louisiana, Lake Charles, to be exact.

At the Caverns of Sonora campground, there were only three guests - two big RVs and me. I met a couple who were walking their dog. They noticed my Bisbee Farmers Market bumper sticker and stopped to chat a bit because they'd been to Bisbee and had loved it.

I slept so well there. I heard nothing after about 8 pm other than a few owls. I awoke around 6:30 local time to hoots, chirps, trills, and other bird music. At least a dozen different bird tunes. I made my coffee and while I drank it, watched deer grazing in the meadow. I left the sweet little campground around 7:30 local time and headed into the beautiful hill country of Texas.

I'd planned to breakfast on the Riverwalk in San Antonio, but all nearby parking was out in the hot sun, three to four blocks from the river area, and cost $10. I didn't want to leave my laptop and cameras in the heat for so long, so begrudgingly, I headed back to the interstate and stopped a little ways down the highway for my huevos rancheros.

On to Houston, where I hit eight lanes of traffic, one way! Too much for this two lane driver who loves to take the one lane bridge. But I made it through and stopped for gas on the far east end of town - $2.49 a gallon (as compared to Ft. Stockton where it was $3.05).

The irony of this trip isn't lost on me. I'm driving solo, cross country, to visit an oil disaster, consuming gallons and gallons of this precious commodity along the way. Sometimes I think it should be illegal to drive so far unless your car gets over 50 mpg. Hey. It should be illegal to produce a car that gets less than 50 mpg!

One strange thing. Numerous semis blasted past me as I drove the 70 mph speed limit. Many towed long flat beds that held absolutely nothing. What, nothing has to be delivered east? I felt as though one should drop a ramp, allow me to drive up on the bed, and haul me. It is almost criminal to have these big rigs going down the highways empty.

I recently saw a chart of what it costs, energy-wise, to get a bottle of wine from point A to point B, and west coast wine going to Chicago is more energy expensive than European wine going to Chicago because of the amount of gas it takes to transport the bottle. So, Chicago, go for the French stuff! The real lesson is to buy local wine when at all possible. Made me wonder how it is I could buy a bottle of wine at Trader Joe's in Tucson for just $2.

I knew I was far, far from the desert when I began to see street names like Bayou and Magnolia. I zipped past water of all sorts and had to keep myself from rubbernecking to look at it all. It's such a rare commodity in Arizona that I wanted to take it all in.

When I crossed the line into Louisiana, I cheered. After all, the last milepost I'd noticed in Texas was 875, and that's just too many miles to drive just to get across one state. At the Louisiana Welcome Center, there was a sweet little pond - with an alligator warning.

In Lake Charles, the first thing I did was head into town and sit by the lake. Right downtown, busy around me, peaceful at the lakefront. It may be the last peaceful water I sit by for a few days.

I ended up checking into a motel. It's hot, it's humid, and the mosquitoes are fierce. I need a decent night's sleep before I head into the disaster.