Well, two days after arriving on the farm, I was planning another big trip. This time, driving all the way to Houston, TX. I packed away all my belongings in the storage shed. I then took a suitcase with two days of "road clothes" and headed to Terre Haute. I spent the night there and headed out in the morning. As I headed into southern Illinois, it started to rain. Dear God, not again.
I stopped at a rest stop and looked at a map. I was directly east of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. I had never been to that town and always wanted to go. Since I was ahead of schedule, I took a little detour. About an hour later, I crossed the Mississippi River. There were signs about a historic district and I followed the signs into downtown. I parked at a parking lot a half block from the river. I walked down to an opening in a large retaining wall and there she was...the mighty Mississippi River. It is truly amazing to see up close. The town had some very old historic buildings and was well preserved. I really liked this town.
It was then that I noticed a sign for Cajun food at a place called Broussard's. Since it was noon, I decided to give it a whirl. I ordered the lunch portion of the Crawfish Etouffee. It was served in a bowl with bread on the side. Absolutely delicious. I asked the waitress if the cook was from Louisiana. She said no, but the original chef was, and this chef was using his recipes.
I got back on the interstate and headed south into the boot heel of Missouri and into Arkansas. I had already made plans to stay with some friends in Arkansas. There is a back road (Arkansas Hwy 1) that takes you to their town. Shortly before I took the Hwy 1 exit it started to rain down hard. I was glad to get off the interstate.
As I continued on Hwy 1, the sun went down and the rains got harder. I was blinded by the oncoming traffic and had to slow down to a crawl. The road was rutted out and the ruts quickly filled with rainwater. I was plowing water the entire time. Several times, big semi trucks went by and splashed the windshield, blinding me for a split second. The only saving grace was that there were reflector strips down the middle of the road. It was a harrowing trip. But I finally arrived at my destination, only about an hour late. I later found out that there were tornado warnings as a large front pushed through. If I would have just pulled over for an hour, I probably would have been better off.
I slept in the next day and had a late breakfast. I purposely left late to miss the Houston traffic. It gave me a good opportunity to visit with my friends. I hit the road about 10am and headed south on a deserted US Hwy 165. Eventually I got to Interstate 20, one of the nicest interstates in the country, I swear. Only around Shreveport did I hit any traffic. I then crossed over into Texas and found my way to US Hwy 59, which takes you all the way into Houston. In the town of Lufkin, I stopped and ate at Taco Bueno. Yum.
I stopped outside of Houston and mounted my EZ Tag onto the windshield of my car. This allows me to go onto the toll roads and pay through an account that I had previously set up. Once you apply the sticker to the car, you can't remove it. So I wanted to make sure that I made it to Houston before I applied it. I no sooner got onto Beltway 8 (Sam Houston Tollway) and I saw nothing but taillights. It was now 8pm. When we finally crept up to the front of the traffic jam, there was nothing there. That drives me crazy! Traffic started moving and then soon everyone was travelling 80mph again. I arrived at my destination about 9pm.
I started off December working in Houston. Time for year-end again. Bring it on!
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