expedition56

Wireless service in Samoa is temperamental!! Especially when it rains! So I’m falling behind, but will do what I can!

Hawaii – Tuesday, January 15

I was wide awake before 5am – the 5 hours of time difference are working in my favor, although I know I’ll pay for it on the way back! It was too early to go anywhere (and this is certainly not typical for me – ha!) so the first thing I did was check prices at other hotels, but it works out best to stay here. Hawaii is expensive, and even with the “distress rate” for the room, it’s still a bit pricey. But when I average out the expense for all 3 nights (since American paid one), this hotel – Ala Moana – is clearly the best deal. Since I didn’t have a reservation, and they’re at 90% occupancy, at first they thought I’d have to switch rooms for the next 2 nights, but it all worked out. And it makes me feel better to have a nice safe place to stay during my unexpected visit to Honolulu.

I hadn’t decided yet if I wanted to rent a car, but it was still too early anyway. I had read that the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor opened at 7:00, and there’s a limited number of passes they give out for the boat over to the memorial, and sometimes they run out by early afternoon due to the crowds. I decided to tackle the bus system to get out to Pearl Harbor first thing, which was quite a ways away. One of the front desk people was kind enough to walk outside and point me in the direction of the bus stop I would need, and said it was a bit of a walk down the street. I told him it didn’t matter how far it was – I’m used to walking! So I was out looking for my bus stop by 6:30 in the morning. But I walked right past it – it was only a half block away which didn’t seem like a bit of a walk to me! Even at that hour with the sun just coming up, there was lots of traffic, people out jogging before the heat of the day, and lots of commotion. The hotel is right next to an enormous shopping mall, and there’s parking structures, and a big bus transfer place and lots of traffic. Honolulu is the giant hub for business, commerce and travel in the whole South Pacific and that became apparent quickly. I decided then and there I was not going to rent a car. In the end I walked nearly a mile and a half to get to the correct bus stop – there’s a lot of different bus numbers and routes, plus you have to know which direction you’re going. But, as I discovered, the public bus system is efficient and prompt and very reasonable. A lot of people use them. Because of all the stops, it took about 40 minutes to get out to Pearl Harbor – nearly twice as long as driving it would take. There were lots of people already there, but lines weren’t bad, and I got my pass for the memorial, and had time to look in the museums before the video part of the excursion. The video was really good – it is truly astonishing how the Japanese were able to pull this off. Some soldiers watching the radar had actually noticed a huge spike in air traffic shortly before the attack, and reported it to their supervisors, who said “It’s probably nothing” since some US bombers were due in that day and he figured that’s what it was. I doubt there would have been time to do much had an alarm went out, but maybe some of the fighter planes could have gotten off the ground instead of being picked off like dominoes on the field. The video footage is awful, and I just can’t imagine the horror of those 2 hours. Then we took a navy launch out to the actual memorial, which was built cross-wise over the sunken Arizona. (All but 3 of the stricken battleships eventually went back into service, but the Arizona had been hit where all her ammunition was and she went down quickly with most of her crew.) The Arizona sank in shallow water, and is visible just under the surface – rusty, and turning into a coral reef. It is a tomb – the 950 or so men who went down with her are still inside. She carried a crew of over 1100, so not many survived. So far, 36 of those survivors made the request that upon their death, they wished to be returned to the USS Arizona to be entombed with their crew. The Navy honors those requests. After nearly 70 years, the Arizona is still leaking oil, drop by drop. I asked one of the rangers if they had any idea how much fuel was still left, and they guesstimate there’s still a half million gallons, and nothing can be done about it since it’s a tomb. It’s a very touching memorial to visit and just makes you stop and think what this country went through in WWII. There were many walkways and other explanatory exhibits, and I wandered around all of it. Then I sat in the Contemplation Circle and wrote out a donation check and a little note saying the donation was in honor of my dad’s 2 brothers who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. Then I went out and caught the bus back – this time we went through the huge Chinatown, which seemed like a foreign country!

Because of my early start, it was only about noon, and I quickly tried to put together a rough plan for my remaining time in Oahu. My sister had told me about a nearby snorkeling place, and there was actually a coupon for it from a book I got in the lobby, so I called them up to see about snorkeling. The bay is near Honolulu, and the lady told me it’s always closed on Tuesdays, but had been closed a couple days before that due to bad weather, so Wednesday was very crowded, but she had room on her 7:15 pickup route, and the early time would also mean avoiding long lines. So I had her put me on the list for the morning. And that left my afternoon free to walk out to Diamond Head State Park and climb the volcano. I got various opinions as to how far away it was, so I just decided to head out and see what happened. My hotel was in the business district, surrounded by skyscrapers blocking the ocean view. After a mile or so of walking, I got near the Waikiki Beach district – which was packed with towering hotels, resorts, expensive shopping areas, and lots of restaurants and cafes. It was crowded and noisy and I couldn’t even see the beach at first because of all the highrise hotels. But it was kind of a fun street to walk down because the sidewalks were like boulevards and there was lots to see (except the ocean!). There were people carrying surfboards in swimwear, and people dressed to the nines shopping in the boutiques. As I continued to walk, I passed the main hotel area, and then I was by the beach. It was a pretty day, and lots of people were out enjoying the sun and water. Diamond Head didn’t look too far away from the end of the beach area, since it was kind of towering right there, but…looks are deceiving, and it was still a bit of a walk, which didn’t matter. It was a pretty afternoon. After the Waikiki Beach area, the road led through more of a “real” Hawaii area, since it was away from the tourist zone. I walked past neighborhoods, and schools, and the everyday shops that the residents would use. Diamond Head is big, and the state park encompasses a lot of land. Naturally the entrance to the state park was on the far side of where I was coming from! But I got there, and they only charge walkers $1 to get in. Then the climb began – gentle at first, then getting steeper, then zigzagging up the side, then lots of stairs, then a 99-step flight of stairs, then a tunnel, then 2 narrow spiral staircase, and voila! you’re at the top! I had to stop and rest several times along the way. The view looking down at the ocean, and looking over at distant Honolulu and Waikiki Beach was beautiful. It was obvious that we had climbed up the crater of a volcano, and it was rimmed with some jagged edges, but it wasn’t black and full of hardened lava rock like I had imagined. It blew its top ages ago, and grass and weeds have taken over, plus the army has some sort of military installation in the crater. The floor of the crater is about 175 acres, so it’s big. Definitely an impressive view! On my walk to the state park, a mother and her daughter (Tracy and Joelle) had passed me, also walking to the state park. And then we kept running into each other on the route to the top, and in the end, we walked back to the Waikiki Beach area together. The sun was just about to set as we got to the beach, so we watched that although clouds prevented it from being a perfect sunset. They invited me to join them for dinner, which was very kind, but by this time it was nearly 11:00 my time, and I still had a couple miles to walk, so I thought it best to just keep going. I figured I’d grab a quick bite from some stand to eat as I walked. I walked on a bit and found a crepe stand, and got a mango crepe, which they put into a paper cone for easy eating. As I was walking away with that, I heard some Hawaiian music, and saw people going into a park across the street, and it looked like there was a Hawaiian dance performance starting up, and I couldn’t resist going over to watch, even though I was tired.

The hula group was Ka Liko O Kapalai, which was named for a blossoming fern. There were 6-8 dancers, and 3 musicians – playing a bass, a ukulele, and a guitar. Sometimes when the lady was singing the traditional Hawaiian songs, one of the men would translate in such a way that it didn’t distract from the music or dancing. And since the dancers are telling a story, it was a fun combination to hear the Hawaiian song, the English translation, and watch the dancers put the words into movement. I was happy to be able to see the show! Afterwards the dancers were selling snacks, and my donation radar kicked in! I didn’t want to disturb their sales, but I found an opportunity to talk to one of them, and explain what I was doing. She was a former Michigander, but has lived in Hawaii for a long time and has been dancing hula for 12 years. She told me they use the proceeds from the snack sales for costumes – something I know a thing or 2 about! I was happy to be able to make a donation to them since I haven’t done as many cultural donations as I would like. In fact, the last dance group I donated to was a clogging group from New York which had been invited to perform in the December 7 Pearl Harbor remembrances.

At this time, I finished the couple miles back to my hotel – pleasantly worn out after an unexpectedly full day – and 14 miles of walking and 2 donations!

Pictures will have to wait – I seem to be having a little computer trouble on top of temperamental wireless service. But I’m impressed I can do any of this when I’m so very far from home!

Travel Day – Monday, January 14

Today my plans were to fly from San Diego to Los Angeles to Honolulu to Pago Pago. There are only 2 flights a week to Pago Pago – one on Mondays and one on Thursdays. There just aren’t enough travelers from Hawaii to need more than 2 flights a week. The day started off just fine – I was early for the shuttle pick-up, the flight from San Diego to Los Angeles was on time and uneventful, and after a layover we took off on time for Honolulu. After we’d been cruising along over the Pacific Ocean for almost an hour, the captain told us he was going to have to make a big left turn and head back to Los Angeles – the plane was leaking water somewhere, and they didn’t know where it was coming from or where it was going. At that altitude, the concern was having the water freeze on some vital part if we continued on for hours. He assured us we were in no danger at all, but it was necessary to turn around so that the ground mechanics could figure out what was going on. Unless it was a real easy fix, which was doubtful, I began to worry I was losing the hours of layover time I had in Honolulu for the Pago flight. But, more importantly, we landed safely after nearly another hour of flying. There were 2 firetrucks out on the runway, which I didn’t see til we had touched down, and I don’t know if they were there for our benefit in case something had already frozen, or if there was another reason – it’s a big crowded airport! We got off right away, and were told to wait at a different gate for an update. Needless to say, there were a lot of upset people. I was disappointed too, but I was happy to be back on the ground safely. After a while, they told us a new plane would be coming in for us, but that we might need a new crew, depending on the hours some of them had already worked. So we waited and waited. A different plane arrived. They told us there would be a further delay since it needed some extra pre-flight checks since we were going over open water. I knew I was going to miss the Pago flight, and another wouldn’t go out until Thursday. The attendant I talked to wasn’t really familiar with Pacific flights, and assured me the dilemma would be dealt with in Honolulu. Finally we were ready to go again, and took off about 5 1/2 hours later than we had the first time. This time it was an uneventful trip. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I was at least in Hawaii and could start some of the walking and donations for that state, even though I had not planned to be in Oahu for my Hawaii week. Most of the passengers were ending their travels in Honolulu and didn’t need any further assistance. Some who had connecting flights got those rearranged. At the end of the flight, 3 passengers were told over the loudspeaker to go meet the gate attendant for further help, and I was one of those passengers. My flight from California to Hawaii had been on American Air, but they don’t fly to Samoa, so we had booked that flight separately with Hawaiian Air, although American had been able to check my bag all the way through to Pago Pago. Because of the separate bookings, the attendant told me that American Air didn’t technically owe me anything for my inconvenience and missed flight. I told her that there were only 2 flights a week to Pago, and that I had to use a different airline since they didn’t fly there themselves. She did have some sympathy for what this did to my travel plans, and she had to call around to see what, if anything, she could do, and I was finally offered a free night at the Honolulu hotel where the American Air crews stay on layover, and taxi vouchers to get there today, and to return to the airport on Thursday. I would also be offered a “distress rate” (slightly reduced from the normal rate) for the same hotel if I chose to stay there the following 2 nights. And they also took care of contacting Hawaiian Air to re-book my flights with no fees. And I called the lady at the hotel in Pago, and they were very helpful too and changed my reservation. In the end, I think people were as fair as they could be. I needed sleep (Hawaii is 5 hours behind east coast time) and then I knew I’d get things figured out. The next dilemma was my bag – American said they didn’t have it anymore, and that it would have gone to the Hawaiian terminal. I knew the bag would have obviously missed the Pago flight too, but they couldn’t find it at first. They called around, and someone finally found it. Whew! I got my cab, and got checked into a nice hotel downtown, and called it a day. I would never have chosen to stay in downtown Honolulu (I’m not a 24th floor sort of person who likes to look out the window at a bunch of skyscrapers!) but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth! The bed was comfy, I was in Hawaii, and everything would be fine in the morning!

Travel Day – Sunday, January 13

I knew that making the flight arrangements for the Pacific territories was going to be one of the most complicated things about this journey. I had to guesstimate the timing, and had to take into account things like their rainy seasons and typhoon seasons. Its seemed like the January/February timeframe was the best, and it would be good for getting me out of any potential winter weather in the US. San Diego was the best “hopping-off” point, so my daughter Taryn spent a great deal of time being my travel agent and booking the most reasonable itinerary for the 3 Pacific territories (American Samoa, Guam, and Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands) and Hawaii, using numerous airlines. And once those flights were all booked, those dates became one of the few “cast in stone” dates of the journey. My goal was to have worked my way across the southern tier of states to be in California by January 14. It did not quite work out that way, due partly to my major change of itinerary because of Hurricane Sandy, and partly because of some extra family time here and there, which is all good.

So as it happened, I completed the Deep South states, and short of driving like a maniac across Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, I opted to head to Florida when I was done with Louisiana, and used some frequent flyer miles to book a trip from Gainesville to San Diego. This ended up being a 3-leg flight, which is not unusual for flights out of the small Gainesville airport, and I didn’t mind. Driving to the Orlando airport is about a 4 hour round trip, plus there’s lots of tolls and it ends up costing about $80 for an Orlando run.

Tula knows now that when I load up the luggage, it’s time for her to get in the car too. And she would have been very sad to not be allowed in the car. So Toni took both dogs out for a walk, so I could put the bags in the car without Tula noticing. I felt like such a fraud! But that way I don’t think Tula knew I was leaving for a long time without her! We do wonder if dogs have a sense of time – Tula seems to give ecstatic greetings whether it’s been a day or a month, so I don’t think they have much concept of length of time – guess we’ll never know though!

So I spent the whole day en route – Gainesville to Tampa, which was short and sweet, and then a bit of a layover. The next leg was Tampa to Minneapolis, and I had a middle seat, but I asked about changing seats when I checked in and there happened to be a window seat in the exit row. So I was lucky to get that. One of the last people on the plane, who took the middle seat next to me, was a flight attendant (or so I thought). She was very pleasant and outgoing, and after talking for a while I asked her how long she’d been a flight attendant, only to find out she’s a pilot – for both Air Force and commercial flights! I hadn’t been paying attention to the stripes on her uniform and the wings on her jacket. I felt pretty stupid but she said it happens all the time. As we talked some more, she told me she had spent 6 weeks stationed in Guam, and really liked it, and it was fun to hear what she had to say about it. I am not quite as worried about the brown tree snake problem now! She and her husband live on a boat in Key West, so she was a very interesting person to have for a seatmate. And then there was a nearly-3-hour layover in Minneapolis but I was able to get on the computer, and caught up with the kiddos on the phone before heading to the south seas tomorrow. The flight from Minneapolis to San Diego went off without a hitch, and my sister-in-law and 5-yr-old niece picked me up at the airport, and we had a quick bite to eat and visited a bit, and she got me to my hotel – but I didn’t know there were 2 Days Inns within a couple miles of the airport, so we went to the wrong one, and once we got that figured out, we went to the correct one (only a few miles apart) but then I realized I’d left a package on the counter of the other one, so we had to go retrieve it, so there was some unnecessary extra running around which I felt bad about.

But in the end, I was where I needed to be, with a shuttle to the airport at 6am. It was very strange going to sleep, and knowing the next night I would be in American Samoa – the only US territory in the southern hemisphere.

Florida – Friday and Saturday, January 11 and 12

I took care of the dentist appointment this morning – I was happy they were able to fit me into their schedule. On the drive to the dentist, I noticed a good potential walking area, so on the way back, I thought I’d stop and get a couple miles in. It was such a nice area that I ended up walking nearly 6 miles! The road I had been on went right through a big nature preserve, so not only was the sidewalk by the road a nice walk in itself (and there was a scale model of the solar system), but there were a couple boardwalks leading into the preserve. One led to more trails in the forest, but it was pretty damp so I didn’t walk on those, and the other boardwalk led to a pretty little neighborhood with tidy bungalow style homes and quiet streets so I walked around there too. And then I walked back on the other side of the street, and there were more trails off into the woods that were fairly dry. I came across a class out on a field trip and they were all running to look at something, and there was a big black snake. But I bravely continued on! I ended the walk in a park, and heard some music that I couldn’t quite place, only to discover it was coming from an ice-cream truck that had pulled into the park, and had a line of happy kids and parents buying treats. After walking nearly 6 miles, I joined the line and got a frozen strawberry fruit bar which hit the spot – I can’t remember the last time I bought something from an ice-cream truck!

I went back to Toni’s for a while where Tula had been just fine – she seems pretty happy here and she loves her Toni, so I’m happy things worked out that I’m still on this side of the country instead of potentially leaving Tula in a kennel out in San Diego, which was my original pre-hurricane plan. It involves extra flying for me, but it’s worth it. By this time my brother had arrived at his property in Ocala, and my dad was getting in shortly to spend a few weeks there to get out of the cold South Dakota winter. We all met up in Gainesville for a nice dinner, and then Tula and I went to Ocala for the night to spend a little more time with them.

On Saturday my brother had some errands to run, and my dad just wanted to stay put after 3 days in the car from South Dakota, so I went back to Gainesville and picked up Toni so we could go to the Santa Fe Teaching Zoo where I was going to make my animal-related donation. Toni has taken some of her patients on outings to this zoo, and says it’s a wonderful place that is run by student volunteers from the Santa Fe Community College, which is rated as one of the top community colleges in the country, with several unusual programs like the zoo and a planetarium. I really enjoyed the visit – they have a nice selection of animals in really nice habitats, including some I’d never heard of. Aside from some distant traffic noise, you’d never know the zoo was right near I-75. It was warm and shady and green, and fun seeing all the animals. The student volunteers were all around – working and cleaning habitats and answering questions. We got to the kookaburra cage, and I couldn’t help thinking about the old “Laugh, Kookaburra, Laugh” song and I wanted them to laugh. Then one of them plucked up a grub or worm and went over to taunt the other, and before we knew it, the 2 of them were in full-out “laughing” mode – I’d never heard anything like it! It’s loud and raucous and it did kind of sound like laughter and it was the best part of the visit! It’s not a big zoo, but it was a very enjoyable place, and they had volunteers out by a donation table near the entrance. So I made my donation and they were pleased about it, and told me the animals all say thank you too! Then Toni and I headed back to Ocala. She visited with her grandpa while I started the sorting/packing process for the next month. I tried to take everything out of the van to make sure I got everything that I’d be needing for the next month. It took a bit of time, but I eventually felt somewhat organized. Then the 4 of us headed out for my bon voyage dinner at a steak house – I don’t typically get steak on the road anyway, and certainly won’t be having any in the South Pacific! So we enjoyed our dinner. I stayed at Toni’s tonight, so that Tula would already be there when I leave in the morning. I was up pretty late, getting everything packed neatly, and taking care of some paperwork, mail and financial stuff.

Florida – Thursday, January 10

The first order of business today was my donation. There were several food pantries in the Pensacola area, and the one that caught my eye was the Manna Food Pantry. They were advertising a unique Fill-A-Bowl-For-Manna fundraiser where people could buy handmade pottery bowls (made by students in the local college) for $30 and be able to fill them up with homemade soup the following Saturday, and all proceeds would go toward the food pantry. Since I wouldn’t be in town for the fundraiser, I called them to see if they had any bowls that I could buy anyway, as a way to make a contribution. They didn’t have any yet, but said they could use hot and cold cereal, peanut butter, tuna and canned chicken. So I went shopping for those things, and found the food pantry and dropped it off. The lady I spoke with was very nice – she got a shopping cart to put all the food in so it could be weighed. Their motto is “Leave No One Unfed.”

Then I drove to the historic area of downtown Pensacola, where Tula and I were able to get out and stretch our legs with a few miles of walking. We walked all the way through town and went down by the ocean. There was a marina there, and a huge freighter was also docked about 20 yards away. It was still kind of misty and foggy out. Then we went back to the car and began to drive east along the panhandle, but didn’t get very far when I noticed a nice walking path along the ocean and through a really nice military memorial park. So we got out and did some more walking. Then it was time to head toward Toni’s apartment in Gainesville – I have a morning appointment with her dentist for a routine cleaning (my dentist didn’t want me to neglect that detail while I’m gone!), so I couldn’t dawdle along the way. I wanted to drive along the 2-lane highway by the ocean through all the beach towns along the Florida panhandle, but it quickly became apparent that was going to be a very slow way to go. Normally I would have done it anyway, but Gainesville was still a couple hundred miles away. So I reluctantly headed up to the interstate. We stopped one more time in Bonifay to get out and do a little more walking, and by then it was nearly dark. It took a few more hours to get to Toni’s and we had a late dinner of homemade mac and cheese. Tula and Toni’s dog Ella have spent a lot of time together, plus Toni’s apartment is familiar to Tula, so hopefully she’ll be content there while I’m gone – she has a couple days to get re-acclimated before I leave!

Louisiana – Wednesday, January 9

I woke up to drizzle and fog. Since I had ended up on the outskirts of New Orleans again, I decided to walk my 3 miles from yesterday in the French Quarter since I was relatively close, and it’s a fun place to walk! Because it was wet out, and not the greatest place to walk a dog, I left Tula in the car and set off along the now-familiar streets and walked my miles. I heard numerous complaints about the weather, and I don’t blame some of the people for being disappointed – the fog was thick enough that it obscured the tops of tall buildings, and people were wishing they could see all of the old St. Louis Cathedral in particular. After my drizzly walk, I figured I had to warm up with cafe au lait and beignets again!

I was going to get out and walk in another town on the southern end of Lake Pontchartrain before crossing it, but the fog was bad, and they were forecasting more rain, so I decided to at least get over to the north shore of the lake. To do that, I crossed a 26 mile long causeway right across the middle of the lake – it was more like an elevated road than a bridge since it wasn’t too high off the water. It was foggy there too, so I couldn’t enjoy the view, and could only see the bit of water by my side of the bridge. I felt like I was driving through clouds. They have 2 lanes going each direction on separate causeways, and every 5 miles or so they have connectors, so if you forget something or have to turn around for some reason, it doesn’t become a 52 mile round-trip ordeal. With about 2 miles to go to the end of the causeway, it suddenly cleared up and I could see the shore, and I had pretty clear weather the rest of the day. The causeway ended in Mandeville, which was the trailhead for the rail-trail I had wanted to walk on during one of my first Louisiana days. I planned to do the whole 8 miles for today on it. I had to drive around a bit to find it again, and Tula was ready for a walk by this time. So we got all ready for an 8 mile walk, only to discover that dogs were not allowed. I was pretty surprised – this is the first rail-trail I’ve encountered that doesn’t allow pets. Tula needed to walk, so we just walked about 1/2 mile down the street where we could pick up the walking path by Lake Pontchartrain. That whole area was very wet – sidewalks had standing water on them, the grass was very soggy and spongy, and the lake had risen noticeably in the 5-6 days since I’d been there. There were concrete barriers at intervals along the shore, and they were plainly visible the last time, and now the water nearly covered them. There were pelicans all over the place – they were constantly flying up and then diving into the water – with shallow water they didn’t need much height to dive in and snatch their fish! It had been rainy, but not THAT rainy, so this was all a good example of how this area just doesn’t have the capacity to absorb much extra water, and why they have so much trouble with flooding. We walked the whole length of the lake path and back, and then headed back to the car. That had covered 4 miles, so I put Tula in the car, and headed out along the rail trail myself. I walked 2 miles out and 2 miles back. After the first 1/2 mile or so, I think I was in a state park nature preserve, which may be why dogs weren’t allowed. There were several wooden bridges over the really swampy areas – it was a pretty walk. Along the way, I encountered a guy walking his bike back to his truck – he had ridden 5 miles and then got a flat tire, so had to limp it back. That’s the second time I’ve seen a bicyclist on a rail-trail walking a disabled bike back – the first time, the lady had been nearly 8 miles out when she got a flat tire. Both of these people were dressed in biking clothes, and I thought most of them carried supplies to fix flats, but maybe the problem with the tire was more complicated than that. Makes me happy to just need my own 2 feet, but I guess something can still go wrong with that too!

I finished my walk, and Louisiana was complete. All 7 donations were done – the poor box in St. Louis Cathedral, the Samaritan Center food pantry in Mandeville, the APAWS animal shelter in Baton Rouge, the St. Joseph Diner (soup kitchen) in Lafayette, the Center for Veterans homeless shelter in Lafayette, the Good Samaritan food pantry in Thibodaux, and the Bayou Area Habitat for Humanity in Thibodaux. And I walked all 56 miles in lots of different places – New Orleans, Mandeville, Baton Rouge, St. Francisville, Breaux Bridge, Lafayette, St. Martinville, New Iberia, Morgan City, Thibodaux, Houma, Cocodrie, and on lake walks, bayou walks, state parks, and a rail trail. I got rained on a bit, but that seemed appropriate since water has such an impact down here!

By now it was late afternoon, and time to head for the panhandle of Florida so I could get at least one day of walking/donating in before taking time to pack and get ready for the Pacific territories leg of this adventure. I need to end up in Gainesville where my daughter Toni lives, and she is going to be watching Tula for the month that I’m gone in the territories. Plus I’ll be seeing my dad and brother there before I leave, so it’s time to head east again. It didn’t take long to cross into Mississippi and drive across its southern end, and then there was the little panhandle area of Alabama, and then into Florida. I stopped near Pensacola, to be ready for the day tomorrow.

Louisiana – Tuesday, January 8

I left Morgan City and headed straight for Thibodaux. A little homework last night had shown me there was a Good Samaritan Food Pantry in Thibodaux that was open on Tuesdays from 9-noon – perfect timing. I found their location, and went in to talk with someone to see what they might need. The answer came pretty fast – they were totally out of juice. And they recommended I go to the Family Dollar store a couple blocks down on the same street, because that would help me stretch my dollars! So I went to Family Dollar and filled up the cart with a variety of juice – apple, cranberry, cranapple, grape and Sunny Delight. I got around 30 bottles of juice and it was a heavy load and took a while to ring up and bag. When I pulled back into the parking lot at the food pantry, one of the volunteers was outside with a young couple who had just picked up some food, and she wanted to give them a bottle of juice too. That was the first time part of my donation went straight from the van into the waiting hands of someone who needed it – that touched me. And the recipient came over to say thank you. Then I went inside where Melodia, the manager, showed me around their food pantry. The juice shelf was indeed totally bare. While I was shopping, one of the volunteers had contacted the local newspaper, and by the time I got back a reporter was there, and she had some questions about what I was doing, and about the food bank. She was very easy to talk to, and we got some pictures (I think her article ran in their Saturday paper but I haven’t seen it). I talked with Melodia some more, and as always, it’s really interesting to hear how different food banks work.

When I was done at the food pantry, I headed back to the Family Dollar store area. I had noticed a Bayou Area Habitat for Humanity ReStore shop right next to the Family Dollar, and I took it as a sign that I might want to make another donation today! I went in and looked around a little (the last thing I need is more stuff in the van!) and then talked with one of the volunteers, who told me that all the proceeds from the thrift shop go to help with repairing and building homes in the bayou area. After Hurricane Isaac last August, there was still a lot of work to be done, and I wanted to help since Louisiana seems to have dealt with more than her share of hurricane troubles and the like. I talked with a couple of the volunteers who were interested in what I was doing, and they were very grateful for the donation, and they also sent me a very nice email later. One of the volunteers had a tree branch fall on her house last August during the hurricane, and she’s only just now able to move back in, and she kept doing her volunteer work the whole time. There’s a lot of people with big hearts! And I wouldn’t have seen this place if I hadn’t been shopping for the juice for the food pantry – another thing that was meant to be!

By now it was well after noon, and Tula and I hadn’t done any walking. So I found a different place to park, and we got out and walked thru the historic area of town, and then down one of the long main streets – we got nearly 3 miles in, and made it back to the van right as it started to rain again. From Thibodaux I headed south to Houma, which has a lot of bridges because of all the rivers and bayous. Back at the food pantry, Melodia had told me about several deserving organizations I could donate to in Houma, and if I hadn’t seen Habitat for Humanity, I would have donated to one of them. But all my Louisiana donations are done. It was raining lightly in Houma, so I left Tula in the car and put on my rain jacket and got a couple more miles of walking in. I went past another big cemetery with the above-ground tombs and crypts – so different from back home.

Then I wanted to drive as far south into shrimping/bayou country as I could. The little 2-lane highway leading to the edge of the state must have been built on what little solid ground there was in this area – there’s lakes, bayous, wetlands – lots of watery areas. The road followed yet another bayou, and I saw more shrimp boats than I ever have before. Some were in disrepair and were in the slow process of sinking, and other shrimp boats looked bigger than the small houses they were tied up by. And there were lots of drawbridges too – the shrimp boats have to work their way down the bayou to open water for their fishing.

I drove through Presque Isle, and Chauvin and all the way down to Cocodrie at the edge of solid land, passing shrimp boats all the way. I also passed little warehouse areas where the shrimp boats could stop for fuel and ice. The road just dead-ended in the little marina community of Cocodrie, and Tula and I pulled into the marina and walked up and down the different piers. All the houses were up high on stilts, and there were even trailer homes raised up high in wooden frameworks to hold them up there (how they are lifted up their I don’t know!). It seemed like a very isolated sort of life. With darkness soon to fall and some rain moving in, I knew it was time to head for less watery ground! Once I backtracked about 10 miles, there was another road so that I could make sort of a loop back to Houma. This road was very narrow and curvy, going through lots of swamp land and marshes – beautiful and desolate. It started to rain and I was happy to be heading back to civilization. By the time I got to Houma it was absolutely pouring, and I can’t imagine what that does to the lowlands I was just in. I had a little trouble getting out of Houma to head northeast – what with all the different bridges and construction, even my GPS was getting confused. I only walked 5 miles today due to rainy weather, but I’ll finish the other 3 tomorrow as I wrap up my Lousisiana week.

Louisiana – Monday, January 7

Before leaving Lafayette, I had one more donation to do. There was a Center for Veterans that is a homeless shelter and it provides about 20 beds for veterans, in addition to the St. Joseph shelter for men which provides more beds. It’s all part of the Lafayette Catholic Service Centers. When I talked with the manager yesterday, he had indicated they didn’t need food, but clothes were always welcome. $56 won’t go real far with clothes, but I was able to get 30 pairs of socks, a dozen tshirts and a pair of sweat pants. The homeless shelter wasn’t in the greatest part of town, and some of the guys were just sort of hanging around out front – I believe they have to sign up for a bed in the morning. But they were all very polite, and offered to help me carry stuff inside, and the manager was right there, and even the guys inside said thanks. I couldn’t get a picture of the place – I’m careful to not take pictures of anyone actually using the facilities of a food bank or shelter – trying to respect their dignity!

Then I headed south through the little towns that dot the countryside along the big Bayou Teche – many of which have a French past, and street signs are often in French. The bayou water is brown and doesn’t look very appealing, but it’s a lifeline to the people who use the bayou to access shrimp and crawfish grounds. I stopped in St. Martinville and walked around the pretty little town. There’s lots of huge oaks with moss and ferns hanging from huge branches. They look like good climbing trees! There was a statue of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by the bayou – he wrote the Hiawatha poem which I’m familiar with, and also an Evangeline poem which is a big part of the lore in this area, which I wasn’t familiar with. Longfellow Evangeline State Historic Site looked like a really interesting place to visit, but they were closed on Mondays so I lost out on that opportunity. Next I headed for New Iberia, which is the only Spanish-influenced town in a predominantly French-influenced area. Tula and I walked all through town, and down by the bayou again and crossed the drawbridge. Tula doesn’t like the grates on the drawbridge (or anywhere else) so we won’t be walking across any more of those together! Luckily it wasn’t a big bridge! There’s just lots of them to allow the shrimp boats to get out. I’m guessing there must be some sort of schedule with the drawbridges that the fishermen know since they have to go under multiple bridges. I also walked quite a ways through one of the neighborhoods with some of the old historic homes. There was a stone shrine – The Grotto of our Lady of Lourdes modeled after the one in France, and people leave various offerings there.

Then I drove through Jeanerette and Franklin and stopped once again in Morgan City. I stopped in their visitor center and finally figured out what Louisiana’s parishes were. There are always signs about entering and leaving different parishes, and people seem to take pride in the parish they live in, but I didn’t know if parishes were a religious thing, or towns, or cities, or what. It turns out that Louisiana is the only state that doesn’t have counties, and their “counties” are called parishes. Mystery solved. We walked down by the waterfront and through the historic part of Morgan City and around the parks, and finished off the walking for the day by the time it got dark. Morgan City used to call itself the shrimp capital of the world, but then they also got caught up in the petroleum industry when oil was discovered, so to honor both industries, they have a big Shrimp and Petroleum Festival every Labor Day Weekend – seems like a funny combination.

I had a little bit of trouble finding a pet-friendly motel ($75 pet fees?!?) but after calling around a bit I found a good place right in Morgan City, which was good because I didn’t want to miss bayou scenery driving in the dark. It’s been quite cool – and frequently rainy at night, so I haven’t been able to camp lately. And tonight was another very rainy night, with rain in the forecast for tomorrow too.

I’ve been really busy getting ready for the Pacific territories – that leg of the journey begins in the morning! I’ll get caught up on posts once I’m en route to the south seas. I’m currently in Florida – Toni will be watching Tula for the month I’m gone, and my dad and brother have been here too, so it’s been a few busy days. Will get caught up soon. New adventures await 🙂

Louisiana – Sunday, January 6

One of my first stops today was the St. Joseph Diner, which is a full-service soup kitchen run by the Lafayette Catholic Services Center. They serve about 200 breakfasts and lunches every day with no questions asked, and simply request that the recipients be respectful to each other and to the volunteers. They also deliver meals to the homebound. I found the “diner” and the security guard let me in the side door so I could talk with the volunteers to see what might be needed most. The answer was quick – breakfast meats – they needed bacon and sausage! They were getting ready for lunch and had about 8 tables set up with a bunch of chairs. The meal smelled good – they were beginning to dish up onto divided trays – no paper plates here! There were even little Christmas trees decorating each table. There were quite a few people lined up outside the front door waiting for their meal. After talking with them, I went to a nearby Piggly Wiggly and got as much bacon and sausage as I could. I took it back, and the diner was full of people enjoying lunch. The security guard took the bags since the volunteers were all busy, and I also told him about the sleep mats they’d given me back in Mandeville. He said he would be happy to take them, and could get them over to the homeless shelter.

From there I drove to Breaux Bridge, which claims to be the crawfish-capital-of-the-world. This is where I saw the Bayou Teche for the first time, and read the legend about the huge snake that it is named for. Legend has it the snake was measured in miles, not feet, and attacked the ancient villagers, and it took many years for warriors to kill it. The huge carcass left a depression in the earth, and that’s how the 125-mile long curvy Bayou Teche got its name. There are numerous drawbridges so boaters can get out to open water. The historic part of Breaux Bridge wasn’t very big, and I wasn’t able to get much walking in – just about a mile and a half or so. The cemeteries here are very different – the ground is so wet that many graves are not dug in the traditional manner, so they seem to make use of above-ground tombs and crypts that are jammed up together side by side.

After Breaux Bridge, I headed back to Lafayette. I found the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus and walked through some of that, and that led to a big park with a long walking trail, so we walked around that a couple times, and then through another part of the campus (strangely quiet – maybe they still have another week off) and into a pretty adjoining neighborhood. There are some enormous oaks around here, with huge branches that have ferns growing on them! Then I put Tula in the van and walked the parts of the trails near the pond that had a lot of ducks – she would have wanted to chase them! So I finished my walking. Then I found a laundromat – time to deal with that chore again! And then a meal at Cracker Barrel since they were open late, and I called it a day.