Day XI: LA and TX

July 25, 2008

Today was a long drive. Bea triumphantly told me that she had (and I quote) “Just broke into my own car!” I had left the passenger’s side window down a crack and I guess while I was in the shower she had found a clothes hanger and used it to unlock the door from the outside of the car. Good work Bea! She was really excited and explained the entire process of how exactly she figured out how to open the latch. Bea’s great when she’s super excited about something. Overall, I think I enjoy being easily excited over mediocre things.

For example, on the drive to Texas today through Louisiana I drove over this ENORMOUS bridge that seemed to last forever. Seriously, we were on it for at least 15-20 minutes. The bridge stood over the Louisiana marshland. As far as the eye can see there were trees and brush, water and water and more trees. I was in awe, but Bea didn’t really share in my excitement I guess. To me it was incredible! I couldn’t believe I was easily driving over the marshiest of marshes; the bayous of Louisiana; the wetlands of the south. Isn’t that amazing? I’d say, whew!

The drive from Slidell to Texas is a long one. Specifically Plano, TX which is just northeast of Dallas. We drove all day (leaving at 2pm) until we couldn’t drive any longer (which ended up being about 2 am). The drive was soooooo long. Louisiana is a tall state if you didn’t know.

I didn’t feel like driving all the way to Plano just to get there at 4 in the morning and sleep in our car outside of Jake’s house. We looked up campgrounds in the area and found one in Tyler State park, which is on the way to Dallas. We turned off on an exit too early and ended up in the boondocks. It was pretty freaky, especially when Bea reminded us that the Texas Chain Massacre took place in TEXAS. Yeah, we were freaking ourselves out and laughing about it.. growing silent.. and then quickly making a U-turn, aka “flippin’ a bitch.”

We got to Tyler State park successfully. When I say successfully I mean alive. There was a sign at the deserted ranger station saying $3 per person for overnight camping. “Woohoo’s” and high 5’s all around. We pile back into the car and drive into Tyler State park. We aren’t driving for long until we come across this group of 7 adolescent guys walking along the side of the road. They kindly directed us to a campsite where we find cute little bungalows nestled around a community restroom. We park, get all our stuff out: blankets, pillows, the laptop, the dog.

The light bulb in our little one-room cabin was out, so I swapped bulbs with an empty neighbor cabinJ. We slept on an afghan on a slab of cement, which was surprisingly comfortable. When we woke up we were both mosquito bite free too! What a bonus! What a night!

-S & M