Another Hard Day’s Drive (Florida Boating, Post 5)

Wednesday, February 3

Today I am miserable. Yesterday was too hard with all our trailer wheel issues, and last night I didn’t sleep. When I don’t sleep, I become depressed and easily overwhelmed. We got to visit with Monica for a few minutes in the front yard last night, and then a few minutes in the backyard this morning. Then we left.

I was weeping! I am exhausted and I didn’t want to leave. I just wanted to spend a few days resting and visiting Monica. It seemed so sad just to show up for a grand total of 10 minutes of conversation when we haven’t seen her for a year! So I got all upset about this damn pandemic, and now I am getting a migraine. I resolve to do what I can to stay mentally and emotionally positive, but meanwhile, at the moment I’m just trying to keep it together and not completely lose my shit. It did not feel right to simply leave Monica like that. But we’re all just trying to keep her safe.

So off we went, on the next stage of our trip. Around noon we crossed from Texas into Louisiana and were caught in a traffic slowdown due to construction. As we eased to a stop we suddenly heard an alarming noise. Did the semi-truck behind us just hit the back of our boat? We couldn’t tell. It sounded like we were hit, but we weren’t pushed forward. He obviously didn’t hit us very hard, but hanging off the back of our boat is an expensive outboard motor. It wouldn’t take more than a gentle tap from a semi grill to ruin our little outboard!

We inched forward and off into a handy rest stop. The semi behind us continued on by, which I took for a good sign. Surely he would have stopped had he hit us? Or maybe not. Just in case, I took photos of him as we pulled off and he passed us by.

John parked and got out to inspect our boat. He said everything was fine. Whew! I am going to be glad when this boat is in the water where it belongs!

As I look out the window, it’s mostly flat, with periodic swamps and ponds. The streams are muddy. It’s all very muddy. I’m seeing dull greenish-brown grass and leafless deciduous trees mixed with some pines. I don’t think that early February is Louisiana’s best season. It’ll probably be beautiful in another month or two. I expect February isn’t the best season anywhere in the country. (Except maybe in Tucson. And Florida!)

Lots of water though.

Shortly after we crossed into Louisiana we saw a town that had apparently been hit by a hurricane. This was near Lake Charles, Louisiana. Lots of trees were down, and a huge percentage of roofs were covered in blue tarps. Some houses appeared to be uninhabitable. It seems like such a travesty. We see these things on the news all the time. It’s somehow a lot more real as we drive by and imagine what it must be like to live here, day after day, week after week, long after the storm wrecked your life.

Now we are in farm country. It reminds me a little bit of the fertile valley in Oregon where I grew up. The soggy fields, sallow for winter, are rimmed with thin strips of oak and pine. The neon green spring grass is just starting to appear in patches.

I believe this to be Baton Rouge, although I’m starting to get confused.

We did not go through New Orleans, instead we skirted around it to the north. Unfortunately we aren’t doing any sightseeing on the drive out because we’re towing a boat.

I’m not sure that I took any photos of our brief pass through Mississippi. Our pass through the foot of Alabama was even shorter, but that’s where we stayed Wednesday night at a fancy rest stop; the Alabama Welcome Center. Lol, what an oxymoron. A fancy rest stop. But it was!