Vacation 2008

It's vacation time again and boy I needed this one, especially after the weekend I worked before I left. Let's start with Friday the 18th. There was a wreak at the intersection of the Davis bypass and Lafayette parkway. Nothing serious, but we did have to package four individuals and haul them to the ER to be checked out. Then the rest of the night was nothing but busy work.

Then came Saturday night. I could say, "lawd av'mercy" but The Lord did show great Mercy to 9 of his foolish children. After midnight, so it would have actually have been Sunday morning, a call came out that we had to patients at the LaGrange Police Department that needed checking, their backs were hurting. That made my partner and I think that LPD had to run two down and they were complaining of their backs being hurt to try and get out of incarceration. We pulled in to LPD from Harrison St. and notice about a gazillion blue lights flashing on Morgan St. out in front and too the side of the LPD. That's where our patients were. What had happen was the five boys, from 13 to 15 years old, were running from the Law and lost control. They flipped the car about 4 or 5 times an three of them took off running after the car stopped rolling. We had two on the ground crying about back pain and we package them and transport them to the ER. We had to call in another unit and they looked after the three that the cops had to chase down. By the way, every Police, Sheriff's deputy and State trouper in Troup County had to have been on that scene, {hence, the gazillion blue lights}. Of the five only one had a L1 fracture. One that had to be chased down. Then my unit had to respond to Lower West Point Road for a crash. A single vehicle veered off the road and down an embankment. It ripped the engine compartment off, (with the engine) and all I could tell of the car was that it was a "red" one. Four Hispanics were inside and there was a strong order of alcohol on each. When we got there three of them had crawled out and was standing on the side of the roadway; well, two were standing and one was rolling on the ground screaming. The forth was still in the back seat. We was able to remove the one from the back seat and he was flown out. We had another unit come they took care of the one on the ground screaming, he was flown out too. Then the two that were walking around were transported by West Point EMS to WGHS ER. All were expected to live.

Sunday night/ Monday morning was just busy calls. My partner did get to get some rest but I was making sure all my duck were in a row so that I could get out ASAP. He was doing some serious eyelid QC when I left. I nudged him to let him know I was leaving but he just grumbled and went on making sure there were no little holes in his lids. When I got home I discover that Figaroe, with her woman intuition, knew that I was going away and she unpacked all my stuff. I was wanting to leave by 9 AM but instead I left at around 11 AM. It wasn't until later that I realize how well she hid my toilet kit.

My first stop was EWTN in Irondale, Al. (Photo's) I missed tour that I was shooting for and the next one would have been an hour away so I strolled around the ground, made a visit in the Church, and then went to the gift shop. I bought a crucifix for my rear view mirror, a rosary made from rosewood, with a leather pouch, (the pouch cost more then the rosary), a tee shirt that I just couldn't resist, and a leather bound Douay-Rheims volume of Holy Scripture. The tee shirt I couldn't resist was black in front and had "Be Not Afraid - JPII" on the front and on the back a picture of Pope John Paul II in his younger days as a priest with the caption, "Extreme Papa". And the Douay-Rheims was bought because I've been wanting one and they don't publish that edition in a paperback anymore. I'm still downloading and printing a copy of one from on line so I can make my own notes in it but that is slow going.

I then headed for the Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman Al. This place was fabulous. It at St. Bernard's Abbey and was built by Brother Joseph Zoettl, O.S.B and contains over 125 miniatures on a 4 acre site. I could have easily spent the day there. For photos of the Abby and the Cemetary click here. The Stations of the Cross (Photo 1) (Photo 2) lined the path that led to the cemetary (Photo 3) and the chaple (Photo 4) was at the far end of the cemetary. Photo 5 and Photo 6 are of the Church at the Abby and the Nave.

The on the way back down to Birmingham I stopped at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Al. (Photos) It is way on out in the country, that's for sure but this is another place that needed a full day to explore. But when I pulled up and got out of my truck I locked and closed the door and that's when I realize that I left my keys in the middle console. And right beside it was my cell phone. I had to rest there for a minute and contemplate the error of just punching out one of the windows on that truck. I went in side and made a short visit. Oh the altar, just like a glimpse of heaven. I then talked to some of the brothers that look out after the place and told them of my predicament. I'm not the first to lock themselves out of their vehicles there. They were able to help but I had to tell them what was needed to do the job. They came up with the perfect tool to open the door and we got it open. I'm going to see if I can find a kit that the wrecker services use to open lock doors and send them one.

About the time I made it back to Birmingham it was getting dark and I couldn't keep my eyeballs focus any longer so I found the Dreamland Barbecue in Birmingham, I had planed on dining at the original one in Tuscaloosa, Al. Ate and then found the nearest motel. It was more then I really cared to have spent but I was too tired to argue or even try and find another place. I then went to bed and slept until about 4 in the morning. After I got up and got ready for a shower is when I realized that I was missing my toilet kit. The motel had enough there to get me by and I was on the road again by 5 am.

April 22

I headed down 1-20/I-59 to New Orleans and stopped in Meridian, Ms. One was to get a picture of a hwy sign and the other was to get supplies at the local Wally world. Click here to see the hwy sign.

I picked up another toilet kit and had a spare key made for the truck. I then bought one of them magnetic hide a key holder and hid the key under the truck on a piece of channel so I know it won't fall off. I'm tired of getting locked out. Then when I left I saw the sign for the Jimmy Rodgers Museum so I thought I take a little side trip to see it. While following the signs I went through Downtown Meridian, and they were having a celebration for the city officially going "Green", (whatever they meant by that). Then I found the museum in a park with the museum being in an old train depot. I would have had to wait about an hour for the museum to open and I was unwilling to do so so I traveled on. But that's another one I'll have to schedule time to come back to see.

I finally reached New Orleans around 2 PM local time. You can still see a lot of the devastation from Katrina around, but I was just bushed and got a motel room and took a nap. The interesting thing about this motel I stayed at was that it was next to an old Holiday Inn that I remember Dad, Linda, and myself staying at when Dad had to do a field trip for the company he worked for in 1970. It was closed down. When I got up and going it was getting near dark and the Shrines I had planed on visiting in this city were closed so I ended up going down into the French Quarters and walking around, standing outside of the bars and listening to the bands, (they ain't so loud when you do it like that). When I felt like eating I went to Felix's Restaurant and dined on some oysters on the half shell, Shrimp Creole, Red beans and rice with sausage and catfish etouffee. After I left I strolled some more and then went to Pat O'Brien's and hung out in the piano bar and got a hurricane. Then I made my way back to my truck, good thing I had that GSP on my phone so I could find it, and then went back to the hotel room for bed.

23 April

I had breakfast at Cafe Du Monde in the Quarters, where else, and then hit the road. I made good time cause I got to Eddies at 1840 EST then I cleaned up a bit and we went to a church Supper/social at New Fountain Methodist Church. It was a supper for the new members to get to know each other and also to meet some of the others in the church. I was nice and didn't wear my Extreme Papa shirt. Eddie kept showing me around the new building, he so proud of that new edition that you have thunk he'd built it himself.

24 April

Just a lazy day, we did go into San Antonio because Pat had some shopping to do and I went and bought a pair of SAS shoes. Then we went and ate at Coyote Canyon, San Antonio's version of a Ryan's or a Golden Corral

25 April

Pat had to work so Eddie and I played on the Computer until about noon then we went to Wally's World to look at some extended storage for their computer. Eddie kept hovering around the new systems and got his mind set on getting an ACER they had with Vista, 2G Ram and 250 G hard drive and more expansion slots inside the tower then you could shake a stick at. Then we went to Devine to visit Aunt Neil. We stopped at the Cemetery and visited the family's site then I went and looked around for Aunt Cora. Couldn't find her so we went to Neil's and visited, Neil was looking good and she told us were we could find Aunt Cora so we did when we left. We then went and stopped in at Pat's work then we went home to change. Had Dinner that night in D'hanis at a place called Bill & Rosa's K&K Steakhouse Saloon with some of Eddie and Pat's friends. These four couples will meet for dinner every Friday night. I had already set my mind on some chicken fried steak and so I orders one. They sat a platter out with a steak on it that almost fell off the sides. That thing was monstrous. I ate as much as I could that night and then took the rest home. Everyone else was surprised at how big it was too.

26 April

We took a trip to Bandera and Kerrville and did some shopping and looking around, I was looking for a Chimmania and we found one in Bandera and Pat was looking for a fire pot for the upper deck, we didn't find one. Had dinner in Kerrville and then on the way back we stopped at St. Stanislaus in Bandera. There was a wedding going on so I didn't go inside but took picture of the grounds. That day wore poor ol' Pat and Eddie out.

27 April

I attended Mass at St. Louis in Castroville, TX. This was another beautiful church that was like a glimpse of heaven when you walked in but the priest was monotone and during the transubstantiation he kind of quickly held up the Host and the Chalice. I thought for a second he was going to juggle them. I thought he may have been in a hurry to get somewhere after Mass but nope, he was still around when I left after walking around and examining all the sights in the Nave. I then left there to go to New Fountain and got there in time for the Sunday school and sat in class while Pat teach and Eddie made sure everyone had coffee. After the services, we stopped over at Hondo Park and got some barbecue sausage that the Youth were selling for our Lunch. Then after Lunch I went into San Antonio while Pat and Eddie rested.

I first stopped at James and Janice's and stayed with them for about 4 hours. Both were looking good and James has that little scooter that he moves around in. James kept trying to give me a pair of boots but after having small feet for so long they have decided to start growing again and now I'm up to a size 11 1/2. The boots James were trying to give me were nice but too small. Dang the bad luck.

When I left there I went over to the old neighborhood on Clower and the old house was empty. It was being renovated. I was able to walk in and look around. They had lowered the roof so the bedrooms they had up in the attic at one time were gone. But a large back room had been added on and that small apartment in the back plus the carport was tore down.

When I left and started heading back towards downtown I came across the signs for Our Lady of MT Carmel and St. Therese Basilica so I went there for a quick look around. Again, words fail me, because it was another glimpse of heaven.

I went down to the river walk but first I road around because Fiesta was still going on. Most of it was still going on the western side of downtown so I made my way to the eastern side where the Alamo was. I got some pictures of the outside of the Alamo and then went down onto the river walk. Strolled around and took pictures and ended up eating at Joe's Crab Shack. When I left I found Pat O'Brien's and had a drink there and then made my way back to my truck. When I got back home I discovered that Eddie had talked Pat into getting that ACER he had been eyeing. So I ended up staying up till midnight helping Eddie put it together.

28 April

Went to Kerrville for lunch with Peggy Jean and Herb at the Crackerbarrel. Then went to Lowe's and found a fire pit for Pat. One of the floor walkers was very rude to Pat but the one that was actually serving Pat was very helpful. Back at Dunley we tried to get the old computer up but it wouldn't come on.

29 April

Eddie and I took the old computer to Hondo and found out that the Power Supply went ka put. It was coincidental that it happened when I went in it. Got me off the hook. After we got back and I went and saw Neil and took the hot pot to her, she really liked it. Then we went to the post office, saw Flo's old house, stopped by the Dairy Queen and bought some sodas then visited the cemetery. After I dropped Neil off I bought some artificial flowers at Dollars and took them to Poteet and placed them on Henry, Julia, and Lula's graves. I used the GPS to go back to Dunley and I told it to use the shortest route. I now know every pig and goat trail between Dunley and Poteet. I now know that the dirt road that runs down the R&R tracks is named Francisco Rd.

30April

This was basically another rest day because I'll be leaving early in the morning for home. I did load up the truck with that red wing-back chair and the paraphernalia from the back of Eddie's garage. We ate enchiladas at Sammy's that night and then said our good byes before I went to bed.

01May

Got up and got on the road at 4 am local time and made good time heading towards home. I gassed up outside of San Antonio and then headed towards Houston, but I had calculated wrong. I hit the Katy area at the time I wanted but that wasn't the time to hit Katy. Oh, took me about an hour an a half to get to the east side of Houston and I was not a happy camper, especially while "camping" on that freeway. But the rest of the way thru was easy. I had to stop in Albany, La. for gas again and then I stopped at Dreamlands in Mobile, (just can't seen to pass one up) and got the rib sandwich. Then I went on home and got home at 11:15 PM. I texted Eddie a message that I've arrived, checked on the cats and then went to bed.

02May

I got up and then started the process of unloading the truck and hanging the farm stuff on the back wall of my carport. Got the chair inside and tried to take it down the short hall before I realize that it wouldn't fit through the opening into the foyer so I had to reverse course and go through the kitchen, and dinning room into the living room. I brought the cats back in and started the process of getting reacquainted with them which only took me a can of cat food apiece for the two toms. Figaroe wanted to act a little more stuck up and she automatically claimed the red chair. Gave me this look like, "What cha' gonna do about it, huh?" Then it was back to work for a three day weekend.

P.S. About Monday last I finally found where Figaroe hid the toilet kit. She's cleaver.