Hope

When our kids were growing up we never took a vacation like snow skiing or Disney World. We did take a few road trips with no particular destination in mind. We thought they were fun and memorable.

One Easter weekend we took what we call our "perimeter tour" of Louisiana. Up to that time we'd pretty much gone east to west on I-20 and north to south on Hwy. 167. We never ventured off too much . . . until this road trip. Going to places like Houma where every house was hosting a crawfish boil and all the way to Grand Isle.

It's like a whole other world down there.

Another time we loaded up and with only a few days, we drove up through Kentucky and Tennessee. We went to Mammoth Cave then visited the Jack Daniels Distillery. We ate barbeque at the Rendevous and even went to Graceland where the shag carpet on the walls and ceiling sticks out most in my mind. We also ate at Doe's Eat Place in Greenville, Mississippi. They only have 3 things on the menu - shrimp, tamales and steaks that are bigger than your head. The steaks, I mean.

I was reminiscing the other day about one of those road trips we took to the Cossatot River in Arkansas. Jim had a kayak and we loaded it on top of the Super Nova and headed north. Not far into our trip we realized we'd forgotten something and stopped at the WalMart in Hope, Arkansas.

Jim and I waited in the parking lot while the kids ran it to get whatever the essential item was. I won't say this was the highlight of our trip, but it made quite an impression on me.

It's like a whole other world up there.