This beautiful abandoned barn was just before the Arkansas border in Louisiana.
Archives for December 2011
More Animals of the South
Posted by on December 7, 2011 Leave a Comment
We had to stop and say hi to this buck. He was in a chain-link fenced-area in the middle of an industrial area. Why he was there and who owned him wasn't clear. He didn't have any friends, but as soon as we stpped him out of the car we could see why….he stunk to high heaven! Bucks (un-neutered male goats) have the most awful smell. But he was friendly and so excited to have visitors that we ended up feeding him half of the fresh pineapple we'd just bought. Taking photos through a chain-link fence was challenging as well. He had magnificent horns and a beautiful long beard. Unfortunately his hooves hadn't been trimmed in years though.
Texas was full of vultures; turkey and black, but we haven’t seen nearly as many as we’ve moved further north and east.
This adorable pack of dogs appeared to be running free and wild, and they were extremely skittish and camera-shy.
These happy dogs were playing out in a field with their Basset Hound friend. They were so cute!
Apparently cows don’t mind sharing their field with vultures.
We’ve seen a fair amount of snowy egrets and great blue herons, although so far the heron’s have avoided being photographed.
These adorable goats were clearly somebody’s pets. They looked more like African Pygmy than Nigerian Dwarf’s, but they were adorable.
We’ve seen a lot more horses since we left Texas, and the largest population to-date has been in Mississippi. Half the houses seem to have a horse or two in their front yard.
Driving through the flat farmland of Arkansas yesterday we saw tons of hawks. This guy was hunting for his lunch on a telephone pole roadside.
The Last Supper • Asian-style Chicken Noodle Soup
Posted by on December 7, 2011 Leave a Comment
As I madly ran around Friday night trying to finish last minute preparations for my crack-of-dawn departure for my road trip, I did manage to at least make one more meal for my family. I’d made some home made chicken stock on Thursday, and that evening I took that out of the fridge, skimmed off the fat that had collected on the surface, and re-heated it on the stove.
Of course as we sat at the table eating it the kids acted like it was the last meal they would EVER be eating with me, like I was abandoning them forever to go and join the circus or something.
You can easily use store-bought chicken broth and chicken to make this too. You can also add any other ingredients you’d like to it — maybe some mushrooms or chopped bok choy. I used the ingredients I had on hand, and so can you.
Assemble all of your ingredients.
To the simmering broth I added some medallions of peeled ginger (from a 1″ piece).
Add some medallions of peeled ginger.
And then I added some finely diced, peeled, carrots.
Add some finely diced, peeled, carrots.
I let that simmer for about 10 minutes, and then added the shredded chicken I’d reserved from making the stock.
Add the shredded chicken.
Let that simmer for a few minutes until the stock comes back to a simmer, then turn the heat up to medium-high. Add the chinese egg noodles (they look like ramen noodles, but without the seasoning packet; you can find them in the asian-food section of the grocery store). Let that come to a boil and separate the noodles as they soften using two forks.
Add chinese egg noodles to boiling stock.
Working quickly, as you don’t want the noodles to overcook, add some chopped cilantro to the stock and stir to combine.
Add some chopped cilantro and quickly stir to combine.
Quickly plate the soup into individual bowls, distributing the chicken evenly with tongs. Serve while piping hot.
Welcome to Gunnison
Posted by on December 6, 2011 Leave a Comment
This sign greeted us as we drove into the town of Gunnison, Mississippi. So optimistic and full of hope....
We drove from Ruston, Louisisana to Clarksdale, Mississippi today, passing through Arkansas along the way. We didn’t see anything extraordinary today. I took a lot of pictures. What we did see made us feel like crying sometimes. Like this town of Gunnison, Mississippi.
Gunnison's elementary school. I sure hope they bus the kids to some other elementary school, because they sure aren't using this one anymore.
The back half of this trailer got smashed by an enormous tree, and there it stays. I sure hope nobody was sleeping in it when it happened.
Another shot of the same trailer.
Much of the town looked like this.
This house was in pretty good shape compared to some of the houses in town.
Is this a guest house?
A row of houses along the road.
Pulling into The Shack Up Inn a couple towns up in Clarksdale, we felt fortunate to be staying in our old sharecroper’s shack that actually had heat and hot water. It was almost dark when we got here, so I’ll take plenty of pictures tomorrow.
Our Cabin, The Legends, at The Shack Up Inn.
What is it?
Posted by on December 6, 2011 1 Comment
While driving through Arkansas today we were on pretty rural back roads passing what we could only figure to be rice farms, but we could be wrong. The most common piece of farm equipment was this enormous spiky rotor, but we don't have the faintest idea what it's purpose is. Does anybody know?
Hearne, TX to Ruston, LA • Day Three
Posted by on December 6, 2011 Leave a Comment
I’m not sure If I’ve got all of the route exactly correct, but this is the approximate route we have taken so far; Sunday through Monday night. We’ve driven approximately 536 miles so far.
View Larger Map
It’s pretty late and I’ve got bad internet at the hotel we’re in, so I’m just going to post a quick update on the trip today. We drove from Hearne, Texas, to Ruston, Luoisiana, today. It was a really beautiful drive, although the weather continues to be rainy. It was a fairly persistent misting type of rain today, and varied constantly from barely raining at all to misting quite heavily. All in all though it didn’t interfere with anything, and actually provided a pretty light and atmosphere for the photos today. It would be nice to see the sun sometimes soon though.
We saw so many vultures today! This group was roosting in a dead tree by the side of the road.
We were on the road by 8:30 this morning, and although we did a lot of driving today, we saw a lot of beautiful things. The weather, again, did not cooperate, and you can see that in the photos they all seem to have a grey gloom hanging over them. But once again we didn’t let that stop us from enjoying the journey. The Texas countryside we drove today from Hearne to the border of Louisiana, was absolutely beautiful. Rolling green hills (thanks to the recent rains) and fall foliage-colored leaves.
Look at all the colors!
We saw plenty of cows today enjoying the fresh green grass.
And plenty of abandoned houses and barns.
Factory farms dotted the countryside.
Crossing the Toledo Bend Reservoir was breathtaking (see my Photo of the Day for more).
The town of Natchitoches, Louisiana was beautiful. A quaint main street and historic downtown area with beautiful southern homes in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Huge trees form a canopy over this street along the riverbank.
Tomorrow should be a great day. We only have 214 miles to drive tomorrow to get to Clarksdale, Mississippi; our final destination for the day. There we have reservations at The Shack Up Inn to stay in their luxurious Legends Shack. I’m so excited!
Shack Row at the Shack Up Inn
We have the Legends Shack reserved for tomorrow night.
Toledo Bend Reservoir
Posted by on December 6, 2011 Leave a Comment
As we drove down a hill towards the border between Texas and Louisiana today we came to a low bridge crossing the Toledo Bend Reservoir, the largest man-made reservoir in the South. Because of the continuing drought in the South though, the water level was so low that all of the forest trees from when they originally flooded the Sabine River back in the late 1960's were all quite visible. As far as the eye could see there were tree trunks sticking out of the water. In the foreground of the photo are birds that appeared to be small cormorants.
Austin to Hearne, Texas • Day Two
Posted by on December 5, 2011 Leave a Comment
I told you I’d find Beyonce. This one was HUGE. I didn’t find her at the place I’d been to in March as we didn’t end up going that route. It was the late afternoon and starting to get dark, and there she was, like a beacon of light on a dreary day.
Me & Beyonce.
I may have bought myself one that is slightly smaller. I’ll try to get a picture of her tomorrow to show you. And maybe a skinny pig too to keep her company on the drive. It’s possible that I may have to strap her to the roof, but so far she’s laying down in the back of the minivan.
It’s late and I’m tired, but I’ll try to summarize my day for you.
I think I have to move to Austin, or at least get Amanda to move there. It was possibly the coolest city I’ve ever been to. Friendly people, amazing neighborhoods, shopping, grocery stores, easy to get around, hip, progressive, and more words that I can’t think of right now. What’s striking is how many independently owned stores there are. I think we saw one McDonald’s in town, no Dunkin Donuts, just a lot of cute small stores with a town that clearly supports them. We’ve probably also gone into 5 grocery stores in one day. We can’t help it; we love grocery stores. There are big amazing ones, there are small independent ones that are great, and there’s a co-op. A foodie paradise.
We started the morning at Gourdough’s; Big. Fat. Donuts. Although we read it can get really crowded and the wait can be very long, because it was raining and pretty early on a Sunday morning we were thrilled to be only one of 2 people there. Right next to it was a Farm to Trailer food trailer. Really? I told you I have to move here.
Lisa got The Hangover (top) and I got the Mother Clucker. I said light on the sauce and he didn't give me any 🙁
We went to this store today called Treehouse. I believe I read something about it being the first of it’s kind, but it was a store entirely dedicated to green living and green construction.
I think I need to put these on a wall in Jackson. Wall Flats are modern embossed three-dimensional wall tile made from 100% bamboo pulp.
We went to Whole Earth Provisions, which I’d discovered in March. What a cool store. Shopping there is kind of like looking through the Whole Earth Catalog used to be like when I was a child. Something for everyone. By the time we got out of there (and checked out the grocery store next door), it was past 1:00 and we knew we had to get on the road. Off we went to have lunch at The Salt Lick. Rumored to be the best barbecue in Texas.
Then we headed towards the Hamilton Pool Preserve. Weren’t we disappointed to find this one the gate when we arrived.
Since they were closed, and I’d discovered that the store Red in Fredericksburg was closed on Sunday’s as well, we decided not to go over an hour off our route to Fredericksburg, and instead headed on the route that would get us closer to our next destination faster.
I am falling asleep here. You’ve got the basics of what we did today. We made it tonight to Hearne, Texas, and will be up bright and early tomorrow to continue the journey.
Texas Farms
Posted by on December 5, 2011 Leave a Comment
Since I can’t post about my farm critters when I’m gone, I figured I’d post about other interesting ones that I find.
Although we saw a number of cows, goats and sheep today on our drive, we stopped at a place that had a small farm behind the store. We got there as the sun was getting low on what had been a very grey and rainy day. There were noisy Guinea Hens yelling at me to leave, and there were a surprising number of lovely roosters and very few hens. It’s possible that the ladies had already gone to bed for the night, as my experience has proved that the hens go to bed before the roosters. The roosters flew up into the trees to roost for the night. Around back we came across a paint horse and two donkeys, who were all desperate for our affections as I’m guessing this time of year there’s not a while lot of traffic through this store (it was pretty much in the middle of nowhere).
A stunning Black Sumatra rooster.
A Blue Copper Maran rooster. Lovely.
A rooster and his lady get a few last minute bites to eat before heading off to bed.
The guinea hens and chickens waiting for me to leave so they can go to bed.
Another shot of the lovely Black Sumatra rooster.
They flew up in the trees to roost for the night.
A pretty paint.
Two miniature donkeys.
I can’t wait to see what I come across tomorrow.
Southern Road Trip • Austin • Day 1
Posted by on December 4, 2011 2 Comments
It’s been an extremely long day (I got one hour of sleep last night), and I am very tired, but I wanted to update you on the first day of my Southern Road Trip spent in Austin.
Actually, the bulk of the day was spent traveling. Having discovered last night that our flight to Austin, originally scheduled for 7:30 had been moved to 6:15, we left our house at 4:55 this morning for the airport. My sister has spent the night, and Cyrena, bless her heart, drove us to the airport.
We flew Delta, and I have just have to give them props here because not only were both flights on time in departure and arrival, but I haven’t been on a plane that empty in a long, long time. Everyone had an opportunity to grab themselves at least one, or even two, additional empty seats to spread out and try to get a little sleep. Except me of course — I can’t sleep on a plane very well.
We arrived in Austin around 12:15, picked up our spacious rental minivan, and headed for our hotel. We settled in briefly, freshened up, and headed out to the South Congress (SoCo) neighborhood to check it out.
Austin clearly has a thing for food trucks, particularly in restored travel trailers. They are in every neighborhood it seems. You can be sure I will be checking them out before our departure tomorrow.
A vintage travel trailer selling fried chicken in the SoCo neighborhood.
This trailer sold sweet and savory fried breads.
This trailer sold crepes.
There were some really cool and funky stores in this neighborhood. It was late afternoon/early evening by the time we got there, and the streets were alive with people walking, eating outside, and lots of dogs. People clearly love their dogs here in Austin.
This was a most peculiar and interesting store. Filled with antiques and oddities all beautifully displayed in scenes.
We ate dinner at a farm-to-table restaurant called Cipollina. We were both starving by that point, and the food was absolutely delicious. I had a cheese pate with honey, pistachios, arugula, pears for an appetizer. Everything on the plate was delicious, particularly the honey, which truly exploded with taste as soon as it hit your tongue. It came from a local company called Round Rock and I will be on the hunt for it tomorrow. My entree was tagliatelle with beef sausage, paprika, bacon, and grana padano. It was perfect. The pasta was cooked perfectly, the sauce wasn’t too creamy or too tomatoey, the beef sausage was a bit spicy and really firm and delicious and it had a delightful spice to it.
Cheese Plate shortly after arrival at the table.
Cheese plate after I was finished. I practically licked the plate to get every last bit of that delicious honey off .
Tagliatelle with beef sausage, paprika, bacon, grana padano.
Tagliatelle after I was done with it.
My sister came home from dinner and crashed, which is where I am headed now.
Tomorrow we spend some more time around Austin. Our goal is to be out of the city just after lunch, but we keep finding things we want to do or see. We will head up into the Hill Country towards Fredericksburg, and see where the road takes us or how far we get at the end of the day.