Road Trip 2009: Kinder, LA

 

Road Trip 2009 - Kinder, LA
Category: Travel and Places

 

I recently took a roadtrip and intended to blog about it as I traveled.  I did start sort of a diary on my trip.  Nothing was ever detailed (or interesting) enough to post, so I didn’t.  I’ll attempt to polish it up and post it now.  It will be a good record for my own benefit, if nothing else.  I’ll probably not have this much time off all at once for a very long time.  

 

I traveled from Houston to Key West, north to the Great Smoky Mountains, west to Yellowstone, and then back home.  It was supposed to be a coast to coast trip, but I never made it to California.  I was having way too much fun in Wyoming. 

 

My journey lasted a little over a month.  This was a solo trip.  I didn't know of anyone else with a month or more to kill and besides, sometimes I like to take road trips alone.  There is no arguing about where we will go, how far we will drive, when we will stop, etc.  Plus, I meet a lot of interesting people along the way.  I did a lot of camping to make it more affordable.        

 

Day 1

 

I only drove as far as Kinder, Louisiana the first day.  I was able to get a free room and dinner.  If I wanted to be able to stay out all month, I had to conserve my money.  You can’t do better than free. 

 

Checking into the hotel was interesting.  There was a couple fighting in a car in the parking lot.  The man was screaming and shaking his fist, beating the steering wheel and dash…I didn’t want to get out of my car.  I circled a couple of times then decided to park right in front of the door. 

 

I quickly discovered that I packed way too many clothes.  I was trying to lug my big suitcase up the stairs (the hotel had no elevator) and my laptop slipped off of my shoulder and tumbled end over end down the stairs.  All the way from nearly the top of the stairs to the bottom and not gently.  Crap.  The first of many friendly people I met on my journey grabbed it, walked up the stairs, took my suitcase, and helped me get everything to my room. 

 

The computer survived the crash.  A big hug and kiss to the Best Buy employee who told me that Toshiba makes excellent laptops.   

 

Next trip I am taking only a few changes of clothes and doing laundry more often.  I’m not seeing the same people every day…who’s going to care that I’m wearing the same things over and over?  Live and learn.  I repacked that evening, putting just a couple of changes of clothes into a smaller bag and leaving that big, heavy, pain in the ass in my trunk for the rest of the month.  There were a few times I would have happily just thrown it and all of its contents in the nearest dumpster and almost did.

 

I could not find my camera, and had not yet purchased a new one at this point, so I don't have any pictures of Louisiana.  I can't review or publish links to my hotel or the evening's activities because it is a forbidden subject (gambling).