October 29, 2008
a religious conversion, combining art forms, tall mailbox/grahamtown
Day Thirty Eight
"Somewhere over the Atlantic, as I was sitting taking stock of my 200 cubic centimetres of personal space, as one does on a long plane flight, I spied a coin under the seat in front of me, and with protracted difficulty leaned forward and snagged it. When I sat up, I saw my seatmate was at last looking at me with that ominous glow.
‘Have you found Jesus?’ he said suddenly.
‘Uh, no, it’s a quarter,’ I answered and quickly settled down and pretended for the next six hours to be asleep, ignoring his whispered entreaties to let Christ build a bunkhouse in my heart."
- Bill Bryson -
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I left Silsbee about 9:00 and started making my way east. I'm almost to the Louisiana border.
On the way, I passed through the Big Thicket National Preserve, though it all looked pretty much the same before and after the Preserve. If it had been in another state, I wondered, would it have been called just the "Thicket National Preserve," you know, being in Texas and all.
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I took a picture of this abandoned house, and although I have absolutely no idea why there’s probably a very good reason. Perhaps something jumps out at you. It's the only picture I took this morning, so maybe I took it because it was the only thing I saw besides The Thicket.
In Kirbyville I stopped for lunch at Subway and took my laptop inside, mainly because I could.
At about mile 50, I entered Louisiana. There wasn't a sign welcoming me into The Pelican State, but I'm sure they were happy to see me.
Across the road there was a sign welcoming people into Texas. Since I didn't get a picture on the west end of Texas, I thought I'd get one on this side. There was a car at the sign, and it looked like someone else had the same picture idea as me. I rode a little faster to try to catch them before they drove away. Perhaps they'd be willing to take my picture by the sign.
There were two women in the car, and when I asked them if they would mind taking my picture they said they'd be happy to. When they got out of the car I noticed their black name tags.... they were Mormon missionaries.
My first thought was, "Mormons in Louisiana? Wow, they really are going to the ends of the earth."
Men who go on missions are referred to as “Elder ____” and the women are “Sister _____.” Interestingly, I knew a guy whose last name was “Elder,” so when he went on his mission he was referred to as “Elder Elder.” The two young women I talked with, Sister Pennock and Sister Boulter were, unsurprisingly, quite pleasant. Just once, I would love to come across someone proselytizing who's rude: “Hey asswipe! If you weren’t such a dumb piece of shit, you’d become a [fill in the blank]!” Or someone who looks me up and down, sniffs, then says something like, "Yes, I'm in a homophobic, sexist, racist organization, but I don't believe you're the type we're looking for." Of course, at that point I might have to rethink my desire to join. It's like Woody Allen says, "I'd never join a club that would allow someone like me to become a member."
Once they learned I'm not in the market for a religious conversion, we chatted about bicycling. They've thought about taking a cross-country trip, and I started preaching to them about how anyone can do it, and how fun it is.
I think I have a couple of converts.
As I ride down the road I see things, and I have to make a quick decision about whether it's picture-worthy. I can't stop and take pictures of everything; otherwise, I'd never get any riding done. Sometimes I can just reach into my handlebar bag, grab the camera, and take a quick picture without stopping.
Today I saw something that, looking back, I really wished I'd stopped for.... True Art, a piéce de résistance, and something I'm not likely to see again. Combining two art forms and two media, i.e. the ceramic angel AND the porcelain toilet, to create a NEW art form:
It was a ceramic angel sitting on a porcelain toilet like a divine Rodin, thinking.
Even now, all these years later, I have regrets for not having ended my bike trip then and there, sold all my worldly possessions, and studied at the foot of the artist. (sigh) A ceramic angel in Rodin's The Thinker pose sitting on a porcelain toilet. Just divine.
Damage from the hurricane is still evident. There isn't a roof that doesn't have a few shingles missing (although it's possible they were missing before the storm), and many of the roofs have blue tape along the ridge lines for, I assume, leaky spots.
I'm seeing a LOT of mobile homes along these Southern roads. I’d estimate about 90% of the dwellings outside the "larger" towns (i.e. more than 2000 people) are mobile homes.
The photo below was taken this afternoon. The top says "Boeing 747" and "Air Mail." The one beneath it says "64 Apache Helicopter Mail." The next sign says, "If package is too big for mailbox, take it with you. It's too big for me also!!" There is a normal mailbox at the bottom with a bucket next to it. The bucket reads, "Junk Mail and bills."
The top is a "Howdy" greeting, followed by "Grahamtown, USA, pop. 2" There are two columns. The first column reads, "#1: President - Robert Graham; Senator - Robert Graham; Mayor - Robert Graham; Sheriff - Robert Graham; Judge - Robert Graham; Tax Assessor - Robert Graham.
The second column says, "#2: Vise President (sic)- Sandra Graham; Representative - Sandra Graham; Secretary - Sandra Graham; Bookkeeper - Sandra Graham; Justice of Peace - Sandra Graham; Constable - Sandra Graham."
And beneath that: "To heck with all elected officials anyway. They are about a dime a dozen. It's time to become more serious." Then, "If you have a problem, see #1. If you can't resolve it see #2. If you still have a problem, see #1 for final answer. If no satisfaction move along to the next town please."
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In Merryville (pop 840), just after Bleakwood (where's Grumpyville?), I stopped at the convenience store for a short break before finishing my ride into DeRidder. This is a sign in the window.
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In DeRidder (pop 7,496) I called around and found the cheapest motel in town, but it was two miles off the route so I had some extra pedaling. It was a nice enough room, but the door wouldn't lock so I had to change rooms.
Now that I'm Louisiana I'm looking for some good cajun food, preferably within walking distance. I found Faulk's next door and saw some great items on the menu: alligator, crayfish (aka crawdads), and shrimp. Unfortunately, all of it was fried and I wasn't in the mood for anything dipped and dripping in grease, so I opted for a burger instead. It had marginally less grease, but was undoubtedly the best cheeseburger I've had in a long time. Considering the number of burgers I've had in the past few weeks, that's high praise. Still, I'm keeping an eye out for some alligator.
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distance: 80.9 miles
average speed: 13.5 mph
maximum speed: 22.6 mph
time on bike: 5:57:43
cumulative miles: 1860.7
Today's ride: 81 miles (130 km)
Total: 1,862 miles (2,997 km)
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No photo of this!? For shame!
Do you have any idea how many photos I take on bike rides in the hopes of finding something so good?
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