Nacogdoches Morning

I found this painting by Julie Crews on a Shreveport art website.  It looks so much like the roads I expect to travel today.

Instead of Shreveport, I've set my GPS to Jana, then to Jackson, wanting to stay on lovely backroads for as long as possible.

When I travel, I travel with so many bags--camera bags, computer bag, clothes bags, books and crafts bags.

Last night I left room 131 to get a coke.  Two young women from room 133 were outside their open door and I could hear men's voices inside.  The women were tattooed and wearing bandanas and we chatted a little.  They work at Pilgrim's Pride, a chicken-packing plant.

This morning I saw one of them again and she smiled at me, revealing that she had few front teeth and sparkling eyes.

"You sure have a bunch of pretty pocket books," she said.  "I bet when you were a young girl my age you wore big sunshades."

I told her I had a thing for bags and that my mama calls me a bag lady!

I told her I was going to see my mama in Georgia.

"I went to California once," she said. "I always wanted to see California because they say I was born there."

"Oh," I said, "What a beautiful coast!"

"I should have went to the coast," she said.  "But I didn't know where to go so I just went out  40 and didn't see nothing but deserts."

"That's ok.  Next time you'll go to the coast, I'm sure," I said.

She's young.  I hope she finds the Pacific coast next time.