Category: United States

Clothing

We had some important purchases while we’ve been here in Gueydan, not many, but really great ones. We’ve needed shirts really badly for our days on the bike, and the quality of the Columbia shirts we used so successfully went seriously downhill, so much so that we returned a new one with a note expressing our surprise and disappointment. I’ve had an Ex Officio shirt for 3 years now that I’ve loved. I’ve been wearing it for months for cycling, and I’ve been really been happy with it. We looked at the prices on the Ex Officio website, and realized we aren’t in the budget category yet to get them. Quite discouraged, I finally thought of checking eBay, and what a score we made!
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Chelsea’s new computer

One of our biggest frustrations on the trip has been having only one laptop. Since writing is our way of communicating, and will be our major source of income, having one laptop really slows us down. It takes an average of 1 to 1-1/2 hours per page to write a decent blog; and then there are the hundreds of photos that we need to download from the camera, cull, organize and caption, then upload to Picasa. I am writing at least one book about our adventure, and Chelsea has started a book on her brain injury, so that adds time on the computers. And if all that weren’t enough, we have research that we do online, bills to pay, emails to write and respond to, newsletters, and we have to communicate with hosts and find places to stay. The need for another laptop became increasingly important the farther into the trip we got.
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Getting there and getting set up

The Thibs annual fly-in, at long last…we can’t believe we are here for the fly-in, especially after seeing so many photos of the prior years and hearing all the stories.

Beth and James Thibodeaux are really awesome. Beth has her own painting business, specializing in unique faux painting, and she works as a flight attendant for a small private airline, doing regular runs and charter flights. James has just begun flying for the same airline, and he still manages the various business enterprises for a local doctor. They are both extremely busy, and yet they manage to keep the airfield maintained and to put on these fly-ins twice a year. In spite of all this, they demonstrate a really clear affection for each other that is wonderful to see.
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Lake Arthur is a beautiful lake, described by locals as being merely a wide space on the Mermentau River. Wide space or not, it’s really beautiful, and we’ve loved the several occasions we’ve been on it. Paul Cassity, whom we met at the Yacht Club the night of the Gumbo Regatta, dropped by the following Friday after the Regatta, staying till nearly midnight as we went over his photos of Peru. We are intensely interested as we’ll be going through there sooner than later.

Paul invited us to sail with him the following week. We very much wanted to do it, because when we hit the islands in a few years, it has been suggested that we learn to crew on boats in order to get around the islands and up the island chain. We are clueless when it comes to boats or sailing, and we’ve been wondering how we can get educated.
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We’ve known about the Omelette Festival ever since we met Elray Schexnaider in Abbeville. We’d seen a short video on it, and then Elray showed us the full chef’s suit that he wears. He had told us in detail the history and development of the festival, and of his and his family’s participation in the festivals, both here and in France. It’s one of the biggest events each year for both the Schexnaider family and for Abbeville. When Elray discovered that we were still here, he was shocked to think that we would leave only a week or two before the big event. So, always up for an adventure, we delayed our departure.
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Frog legs, errands, and adventures

We’d really enjoyed Heuetta, but hadn’t had any time to really talk, so she invited us over to dinner the first week of October. Kenneth and Heuetta’s daughter Erika was there, with her two kids. Her cousin Peggy was there with Peggy’s mom, too. We had a quiet time outside talking till dinner was ready – Heuetta cooked potatoes, onions, and an assortment of fish, frog legs, and alligator, all deep-fried outside. It was another big first for us – we’ve never had frog legs before (yes, they do taste like chicken). We’re old hats at eating alligator by now.
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The Hair family is a local extended family that feels like they must be our own extended family. It’s worth giving them their own blog section because there are so many of them, and we’ve done so many things with them. You know about Jane Hair – the curator of the museum – she was the first one we met (read the “Gueydan the people Part 1” blog). Then on our first Sunday at church we met Millie, Hansford, Lynn, Lea and James. Millie is Jane’s sister-in-law, and Millie is also Hansford’s mom, and Lynn’s mother-in-law. Lea and James are the kids belonging to Hansford and Lynn.
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Our latest big news is that we are leaving Gueydan and southern Louisiana in less than three weeks, after an unbelievably wonderful 4 months in this area. As always, we are very excited about moving on, and we can’t wait to have all those new adventures we know are awaiting us. At the same time, we are going to terribly miss all of the amazing and kind and generous people we have met here.

Sometimes Chelsea and I just shake our heads in amazed and delighted wonder at the way people have welcomed us into their lives and hearts and homes here – we’ve had movie nights with a family at home; we’ve been taken to music concerts, out dancing, out to dinner; we’ve joined in family parties and been accepted as part of the family gathering; we’ve gone to local boat regattas, seen alligators skinned, and toured local hunting lodges. We’ve gone flying in ultralights, done a loop and a roll in an aerobatic plane; had burgers and sweet potato fries and chocolate shakes at the local drive-in, just hangin’ out; and we’ve done laundry in real washers and dryers where the clothes come out really nicely. We’ve attended openings for new collections at the museum, and gotten to know the curator well enough to love hanging out with her; we’ve gone out to wonderful lunches, done yard work and roof gutter cleaning; we’ve become honorary citizens and met the mayor; we’ve had a great article about us in the newspapers.
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Hansford has been a member of the Lake Arthur Yacht Club for many years, and even though he has sold his sailboat, he’s kept his membership current. The Yacht Club is a small group, and is pretty informal by many standards. They hold several events each year, and one is the annual Gumbo Regatta. Whoever shows up participates in the sailboat race(s) around the lake, and meanwhile there’s a contingent of folks back on land who start a huge pot of gumbo. After the races, the sailing crowd and family members hang around and eat and chat.

We arrived with Lea after the start of the races this year, on October 18. We had fun walking around to check out the boats, quietly chatting with those we met. The lake is so pretty and peaceful! The crowd arrived en masse after the races ended, and we had meanwhile volunteered to help with making the gumbo and the huge pot of potato salad. The food was great and the conversations were great. We are still amazed at how friendly everyone is! Shortly after eating, the owner of a big trawler invited us onto his boat for a cruise around the lake. By the time we threw off the ropes, nearly 30 people were on board, fortified with big ice chests full of beer, wine, and water.
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We really hit it off with Peggy after meeting at Heuetta’s, and during the week Peggy called to see if we’d like to spend Friday night at her house after going to see Zachary Richard (pronounced Ree-shard) at Downtown Alive in Lafayette. The next day we’d be going with her and Heuetta to Fred’s in Mamou for Cajun dancing in the morning, then we’d see the Festival Acadiens et Creole in the afternoon. Sounded good to us!

Peggy picked us up right on time (coming all the way from Lafayette to get us), but she needed to check on her mom first. Peggy’s mom’s house is only about 5 blocks from where we are, so we went over with Peggy. We walked in the door, and 6 heads turned to look at us…all women in their sixties and seventies. I will never forget all those heads swiveling to look at us, and my feeling that they were related. When Peggy had to step outside I couldn’t resist asking, “So are ya’ll related?” They all nodded, and I asked, “Sisters?” They nodded again. Peggy later told us that her mom has a number of sisters, and that they always came to Lafayette for the Festival Acadiens. This year was no different.
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