The day started early in Decatur, TX, and not particularly well for Mike. I had been unable to connect the laptop to the motel's wi-fi, so during breakfast I used the lobby computer to check email messages. It was good to hear from Hallie, Chris, and Milo. But when Mike checked his email, the computer hung up with his email still up on the over-sized monitor screen. After dealing with that (just don't ask), we began the day's travel by searching out a geocache behind a fire station which had been placed by an EMT who works there. The view would be spectacular from the cache site, the description said. "Anyone who thinks this view is spectacular needs to come see us in Idaho," I remarked to Mike. Not to be condescending to another's idea of beauty, I have always thought that I am from a beautiful place.
Mike plotted geocaches all along our route – at least three to a state. By doing so, we have waypoints that serve as guides, good places to stop for a stretch of the legs, and of course, a cache to find. It does make monotonous travel more interesting. Moving into Louisiana we missed the turn off for the first cache. Mike was disappointed, but he had plotted two more opportunities to find a cache in this state. All was not lost – yet. We weren't far from Alexandria where a college buddy of Mike's lives, so we called ahead and arranged to meet him and his wife at a restaurant off the interstate. "There's a big storm and you are heading into it," I heard Kingo warn Mike. We drove through some heavy rain but made it to the turn-off.
After meeting with the Kings, we continued to another cache at a rest and recreation site. It was raining and we have no rain gear with us, but Mike put on his boots and disappeared with Nellie into the Louisiana woods. I stayed in the car. It commenced to rain heavily again, and I began to wonder about the pair in the woods. They were gone probably half an hour, some of which they spent huddled under a tree to stay dry. Hampered by these conditions, they were unable to locate the cache. We now have one Louisiana listing left.
We drove through Baton Rouge in rush hour traffic. Rain and construction made travel even more difficult. We watched in dismay as we passed by our third and final plotted geocache opportunity, barricaded by construction. Mike was so disappointed to have driven all these miles with the goal of picking up at least one geocache in every state only to see the last opportunity for a Louisiana cache slide by. "We'll get another listing and come back into the state somehow," I suggested. But Mike didn't want to backtrack, so we got off the interstate at East Baton Rouge. Upon hearing his plight, the desk clerk at the La Quinta Inn allowed him to use the lobby computer to locate another cache along our route. In fact, Mike came up with one right in that neighborhood, which we found immediately. The goal satisfied, we drove on.
In fact, we didn't stop for supper, having had a late lunch in Alexandria. We drove on in darkness and sometimes rain to Pascagoula, arriving about 10:00. We have been here from time to time over the years, but Mike was initially at a loss to orient himself to the area, which has changed a great deal over the years. The GPS was also disoriented, but we found our way to the Super 8 Motel in Pascagoula, where they had no knowledge of our supposed online reservation. KW
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