Last lunch with family was yesterday; my cousin who is my age and his wife were able to join us and we spent a pleasant few hours with them. Fried chicken and fried okra from the local place and then a cup of Bluebell vanilla ice cream as I hadn’t picked up dessert when we went. My aunt always keeps plenty on hand and it was the perfect amount. Although Many has grown to the point to have a Walmart and a McDonalds, none of the chicken franchises have taken hold. The drive back to Shreveport was fine and in making reservations in the area of Bossier City where I usually spend the night, I was not aware of the construction tearing up parts of I-20. I had seen it on my way south Friday and considered changing my reservation, but thought getting through wouldn’t be too difficult. It wasn’t exactly, but what I hadn’t noticed was there was only one exit closed down and yes, it was the exit I needed. I hadn’t turned on my navigation system because I know that exit quite well. What I didn’t know was the alternative route. After making one wrong guess, I allowed technology to prevail. For some reason, I had also decided to try the Hilton Garden Inn instead of the usual Hampton which is close by and as luck would have it, they were short of staff and the room wasn’t ready. I had already intended to take a walk and that was as good a time as any. Granted, in my regular clothes in 90+ degree heat wasn’t my first plan. I certainly didn’t go for a fast walk and I did try out the shower not long after I got into the room.
The Hilton Garden Inns generally have an on-site bar and bistro and the menu looked adequate for my purposes. In fact, my vegetable in-take had been lacking and the bartender said their tomato-basil bisque was quite good. I paired that with another appetizer of three pulled pork sliders. The soup was excellent (obviously homemade) and the sliders were good.
Trip home was annoying only in the sense of a tight connection in Dallas made tighter by a slightly late arrival. However, for a change, the luggage in Miami came out more quickly than usual.
