Hell’s Half Acre

I got a little present last night. It isn’t something anyone can buy, and the piece of mind it brought was priceless. Our time at the mansion in Minneapolis coincided with a certain cyclical event leading to much physical activity. After one particular event, an item used to prevent a 5th was shockingly empty of that which it is supposed to collect. (is it not obvious that I am purposely being vague?) The next day I took Plan B and we worried. The effacy rate was in the high 80 percentile but still… I had no side effects and I was especially pleased as my last foray into hormones was the birth control pill in 1993. Taking that cause some super fertility and Jesse was conceived but I was horribly sick on the pill. I was very happy to find that Plan B (Emergency Contraception) was incredibly side effect free. For about 3 days. I then was dumped into hormone hell. I was ravenous and shoveled sugar on an hourly basis. I was TERRIBLY depressed. I was anxious and worried about incredibly stupid stuff. I second-guessed myself on an hourly basis. I was angry and short tempered. Well, more than usual. I was a classic bitch. And it lasted a good long WEEK. Two days ago the hormone hell started tapering off and yesterday I felt the best I’ve felt in a Very Long Time. Last night I got my present and today I’m in my “normal” hormone hell. So the family gets a super double dose this month. Aren’t they lucky?

Inbetween all this we visited an estate (think plantation) which is run by the NPS and “oohed and aaahed” over all the incredible homes in Natchez, Mississippi. We spent One Hundred Dollars on a single dinner in Vidalia, Louisiana. Apparently, in Louisiana, when they specify “fried”, it really means “deep fried”. Deep fried pickles, hush puppies, catfish, oysters, shrimp; you name it, it came deep fried. And it was DELICIOUS!

I was very impressed with the way that Arkansas merges traffic when two lanes merge to one. The left lane merges into the right lane. If you are a long slow vehicle, this is a wonderful idea! Merging into a lane of cars going faster than you is always hard work and no-one ever wants to let you in. Having those fast cars merge into your lane is so very much more civilized, saner, safer and easier.

We were going to drag the kids to plantation after plantation, but the one we went to ended up being so emotionally draining we decided against it. We spent one afternoon at Melrose, an estate in Natchez, and came back that night for a Christmas program. It was incredibly historic; Christmas through the eyes of the slaves, complete with mansion tour and vignettes around the estate. The kids had hot chocolate and made “mussy tussies” or something like that; little boquets. I highly recommend it if you’re in the area December 1-2. Oh, and best of all, it is FREE!

We have been staying in Passport America RV parks all through Louisiana though it about killed me to pass up incredible boondocking opportunities along the Mississippi. It has been getting down to the 30’s (though last night was mid 40’s) here in LA and we’re needing the heat, if nothing else, to keep the pipes from freezing. Oh, and those pesky kids. Hmmm…maybe the hormonal hell isn’t quite over yet. We’ve only been doing about 100 miles on a travelling day and staying about as long as the whim lasts. The kids are LOATHE to leave camp, preferring to spend all day outside playing or playing with their toys. The long days of travel outrunning the storm were trying on us all. I’m ready for Gulf water though, and hopefully tomorrow we’ll head to the Gulf coast somewhere near Houston. We need to spend outrageous sums of money at Camping World and Costco (and I need to see if Houston has a Trader Joes) and then we’ll head further down the coast. I’m not sure if Christmas will be in the US or Mexico; I thought Jamie was insistant on Xmas on the beach in Port A, but I’ve got an itch that only Mexico can cure and after talking to him (that does help, I find) it turns out he just wants to be on the beach.

So, that’s the non-update. We don’t know where we’re going, we don’t know when we’ll be there, but we’re doing pretty well getting there.