18 The Horseshoe

     Dec 15th

     To coordinate our arrival at a motorcycle host's home for their return we decided to do a little more wandering.  It was 68 degrees around eleven departing Texarcana we headed South East on Arkansas 82.   Most of the area's we have been in have experienced a lack of moisture and their water tables are far below normal.  We passed a man made lake named Columbia and stopped to take a couple of pictures.  It makes you wonder what might be beneath  your boat when you are on a lake.  The stumps in the picture are normally covered during a normal year.  At Magnolia we headed South on 79 and soon bayou’s and parish’s replaced creeks and counties we were in Louisiana.  We picked up 2 heading South East again. The weather was pleasant,  the temperature had reached 73 and we were enjoying the ride.  It was one of the first days we had been

comfortable riding without gloves.  On that note I should offer a few safety tips.  When you pull up to a stop sign please keep your foot hard on the brake, don't creep, don't inch forward just be patient because we are watching your front wheel and if we see it move we don't know what to expect.  It is only 2 seconds in your life but it may mean every thing to us.  2. your cargo you are responsible for it, tie it, strap it, check it and re-tighten it.  That lawn chair, board, floatation device can be deadly to a motorcycle.   3.  We have purchased sunflower seeds, so don't follow to close.  more later... 

    Everytime I see and old abandoned building I start to wonder what happened.  Did they move, pass away, did the economy make it hard to stay here?  At one time it was new and filled with hopes and dreams of what was to come.  How would the builder feel looking at it today?  Was there still family that looked in on it?  Was there once happy children playing in this yard, a swing, Christmas lights in the window?  Will someone restore it and make it usable.  I think I'm going to go with they moved to a better opportunity some where else!    

     At Farmerville we turned back to the West,  there was rain in the forecast and no sense pushing our luck.  We arrived in Minden LA and found a ( almost said suitable) place to stay.  We had issues here, the bathroom light was so dim we didn't think it had came on, we thought maybe it was one of those energy efficient bulbs that take a while to warm up.  No such luck.  It rained quite hard that night,  feeling grateful for the moisture to help the area.  The next morning for breakfast was no better, I gave Ruthie the complimentary breakfast. ( we were allowed one.)  I ordered oatmeal.  Fifteen minutes later I recieved it, I asked for brown sugar, the waitress reminded me I was down south,  I didn't ask again.  We moved on.

     It was still misting but we really didn't want to spend another night here.  We checked the GPS for lodging in the direction we were heading.  We made a few phone calls and headed for Bossier City LA it turned out the Horseshoe had excellent rooms for less than we had spent at the "Where's the bathroom motel"  It was directly the Red river from Shreveport.   They gave us an amazing room they must have thought we were high rollers?   Evidently they didn't see us pull into the garage with our home following behind us.  

      I guess everyone had a nice room, we heard someone say they were the best rooms in the area.

     Day or night we enjoyed the view from our room.

     We spent two nights here!          

 Just looking!  Porter house steak $120.00 we passed up on the steak house.                                                                                                                                        

     I think he made Ruthie's day!

     "All right young lady I seen you try and sneak in past the 35 and under gate.  "

     "lets take a look at that ID"


     The staff was amazing, if every business treated their customers like they did.  There would not be a customer retention problem.

     I wasn't sure if the tree was holding up the chandelier or the chandelier was holding up the tree.
     One of the benefits of riding this time of year, listening to Christmas carols as you ride.  I know she is enjoying the ride when I hear her singing along with the songs. 

                                                           

  













    Loaded up and ready to head out,  One more shot of the fountain.   We are going to take a little detour and head up to Plain Dealing LA. before heading to Marshall Texas.   We had heard about a Christmas light display there.