We walked past Spring Creek, through a community called Baily, and into a little town called Richardson today. Brandi and I had our first ten-mile day of our walk together, and both of us feel it. In Richardson, we met a man named Red and his wife Dorris. Red and Dorris are members of the Methodist Church here in Richardson, and they are letting us stay in the church tonight.
They told us that the Washington Parish Free Fair starts tomorrow in Franklinton, which is about six miles to the east. It's supposedly the largest free fair in the country, and we have decided to walk into Franklinton tomorrow to see if things work out to where we can stay around for few days and take in the fair. We would need a place to camp and somewhere to take a shower now and then. If we're supposed to stay for the fair, it will happen.
Resting outside the store in Baily
Jerry and Betty
Fryin' up funnel cakes
Tuesday, October 16, 2001: Franklinton, Louisiana
Things worked out better than we could have possibly imagined today. Upon arriving at the fairgrounds in Franklinton, we met a man named Jerry who offered to let us keep our packs in his trailer while we walked around town to look for a place to camp. I was planning to inquire at one of the R.V. parks near the fairgrounds to see if they had any available accommodations for our tent. However, before we finished talking with Jerry and even had a chance to go find a place to camp, he had offered to let us camp in his back yard.
Jerry and his wife, Betty, have been making funnel cakes for the past twenty years at the Washington Parish Free Fair. He told me that they actually introduced the funnel cake to this part of the country. Although he used to make funnel cakes at about fifteen to twenty different fairs a year, these days Jerry is only frying cakes at the Washington Parish Fair.
Making funnel cakes at the Washington Parish Fair is a family affair at Jerry's funnel cake stand. His daughter is in from Atlanta and his son came from Houston to help out this week.
It's a big fair, but it's in a small town, and word got around that Brandi and I had walked to the fair. This afternoon, a man named Robert came over to Jerry's funnel cake stand to take us over to meet Kaye, the president of the Fair Committee. Kaye has been treating us like VIP's all day. She presented us with fair t-shirts and boxer shorts, a pair of rodeo tickets, made us an appointment for an interview with the local paper, and we are staying in a camper tonight, right here on the grounds.
Kaye
Wednesday, October 17, 2001: Frankinton, Louisiana
The fair has begun, and the people started arriving in droves today. The folks here are expecting that about 150,000 people will descend on this little town (of about 3,000) for the fair this week. I started to believe that this afternoon when I saw a line of busses approaching the fairgrounds.
The people of Franklinton sure do love their fair. Schools are out all over the parish, and many of the businesses are closed as well. This has got to be the best week of the year for walking through Franklinton. We have been enjoying all of the wholesome good fun that the fair has to offer, all day long. We're not moving east on the map at all, but we probably had another ten-mile day today.
Everyone's coming to Franklinton this week
Thursday, October 18, 2001: Franklinton, Louisiana
Well, after three fair-filled days, we're all faired out. It has been a good stop for us in Franklinton. We will be walking on towards Bogalusa tomorrow and plan to be there on Saturday afternoon.
From Bogalusa, it will be about five miles to the state line of Mississippi. It's always exciting to cross a state line, but I already feel kind of melancholy about leaving the state of Louisiana. I've experienced so many miles, there are so many memories, and I've met so many kind people in Louisiana. Yes, it will be sad for me to say goodbye to Louisiana.
Here are a few more pictures taken at the Washington Parish Free Fair:
Dorris and Red at the fair
"Elvis My Way"
Bull ridin' at the rodeo
Saturday, October 20, 2001: Bogalusa, Louisiana
Brandi and I spent the past two days walking from Franklinton to Bogalusa. We are doing ten-mile days now without feeling too many painful side effects, so the twenty-mile walk to Bogalusa was fairly pleasurable. Not only were the shoulders "a lane wide," the south side of the road was bordered Ben's Creek wildlife management area; which allowed for a good camping spot without having to trespass or hop a barbed-wire fence.
A woman we met at the fair had made arrangements for us to camp in her niece-in-law's backyard in Bogalusa. We remembered how to get to her house (at least we thought we did,) but we couldn't remember the woman's name nor the niece-in-law's name, and we had neglected to write any of this important information down. When we arrived at what we thought was our destination, there was a man sitting outside, and I guess I thought that the best thing to do was to walk up and say, "Hi, um...are you expecting us?" The man replied with a smile, "That depends on who you are." It wasn't the house we were trying to find, but we were about to meet our new friends in Bogalusa, Randy and his wife, Mary.
Shoulders a lane wide
We instantly connected with Randy and Mary. Randy's job as an electrician moves them around the country quite a bit, and it seems that we find it easy to relate to people who move around from place to place. We really enjoyed the rest of our day visiting with them. They let us each take a shower (something that feels really good after two days and twenty miles in Louisiana humidity,) and they said that it would be okay to camp in their backyard. We did finally find the niece-in-law's house that we were looking for, but no one was home, so we left a note.
Sunday, October 21, 2001: Bogalusa, Louisiana
We went to church this morning with Randy and Mary's landlord, Lisa; Lisa's son, Jordan; and Lisa's boyfriend, Shane. After church, we all enjoyed a country home cookin' buffet and some Wal-Mart shopping. It was a good Sunday. Brandi and I are going to make it a point to get to a church every Sunday and then take the day off from walking. We were inspired by J.C. and Kate, the Sabbath keepers that we met in Kentwood. We have really enjoyed spending our day with these kind folks in Bogalusa who have invited us into their lives for a couple days. I wish that I had taken a good picture of everyone together, but unfortunately I didn't.
I did get a picture of the mill though. Bogalusa is the home of one of the largest paper mills in the country, and this one smells particularly rancid. I've heard some folks say that it smells like money (referring to the fact that Bogalusa's economy relies heavily, if not entirely, on the mill,) but it really just stinks. I actually caught a whiff of it yesterday when we were still six miles outside of town. Fortunately, the wind was right for most of the weekend, and except for a couple of trips downtown we never really had to spend much time smelling the mill.
We walked past Spring Creek, through a community called Baily, and into a little town called Richardson today. Brandi and I had our first ten-mile day of our walk together, and both of us feel it. In Richardson, we met a man named Red and his wife Dorris. Red and Dorris are members of the Methodist Church here in Richardson, and they are letting us stay in the church tonight.
