Southern Tier

So I am sitting in the public library in Kountze, Texas. Next to me is a boy in high school, who is out for the summer (I just overheard him say). He is blond and bespectacled and not fit. He apprently is the student worker at the library. He is sitting next to me and across from him is one of his friends, who is brown-haired and is also wearing glasses. They are playing some game on the computer with "double-handed swords" and goblins and "drawfen mines." They are just speeking as freely as can be and while it is distracting it is somehow reassuring that even in this town, where I went down a bumpy-roaded alley by a ramshackle feed store to get to the library, there are super nerdy kids playing some D&D-like computer game. I do wish they had better library etiquette. The one across from the boy sitting next to me is named Kyle. OK, I've had it. They really are talking too much and in their "outside voices."

At 7 a.m. this morning we drove to Coldspring, Texas, so Eric could start his ride. We ended there yesterday but I had a bit of a fit at a B&B where I found Eric because it looked to me just like someone's house who wanted to make a few extra bucks by putting people up. It was called The Breezes Inn and I can't say anything about it other than that the people who owned the place had Astroturf on their front porch and an ashtray with two cigarette buts. There also appeared to be a pack of small motor oil cans on a table on the front porch. The proprietors weren't even there. I was tired and had gotten lost earlier in the day after taking a wrong turn in Roans Prairie. I ended up going to Huntsville, Texas, which was so big it had a JC Penney. From there I actually got on an interstate (which seemed so liberating) to get to Coldspring (or actually to take me to the road that goes to Coldspring -- it is definitely not the kind of town that is right off of an interstate). So after my fit, Eric agreed that we could go to Livingston, TX, a slightly larger town. There we saw a Holiday Inn Express, but before deciding to stay there we drove through the town. We ended up taking another wrong turn, but it was fortuitous. We saw the cutest red and yellow house. It was a B&B. So I called the number to find out the rate.


McCardell's Cottage

The woman who answered, Beverly, said (imagine a very southern accent) "is that YOU in that WHHHIte car out front?" And I was like, "uh, yes, um, we were just wondering if you have availability and what your rates are." She said "Well, COME on in!" She was so nice, we just found ourselves getting out of the car and going in, to be greeted by her two dachshunds. They are just about Eric's favorite dogs. So I knew the chances were good that we'd stay there. The house that the inn was in, McCardell's B&B, used to be the doctor's house in town. One of the rooms had the surgery light as a light fixture in the room. It was very comfortable in there and her hospitality was unmatched. She told of so much in such a short period of time.


McCardell's Dining Room

Beverly had grown up in Livingston as had several generations prior to her in her family. She was maybe 60 and had a few children and some grandchildren and had just returned from a week out of town in Austin, where her daughter lives. She had been running the B&B, which she opened and owned, for a year. This morning, before we left, she told us some more about herself, after I asked her who owned a colossal house (it really looked like the mayor must live there) three blocks from the B&B. She said it belonged to her cousin actually. You cannot imagine the size of this old house. It really looks like the south down here, because in fact, it is. I don't know what to think about that. But around this huge house, which belongs to Beverly's cousin, there is an iron fence about three feet high that Eric insisted looked like a graveyard fence. Before he said that, I said, now that's the kind of house that's bound to be haunted.

Beverly was the most hospitable and kind woman (that's what we gathered) -- she had been a teacher and had majored in home economics, and I tell you, that was apparent. He place was clean as a whistle and she was an excellent cook. She said that many of her guests are actually people visiting inmates at the prison. Her first guest was from Australia and stayed for a week. This guest believed in reincarnation and was a psychic.

There are lots of dogs who run around the neighborhoods in Livingston.

We went up to an old movie theater called "The Fain." They were showing the Paris Hilton epic "House of Wax."

Today it's on to Silsbee, TX, after I pick Eric up in Fred, TX. Tomorrow we are off to DeRidder, Louisiana. You know, it is clear to everyone I talk to here that I am not from around here. They all say "where you from?"