The National Park ranger who relocated to this area because her home was destroyed in the hurricane Katrina – her reaction...”it's just stuff. My kids and I are safe that's what matters.”
The pipeline workers in town just to work on drilling through shale and building the natural gas pipeline, transplants mainly from Texas on contract jobs, living in the RV parks along the way, working six days a week 5am – 5pm, traveling with their families, full-size barbeques and child swings just to feel like they are at home. Family members left in camp waiting for their breadwinners to return home from the day spend the time scrapbooking and doing laundry for the family.
The people who drive a 1953 motorhome bus that they have lived in for 20 years. Their jobs are gatekeepers charged with protecting the road down to the oil well. Moving from job to job, they live in remote areas enjoying their solitude and mobile way of life. Their bus is about to fall apart and they are considering purchasing a new one. Instead of being excited for modernity, they mourn the potential passing of their beloved home.
The upbeat nurse who told us her grandmother grew up in Cane River where plantations were abundant, share cropping a way of life and many freed slaves owned farms. Which way of life did she take part?
The drummer in a touring Christian rock band who doesn't feel totally comfortable professing his faith, maybe because he is a non-believer? Living on a tour bus a third of the year with 11 other people, resting in a casino hotel. Poker could be his heaven.
And then there were the stray animals along the roads; some dead, some alive. Dogs running in packs look dirty yet well fed. Mama dogs who obviously just birthed puppies scrounge the campground for scraps. Stray cats climb trees hoping to catch a bird. Campground owners take in four stray dogs. Guess they got tired of seeing the dogs along the roadside too.
Life is interesting in all corners of the country.
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| Steph & Sequoia at Oakland plantation in Natichotes, LA near Shreveport |
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