The Flying V...nuff said!

OK, for today's post title to make sense, you'll have to get all the way to the end.  Between the weather, hundreds of miles and enough eating to put us into a food coma yesterday, it was lights out pretty early for us last night.  Today started off at a leisurely pace...I didn't get out of my PJs until mid-morning!  Even on vacation, I can't shut off my internal alarm clock that seems to be permanently set between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m.  I come by morning alertness through genetics, not from the military though  as evidenced by my mom, dad and me all sitting out on the rockers on the back porch enjoying after-breakfast  coffee by 7:00 a.m.  One by one, the household bikers straggled outside with a cup of coffee and a biscuit in hand to join us.


I finally came in from the back porch and changed in time before the first family guests started to arrive.  The scene you see here in this photo of everyone hanging out in rockers visiting and hanging out played itself out all day.  Unfortunately, it rained on and off all day, so we were forced to stay under the carport and awning and move our chairs around the mist.

The original plan was for us to hang out until after lunch and then go on a swamp tour.  Fortunately, I was never able to get through to make us a reservation, so we watched the weather from the comfort of covered lounging instead of on an airboat on the bayous.  Jim's daughter, Jen, is spending the summer in New Orleans, so made the drive down to Houma to hang out with us for the day.  Perhaps the guests would say otherwise, but from the amount of animated conversation and laughter going on, I would say that a good day was had by all. 

Oh, and did I mention we ate our way through the day...again?!  As usual, my mom pulled off an amazing home cooked  meal for a small army including dessert.  Somehow, a watermelon got added to the mix and we ended up lining the side of the patio shielded from the rain, spitting watermelon seeds into the yard.  Sometimes, it's the simple things in life :-)

One of the things I miss most about living in my hometown is close proximity of family.  In the pic is my mom, my dad, Andy (my sister's son), Jenney (Andy's daughter) and Monica (my sister).  Four generations hanging out for the day.  But this is not an unusual day- these four generations live within 2 acres of each other.  I was reminded constantly throughout the day as family and friends showed up at random times to just sit and visit, how lucky I was to grow up surrounded by close and extended family.  And now Jenney will get the same experience.

After we relaxed and ate all we could stand, we headed "down da bayou" to see a few things that the out of towners missed by not taking the swamp tour.  It's so funny that when we tell someone that we live south of New Orleans, the standard response is usually "I didn't know there was anything south of New Orleans other than the Gulf!"  Not only are we south of New Orleans, we drove another 30 minutes south of Houma today. 

In south Louisiana, there are only 3 directions.... up da bayou (up from the Gulf of Mexico), down da bayou (down by the Gulf) and across the bayou (usually involves a bridge).  Today, we followed the flow of water down the bayou to where it empties into the Gulf.  Pretty much, the end of the earth...well, the end of Louisiana anyway.  The further you get down da bayou, the more creative folks have to get in order to live on land that Mother Nature is trying hard to reclaim.  One of the more precarious inventions are mobile homes up on stilts.  Yes, you've just minimized your risk of flooding, but I'm not sure how much more of a risk wind damage becomes.  I have no idea how long it takes for the floors in this arrangement to start caving!  I sure hope none of their houseguests get confused and try to exit through the back door.  Also, you might want to consider removing the wheels...I don't think you'll be making any speedy relocations from this current situation!

In the best example of ingenuity seen today, not only did these folks raise a trailer onto pilings, they connected three together!  Totally fascinated with this arrangement, we stopped so I could ask the owner if I could take a picture.  He looked amused that I would want a picture, but agreed and we introduced ourselves.  After I told him I'm originally from a nearby bayou, he told me the story of the "Flying V."  They had originally wanted to put two separate trailers up there, but were told that only single family dwellings were allowed (not dual).  So, in an effort to be in compliance with local regulations, they configured three mobile homes into a V shape, cut out the walls separating them, and made a single family dwelling.  Voila, they got their fishing camp and met regulatory mandates!

 

Unsurprisingly, our day ended with round two of the boiled shrimp and crabs from yesterday.  I don't think any of us can fit another single bite of anything into our bellies.  As we ate and visited our way through a rainy day, our bikes stayed nice and dry parked in my dad's boat shed.  As you can see, he removed his boat and allowed it to become the biker barn during our stay.  As we wind down our stay on the bayou, our bikes will remain nice and dry while we go down for a good night's sleep.  What a great trip home!