Morel’s Inn had only coffee, no breakfast. Moreover, there was no very close place to get food. I walked 0.5 mile to the nearest gas station, and got a boudin, a piece of lemon cake, and an orange. As you can see, I retain a few plastic bags from other stores for later use. Maybe that’s a California habit. Everywhere else, plastic bags are free at stores, and nobody thinks twice about throwing a perfectly good one away.The Mississippi is broad, here. I measured the bridge with my odometer, and it was over 2 miles long.I was hoping for a “Welcome to Slaughter” sign, but this will do.It was 11 am when I reached Paw Paw’s Grocery in Slaughter. It was the first store I had seen since New Roads, and as I was uncertain about whether there would be more along the way, I stopped for lunch.That was an audacious claim on the sign – best burger you’ve ever eaten. Notice that they also have boiled peanuts.I got boiled peanuts, and a burger. The sign about the burger being the best I would ever have was not far from the truth. The boiled peanuts were a little softer than the Hawaiian kind, but good. I only ate some of them, and put the rest in a ziploc for the road.Debbie (L) and Melissa (R) were working in the store. I gave Debbie a card, and she later agreed that kindness is important, and she tells her grandchildren that it costs us nothing. Debbie actually prayed for me on the spot before I left. It was the highlight of the day.The day consisted of short zig-zags on smaller roads, but the last 20 miles were on Hwy 16, which had a fairly wide and clean shoulder.There were lots of casinos in this area. Three of them were lined up with 3 gas stations in this strip.A uniquely Louisianan phenomenon was the drive-up daquiri shop.According to Google Maps, the Colonial Inn was right where this large tree was. I circled around and around the area, and even asked a local. No such place.I had transcribed Google Directions, and was ready to claim that they worked for once. They got me to Amite (rhymes with Hay-Meet), but there was that problem with the destination not existing.It was hot, but didn’t feel as hot as this sign suggested.I went to one of the chain motels, the Comfort Inn. Typically, these are more than I need, and I avoid them if possible. A man engaged me outside, and talked about the southern tier. Viral (vee-RAHL) turned out to be the owner, actually, owner of eight motels, including the other one in town. Still, he came to fix the lock on my room himself. It was supposed to be a quick operation, but actually took some finangling to make the parts fit. As an engineer, the entire mechanism was highly interesting to me.Before leaving, Viral noticed that the drape pull was missing a bolt. It was taking a while, so I told him it wasn’t important to me. He said that he would give me a discount on the room for my inconvenience.I went to dinner at the Catfish Inn next door. The place was packed.The staff was scurrying about delivering food to people. No one noticed the shrimp on the floor by my table. At a different time, I might have picked it up and eaten it.Small catfish plate was $14. But that included a trip to the salad bar, making it all worthwhile.
