I am way behind in my blogging! I have been caught up in a terrible Malaise, very similar to the rest of the country, or more correctly, the rest of the world. I have been in a Corona Virus stupor, on my sofa, watching the news for the past few weeks. One would think this would be a perfect time for a writer; with plenty of time and no outside activities to distract. Not so, Grass Hopper!

I’ve been looking back at our travel schedule to Louisiana and am in amazement that none of our party has contracted the dread virus. My immediate group (7 of us) traveled by train from Toccoa, Georgia to New Orleans and back. That train began its journey in New York City, the country’s hottest spot for the disease at the time. We spent three days in New Orleans, another one of our country’s “Hot Spots.” In fact we were there on Bourbon Street on Friday evening and they closed it all down on Saturday. No, it was not because of my wife’s behavior, although it could have been!

There were nineteen of us, all in close proximity to each other, at the St. Louis Plantation. We had arrived there by planes, trains, and automobiles. We ate together, drank together, played together, rock n rolled together, and often just sat together and shared stories. It was a low budget rendition of “The Big Chill” without the funeral. It was a marvelous time, but unknown to all of us, it was a time fraught with danger.

The COVID-19 Pandemic was on the march across the world and we were completely oblivious to it. No radio, TV, and newspapers makes for a welcome change, but also leads to complete ignorance of what’s happening out there in the rest of the world. The only news we were getting was from some of our faculty members who were getting Emails from the university regarding “next steps.” The information was spotty and disjointed and coming from an administration struggling with a COMPLETE disruption to normal operations.

We should have suspected that something was up because of our forays to the Butcher Boy grocery store in Plaquemine. The store was packed, the carts were piled high, and the toilet paper shelves were empty. No toilet paper, what is that all about? We still managed to get our share of food items, especially beer, wine, and liquor. Yes, in some circumstances (such as pandemics and ten and one half year anniversaries) those are “food stuff!”

 We had great breakfasts each morning thanks to Derek our twelve year old chef. He fixed biscuits and gravy, bacon and eggs, sausage and pancakes, French toast and cinnamon rolls, toast and jelly, grits and oatmeal, as well as a great variety of fruits and juices. Of course, Henry, J. Tom, Jack, and Randi made sure we all had Bloody Mary’s and Mimosa’s.

On Wednesday evening we all went into Plaquemine to eat at Fat Daddy’s; great Shrimp Po Boys and good Bar-B-Que. Our evening meal on Thursday was over the top! Eliza went into town and returned with more crawfish and shrimp than we were able to devour at one sitting. Of course, we gave it one heck of a try, but to no avail. Looking back, I don’t remember any of our members that stayed one extra day complaining about having to finish the leftovers.

I’m going to go ahead and post this chapter and write about all the exciting activities that we participated in the next edition. See you then!