(ALWAYS with the "WTF?" look when I do a selfie!)

The first friends we stop to visit are not really friends yet... we have never met them. We have chatted a little online and when we booked our room for the first night we realized it was very near their home. (He did a post about his town, we were not stalking them lol!) We offered to meet them for a beer in town and these brave souls invite our crazy asses to their home! This, even after I told them we would be there a day later than we arrived! She suggested we check out the little town near them where I made a four-legged friend... until he realized I had no goodies.

He was in this lovely little park in the middle of town. There was a great array of funky little shops bordering the park and a herd of what seem to be pet deer. Fun for kids, hell on gardens I imagine!

We saw several ghost towns and near ghost towns, but this little burg seems to be holding its own in the modern world. It's pioneer roots are still visible, just across the street from the park.

OK, so... yeah. I forgot to get a picture of the humans. Maybe it did not happen, maybe I am just making stuff up for the sake of a post. Maybe I partook of the Colorado wildflowers and hallucinated the whole thing. Maybe it was just a hot spring induced dream, but I am pretty sure we had a LOVELY visit with @carrieallen and @chrisroberts, I just can't put a picture on the blockchain to prove it... lol! THANK YOU BOTH for your hospitality!!

Next stop, Missouri! We are going to spend the next night at the home of my second longest-lasting friend. Here is the oldest picture I have of us together. The woman in the closet is my mother-in-law. The woman in yellow was a bridesmaid who I have not heard from in decades. That skinny chick with the black hair...?

Here we are now, totally unclear on how we got so old!

She was my sister in law for twelve years. I kept her in the divorce... She was on husband number 7 when I left Arkansas and that marriage was failing. The last thing she told me when I left was "Claire, do NOT let me marry them. I fall in love, it is all fun and games, then I marry them and pretty soon they give me a pain in my neck. I just don't do marriage well, do not let me ruin another relationship, OK?"

As we held that conversation, a young man who had attended the sweat lodge the night before was sleeping outside. Within a few months, I get a phone call saying she is going to marry him. I take my promises seriously. That request may have sounded funny but I had been with her through 4 of those failed marriages, I saw the look on her face, heard the tone of her voice. I called the man. I told him "Look, she sucks at being married. Don't ruin this, just live with her. Rings on her fingers give her pains in her neck, and I'd hate to see you become ex-husband number 8." He ignored me and married her silly self anyway.

On to Arkansas! Originally the plan was for my friend and her son and daughter to all go camp in Mt. Ida for a couple nights with us but those plans got blown up right before we arrived. We tried to stop in and visit with her son on our way through but he was headed out of town. We did catch up with her daughter. This little princess I have known since she was about 5, and she is now a granny. How the hell THAT happened is beyond me, I am sure she is still a virgin... 😁

All right, on to New Orleans. This is officially a business trip, my husband is being sent to a training. Because you cannot possibly train people online, you have to make them drive or fly to a big city, have their bosses put them in hotels where the staff expects you to tip like YOU could afford this place... where your coffee is $5 a cup and is made with chlorinated toilet water... where there is some MAJOR distraction available to prevent you from really focusing on the training... Yes, yes, there is no reasonable option but to put us two blocks from Bourbon Street for the training. Fortunately, the co-worker fully understood the need to study Bourbon Street, so our first night in New Orleans I made another new friend!

By the time we got to the big bash on the final night, we were really having a lot of fun! Mark had assured me she would be a hoot on this trip, he was right!

Texas was not really on the way home, but it was not so far out of the way. The day I met @longsilver, I also met Koover and Amy. They were not dating, the three of them were just friends. Amy is stkill my friend, and she lives in Texas. I have never been to her house and she has lived there over twenty years. I doubt I will ever be that close again so we spent the first night at her place on our way home. This would be the friend I have had the longest, she is even tied with my husband! (OK, I have one facebook friend from grade school. I guess she is the longest-lasting friendship, but we just got back in touch about two years ago after 40+ years. These ladies have been through the thick and thin of life with me.)

My besties are an odd pair. One a country mouse. They have a steady income but not a lot of it. They live simply and have no debt. The other is the most wealthy person I REALLY know. They live very, very well and have no debt. If you were to sit and drink beer with the three of us, I doubt you could tell who was rich and who was not. They are both just lovely people, and I have known them both since we were all pretty much punk kids!

There were other friends on my mind this trip, too. I promised myself a "steemit" vacation. I try to treat this as a job of sorts, insomuch as I make myself post even if I do not really feel like it; I go chat with some folks on discord even if I would rather revel in solitude; that kind of thing. I was going to RELAX this trip! Still, everywhere I went I found myself thinking of someone on steemit and having to fight the temptation to make just one quick post... Having nothing with me to blog on but a beat up laptop helped me resist that urge lol! But it is Saturday, so allow me to do a few quick "shout outs" from the trip!

Finding a decent cup of coffee became the quest of the journey when I left my pour-over pot at Inez's. It is a sad, sad thing to have 2 pounds of fresh roasted, organic coffee in your car and find yourself drinking gas station swill, some of it downright frightening. I mean, seriously, who named this place? No, I don't want your coffee and I SURELY do not want any cream for it!!

Then there was this place, a mile or two out of the way... and CLOSED for graduation. Oh, @c0ff33a, you were on my mind much of the trip... thoughts of your delightful world of beautiful beans danced in my head over and over...

I know @tattoodjay is more famous for his wonderful photos than his #bridgesoftheworld tag, but I just could hardly pass over or even look at a bridge without thinking of him. This one is in the New Orleans City Park in the free sculpture garden - watch for my full post on that awesome place! This bridge was idyllic, just a lovely day in a lovely setting.

While @longsilver got trained, I wandered New Orleans. The trolleys cost $3 to ride all day, easily the best deal in the Big Easy. I rode the trolleys all day one day, and at one point I headed down to the French Market where I discovered a table that made me think of @saffisara. Here, EVERY day is Haturday!

While I was in the neighborhood, I thought I ought to run by the old US Mint and see if there were any shiny souvenirs for sale that my buddies in the ssg-community might admire. Turns out they are housing a Jazz Museum now. I mean trumpets are shiny, but just not what I was hoping for.

I wandered all the way around the building and at last discovered something I was sure @enginewitty would appreciate, even if it was not shiny...

Yes, it seemed everywhere I looked there was some reminder of my friends on steemit. Every gnarled old live oak made me think of @old-guy-photos...

Every little table in the open-air markets cried out for a Market Friday post for @dswigle...

I know @papa-pepper has left his partying ways behind, but there is still at least one place in New Orleans where even he would feel right at home...

So, here's to you, my dear friends old and new. This crazy adventure I call "my life" is made worthwhile by your presence. Whether you are near or far, a lifelong old buddy or slightly awkward new acquaintance, I am ever so grateful for the chance to get to know you!!!