Louisiana!!

I have arrived in the final state of the trek, good old Louisiana. And I have arrived with all good news. On leaving Natchez i managed to run into a lovely lady who was working at the pharmacists. She recommended me some good treatments from my blisters and am happy to report almost immediately I started to see improvements and now they have become hard sores which are almost not affecting me at all. I am feeling strong again and have no niggling injuries to report of.

I spent the first two nights in my tent, and with every morning I was having to fight off the hundreds of ants that had thought it was a good idea to share my mattress for the night, luckily they were not the big bull ants we have back in Australia, but still annoying enough and capable of giving a little nip. Apart from coming across the occasional deer and having three or four big thunderstorms pass over and soak me, the first two days went by without any hassles or events. Yesterday however I met a lady named Nannette at the visitors centre in Vaudeville. She told me that she had a friend who lived on a big property about 20 kms further south and that it should be no problem to put my tent there. Anthony was the guys name. He met me along the way and after chatting for a while he told me that there was no need to pitch my tent, that I could spend the night at the house as there was a spare room with a bed and bathroom downstairs. This was music to my ears. I arrived some hours later, wet from a big storm that had passed over and hungry, and at the house was a feast fit for kings. Anthony had invited Nannette and her daughter over and had prepared pork, mushroom rice, two spinach and sausage quiches, sweet potato and  a couple of coronas. Anthony - a champion in my books! So after some good conversation, good food and a few beers, I hit the pillow exhausted, and slept well I tell you.

Today I was up around 8am, had some of the left over quiche for breakfast and was back heading south towards St Francisville. I arrived here around 2pm and was met here by an old friend, Gary. We headed out for lunch and a catch up, then retired back to his house, calling it a short day of walking, covering only about 20kms. Tomorrow I will be trying to get from St Francisville to Baton Rouge, this could take me one day, it could take me two.

So all is well, my body is feeling good again, my spirits are high and I am closing in on that French quarter (Jacksons square) in New Orleans. From here on in I will be trying to enjoy the rest of the trek as much as possible. It has been a long journey but now with the finish line almost in sight one can not help but to become a little excited, to get to the finish of course, but even more than that, to see my beautiful wife...