THE ROAD TO MICHIGAN IS PAVED WITH FABULOUS THINGS IF YOU STAY OFF THE INTERSTATE OR "THE GREAT BACKROADS ADVENTURE", POST #1

I left the ranch yesterday afternoon with my mother and headed for Michigan.
My mom has been "visiting" us for the last six weeks and I'm driving her back home to Kalamazoo from our ranch in south Texas. After much deliberating we finally left and headed due east instead of our original plan of heading north and then east.
That's what adventures are all about, aren't they? .....Nothing written in stone???
I'm going to blog the trip for your reading enjoyment - LOL. You can feel like you're with us by checking my blog every other day or so until I get home and I'll do my best to make you feel like you are right here with me.
The only thing I can't relate in a way that you will fully appreciate it is what makes me laugh as my mother and I drive the back roads on our way - laugh until I can't breathe.....like when she said that Sophie (her sweet Maltese that is sitting on her lap as we travel) was barking to protect us from the stranger on the sidewalk and I showed her how when she said "protect us" sounded like "Pro-Texas".
Of course, I thought it was hysterical and made up an entire story about it and ended up not being able to breathe...............see? not relate-able - I'll bet you're breathing just fine as you read this!
These first pics are of some of the most beautiful headstones and fence in a wonderful old cemetary near downtown Shreveport, Louisianna. We happened to be driving by and I turned in real quickly. Oh, I'm so glad that I did. These pictures are so cool.
Look at this sweet child headstone. He was only 12 years old when he died. I can't help but wonder about his life, how he died. I always wonder about these things when I see headstones or old houses, old photographs. I always wonder about their lives. Don't you?
I thought this was just beautiful. It's really hard to figure out exactly who it is but I see a woman, a mother I think.
I love this fence around this headstone. I think it's beautiful!
This pic is out of order - it's an abandoned warehouse just west of the Texas/Louisianna state line. I can't remember the name of the town, but did a U-y to get this picture! I thought it looked really good with an antique finish.

Our next stop was an amazing antique/junk store in a town that started with an "M" and was just east of Shreveport (get used to my travel details - it's who I am! LOL)
I'll show you what I found in the next post, 'k? I gotta get some sleep! Oh, and I've got the name of that "M" town in the car - I'll try and get it for ya.

Thanks for joining us on this trip! We're having a blast - there's nothing like driving the back roads, checking out the beautiful houses you find on these roads and the houses where you ask yourself, "Are they having a garage sale or is that the way they keep their yard???", discovering wonderful shops on town squares and grabbing a Blizzard a day - it's a tradition.
See you tomorrow! Get plenty of rest - it's going to be a long, fun day!

xoxo, Jan