8/12/15
The night of the Frog murders

On a Wednesday night, last week, after Bible study, my husband decided to continue on with his latest quest to check out every Winn Dixie store w/i a 60 mi. radius of Lafayette.  We had already been to several on the western and southern side but now he wanted to go more northerly/west.  So we set sail for Eunice, LA.  He nixed the idea of trying to make it to the store in Ville Platte because that store closed at 8 p.m. and we could not make it after church.  The Eunice store stayed open until ten.  The sun was setting faster these days because summer is slowly coming to a close so it was dark as we drove over to Eunice from the La Beau/Washington area.  We had already been to Eunice last year and gone to three museums one day.  The town is small but it does have a small university there too.  And casinos.  So, we gathered up our wallets and trundled inside.  There were just a few customers scattered about--mostly the odd mom and dad out doing some late night shopping.  We made it there a little before nine.  As has been our mission, we sought out the "deals" and "closeouts."  Did score a few treasures in this department.  Some cans of vegetables on special, beans, a pack of brightly colored pens, cake mix for 75 cents…etc.  Then we packed everything in the car and he drove home…except he chose to go on one particular highway that was supposed to be two miles shorter than the other to take us over to I-10 (and home to Lafayette).  We turned onto this highway after narrowly avoiding a drunk who was driving from one casino to another (on a school night!) and after clearing out of Eunice, we realized not only were we in the "country" but also that the two lane highway was undergoing a massive amount of resurfacing for about the next 28 miles.  It turned out to be a horrific gravely affair (with no shoulder) complete with the hopping up of various frogs as they were attracted to our headlights and we would hit them head on and hear the sound of a soft thump each time.  Dismal.  He had to keep his speed down and fortunately there were hardly any other cars about.  I think we saw three the entire time.  By the time we got to I-10 (Rayne) we breathed a sigh of relief and I pledged I would wash the car before the sun came up the next morning so as to get rid of the bug and frog guts.  I must say that it was one of the more grim  trips I've ever taken with my husband in his faithful Toyota.