.png)
Today was an interesting part of this journey.
I started the morning in a king suite in The Bienville House in New Orleans. I got up and around early so I could go to Marie's and a gallery when they opened at 10, make it back before check out at noon, and bust ass to Hot Springs.
It's a ritual for me to go to Marie's and buy gifts for friends, leave offerings, etc. So that is what I did.
The gallery however I have to explain.
When I was in New Orleans in January of 2022, I came across a painting I fell in love with. At the time, I had no room in the car to bring it home so I settled for a signed print. In August I went back but again - no room in the car. So this time - I had an empty car!
I searched for an hour and a half Tuesday morning, walking the quarter to find this gallery again. I knew if the painting was still there, it was meant to be mine.
I found the gallery - and they were closed on Tuesdays. Damn. Ok, so this is one of the places I was going this morning. I was bringing that painting home.
I was there at 10am, like their hours said... they weren't open. So I walked to Marie's and bought a few things. Walked back to the gallery.
It was 10:30 and they were still closed.
I was disappointed but I couldn't wait for them to open. I did get a card and emailed them about the painting. (Waiting to hear back.)
So, I went back to the hotel and checked out, leaving earlier than expected.
As I pulled out of town, there was construction and caused a little delay, but I still got out of town early. Like almost an hour before I expected to leave.
Now, if you have never been to New Orleans, one of the best things in my opinion is driving across the Poncha train. The water is so wide, and you can tell it's deep, and it's just marsh and a swamp all around it. It's beautiful, and it's terrifying at the same time to me. But it's a site that greets me every time I come and I get giddy seeing it. When I leave, it's like that one last hug before you finally shut the door.
I left New Orleans feeling fantastic, and was making great time. Until about an hour south of Shreveport.
The temperature had been dropping as I was getting close to a storm front, it had been 83° when I left New Orleans and by this point head dropped to 73. Being an Oklahoma gal I know that's not a good thing. When the rain started it was just a sprinkle but the pressure change made me feel like shit. And I couldn't pull over and stop because I had to make it to Hot Springs which was 7 1/2 hours.
So I kept going. But I had to stop repeatedly because the pressure triggered a migraine and the nausea that goes along with it. Those stops, while they pissed me off every time, probably saved me from being in a very gnarly part of the storm.
OK there's no probably about it.
Because of my six stops within an hour and a half including one turn around where I thought I needed to go to some shop and then couldn't find the sign or the shop, it put me on a path to cut straight through a tiny swatch, where it was just rain in between two massive storm cells
Once again, I'm going to say this, everything happens for a reason.
The storm was so bad, even though it was just rain, that I couldn't see you for a while and pushed forward. I had people back home, watching the weather to keep me posted because I couldn't get a good radio station even in town.
I will say that I love my new car even more than I already did after today. This car has automatic sensor control on it for each wheel, and when it's activated, I doubt you could pull this car from the road, L O L. Bernadette is fantastic and she knows it.
But anyway, we made it through the rain and all the way to Hot Springs. I arrived around 815 to find that there was a huge tour of older people here. One of the ladies was out right rude and cut in front of me while I was simply trying to check in. (And it turns out she is in the room next to me.)
Another is on the other side of me, and was mad because they let people that weren't on the tour or stay on the same floor that they were on. I can understand if they tour had rented the whole floor out or if this was a smaller hotel. It is not.
But those two things aside I got super excited and forgot about the two ladies when I found out that I am in room 824.
Room 824 it said to be one of the most haunted rooms and the hotel. There are stories about this room, mainly that there is some really bad entity in here. Of course, you can't walk into a room with that kind of reputation without being a little hesitant, even though I'm excited to stay here for the night.
I put my belongings down and went downstairs to wait on my dinner from DoorDash, and grab some cold water. OK and a Mojito. I came back up and disappointing Lee, and nothing has moved. The room hasn't been turned upside down, and all of my things are where I left them.
The only thing that does disappoint me is that I was hoping to have a bathtub for a nice hot thermal bath. However, I am denied that after looking forward to it all day in lieu of a shower stall. It is what it is. Lol.
But one thing I realize throughout all of this today is that everything truly happens for a reason, even if we don't see the reason at the time,
What's even funnier? Is that when I logged into TikTok this morning to post a video, I saw another creator, talking about how some people were toxic by saying everything happens for a reason to everything. First of all everyone's entitled to their own opinion. Second of all, everything does happen for a reason.
Yeah, I don't believe in chance. I don't believe in random occurrences. Everything in life is interconnected and synchronized in a way that our brains will never understand.
I spent time yesterday searching for this painting in this gallery. I even planned my morning out to go buy the painting. But that didn't happen so I was able to get out of town in time to put me in between those two storms selves. If I had been a little bit earlier or a little bit later, chances are very high that I would've been in one of three different wrecks that I saw, I would have had hail hit my car, or I would have had other very nasty weather hit while I was on the road with no shelter.
Chances are also good that I would not have got to my room until sometime after 10 PM instead of 8 o'clock
Y'all everything happens for a reason. Our monkey brains just aren't allowed to know all of the reasons behind everything. I am a firm believer.
If you look at things in a way where everything is interconnected, your whole life will always be magic. It makes me sad that some people can't see that. That's their prerogative and their take on the world but it still makes me sad.
And as far as saying, that everything happens for a reason, you also have to put that in moderation you can't just go around telling everybody that. Because it does begin to get, well, not toxic, but annoying. I'm unsure what is creator was talking about when they said that it was toxic. However, to be honest, I didn't listen to her whole video because of the way she went about things.
Y'all even bad things have a reason behind them. If you look at it in that way, then those things don't really seem that bad do they?
So take the time and look at the things around you right now and you'll see very quickly that everything happens for a reason.
As for me, and my journey today, I am sitting in a chair with my legs propped up, trying to stay awake to write this blog post. I will let you know how my stay in the haunted room 824 is when I survive to the morning.
Just keep in mind, there are no accidents or coincidence. My friend and the universe will show you some motive behind most actions around you.