More Louisiana Exploration by Peter Santenello

Here is Peter Santenello's last installment of his exploration of Louisiana and it's culture.
He headed to New Orleans, which has a culture all to itself really.  I chuckled at the remarks about the lack of attention to the condition of the roads there.  That same sentiment carries over to where I reside in Louisiana as well. ;-)

Sluggy

The Great Western Road Trip 2017.....Part Thirty Two/Day Twenty Three & Twenty Four

Part One of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Part Two of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Three of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Four of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Five of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Six of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Seven of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Eight of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Nine of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Ten of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Eleven of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twelve of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Thirteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE  
Part Fourteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE  
Part Fifteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE 
Part Sixteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Seventeen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE 
Part Eighteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Nineteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE 
Part Twenty of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty One of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty Two of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty Three of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty Four of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty Five of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty Six of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty Seven of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twenty Eight of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Part Twenty Nine of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Thirty of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE  

Part Thirty One of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Heading out from Northern IL, we headed South......

57 miles until Peru, IL.

A crop dusting plane or something of similar size.  There are farms down here so I figured a crop duster.

The Paw Paw Exit.  I love these unusual place names.....

We stopped to see some old friends at our usual meeting place, Cindy's Home Cooking in

Oglesby, IL.

I always get Walleye here, this time in a sandwich. Nom Nom

Me with the "Chef".  Man was I fat! lolz

A group photo of me, Hubs and Robin and Pam.

After lunch with them we headed to see Hubs' sister.  She needed a bit of help so we took her shopping to Walmart to pick up some needed food and toiletries stuff.  I think we took her out to eat that evening too.

We stayed at a hotel in her town that evening.

I loved this sign in the bathroom, letting you know the prices of items if you "took" them home with you.

Yeah, I don't think I could fit an Ironing Board in my suitcase if I tried. lolz  Geez, I could get most of this new in a store for less.......

The next morning we headed out through Indiana, toward Ohio.

The back of a truck seen along the highway......

"a free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, 

but they should have sufficient arms & ammunition

to maintain a status of independence from any who

might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government"

                                                           -George Washington

                                     

Welcome to Indiana

Heading toward Indianapolis and Interstate 70.

Notice that Indiana is NOT very welcoming.....their Welcome Center is closed.

A cute little trailer like one of those teardrop shaped travel trainers.....

Stopped for gas and I browsed the convenience store to stretch my legs.......

This one made me chuckle, because it was in the North! lolz

Back on the road........

And we are out of Indiana......

This billboard tells me we are in Ohio. lol

Skyline Chili anyone??

Mt. Orab.  Anybody know where this is?

Entering Amish territory in OH.

And HOG territory too....lolz

Hubs wanted to stop here for awhile at the Serpent Mound earthen works in Peebles, OH.

                                           

This mound is the largest known serpent shaped effigy in the world.  The mound was built most probably by the Hopewell and/or the Adena prehistoric cultures and radiocarbon dating suggests it's at least 2000 years old.

Hubs with the Ohio state marker at the site.

There was an informative museum there as well and you could learn about these prehistoric cultures and how and why they built earthen mounds.

The fascinating thing about this earthen mound(besides the shape)is that there is a triple coiled tale on the end.

Learning about the living arrangements of these prehistoric tribes....

A painting of a tribal ceremony.  That's me pretending to participate.  I do have a bit of Native American blood afterall.

A comparison of famous monuments.

A couple of examples of clay pottery found in the area, one is a whistle or flute of some kind.

A chart showing the Daily Life of the Ohio Hopewell...

More clay items found in the area that were made by these ancient peoples....

So after the museum we hit the trail to the Serpent......

A stone monument about the Serpent Mound.  Might I add that it was late August and hot as F**k outdoors.....

There was a viewing tower(think fire tower out West)and Hubs climbed it to get an areal look at the whole mound.  He also took my photo.  With my bad knee I was not about to attempt that climb(and descent).

Here's one of the photos he took.  Pictures really don't do it justice.

I think this sign was where you could view sunset during the Summer Solstice at the mound.

I felt ambitious so I took off along the paved loop around the mound.

Hubs caught up with me near the tail.  You can sort of make out the triple coil of the snake's tail behind him.

And me again, next to the stone monument after walking all the way around the mound.....and melting in the heat like the Wicked Witch of the West. lolz

There were little signs all around the area, next to other mounds reminding you that these were sacred areas to long gone indigenous peoples.

We finished our trip to the Serpent Mound and heading toward the motel we stayed at that night.

                                        
I may be juvenile but I had to snicker at the name of this creek we drove over. ;-)

Made to the motel out in the middle of nowhere aka the Southern tip of Ohio.

Our last two days of the trip coming up next.  

Sluggy

Frugal Friday....the May 17th Edition

There are a few Frugal wins over the past week.

*  Had my first "real" PT session(which costs me no copay).  She worked me over good. lol  I hope this helps my shoulders but after last night's sleep, I am not optimistic. 8-(

*  Went to Aldi last Friday and bought some sauces, hummus, frozen veggies, carrots, spaetzle for Hubs(way over priced I might add), a bag of General Tso Chicken, pickles for me and found a large pack of BSCB for 50% off.

Then we hit the tiny Kroger near there and bought this.......

The cereals are bound for the food bank(and not counted in my food budget).  The sauces and mustard are part of the Mega Sale(buy 5 to get the discounted price)and the Veggie Craft Pasta were a deal(on sale $3.29 with $1.50 each in KCB and $1.50 back from Ibotta so .29¢ each in the end).  I had a FREE Kroger buns coupon and tried to use that but got charged $1.99 for them.

So after PT on Tuesday we were near the old and dirty Kroger so I took them back and got $1.99+tax back for them.

Then I bought 3 discounted individual salads, a carton of milk(that had an Ibotta rebate),  some marked down thin steak for steak sandwiches and these sauces(4 from the clearance bins).......

Here are the backs of them...........

The Kinder Teriyaki were on Mega Sale for $1.99 each, the other Kinder Sauce(the burger sauce)was marked down to $1.49 and also part of the Mega Sale so another $1 came off making it .49¢ and the 3 Bachan Japanese BBQ sauces were marked down to $3.82 and another $1 came off each, making them $2.82 each.  These 3 sauces also had Ibotta rebates of $1.50 each so in the end those cost $1.32 each.  Not bad when you know those cost $8.99 reg. retail at Kroger(and $7.99 at Walmart)!

I also picked up another round of RockStar drinks.......

I had a Kroger digital Q for Buy a Rock Star and get a Rock Star Focus free plus these were on sale for $2 each, so both cost me $2.00 OOP.  I submitted to Aisle for a $5 rebate making this a $3 moneymaker.  Plus these are going to the food bank as I don't drink energy drinks.

If you want to get in on this Aisle Rock Star deal which runs all year(you can do it every other week)please use my link......

discover.gotoaisle.com/referral/kq98hepHXk

That way I get to do this deal twice every other week and then you can refer someone else to do the deal after you do it.  If you shop at Walmart Rock Stars cost $1.88 each and at Dollar Tree they are $1.25(they are smaller cans though)each so either way they are moneymakers and if Kroger is running a special they are moneymakers there too.  Please and thank you. 8-)

So while in Kroger I tried unclipping that FREE BUNS offer and then reclipping it to see if that would kick it in the butt and make it work but nope.  That coupon is a dude it seems.(I have the same issue with Kroger's Cesar dog food Qs-they never come off.)

*  I hit up Walmart for this on Wednesday after my car got fixed, as I was already near there.....

I had a $10 Ibotta rebate and a $10 Shopmium digital coupon so it was a $2.02 moneymaker.  I also found some marked down bags of produce, a pack of bacon and a pack of sausages as well as a marked down individual salad.

*  I noticed that none of my KCB offers I did have been applied to my account(since the beginning of April!)so I called to get clarification on a few things.

It's difficult to keep track of KCB since as soon as you use/apply an offer and purchase the item, the offer disappears from your available account and it doesn't show anywhere as pending.  Going forward I'll track what offers I use and when so I can contact CS if they don't show up after 1 week.

The person I spoke to put a courtesy $10 on my Kroger card the first time I called about this issue  but I'll be darned if I won't be calling back on Friday(which will be a week since purchase)to get the $6 in KCB for those crackers bought last Friday. ;-)  I now have a spreadsheet for KCB offers, when I purchase those items and what date and how much I am owed back.

Beginning of the week I called about the $6 in crackers and they put $15 store credit on my account, then I called again on Thursday after $5 for an item purchased 9 days previous I was owed.  I asked that they please fix this or I'd be called every time an offer didn't work and I really didn't want to be having to do this so this CS person took more info and is escalating the issue upstairs(and didn't offer me store credit, which is fine, I just want this KCB to work properly and to get what I am owed!)  I hope I get a callback since tomorrow I will have to call yet again inquiring about $4 in KCB that was never applied to my account. lol

*  We have been using food here and eating all the leftovers.  No eating out so far this week.

*  Had my "medical safari" to the Dermatologist in MS on Monday.   I already showed the tiny bag of lotions she gave me for free.......

*  I found money!

I found a penny when we stopped at a Love's for gas and I went in to get a soda.  Found that penny on the floor at the register.

I found this penny at the Kroger the next day walking by a register and it was laying on the floor.

                                       

I went to Walmart on Wednesday for a freebie and to finish my Midweek Bonus(a whole dollar)and saw something peeking out from under a drink cooler next to my self-checkout.  So I used a paperclip to edge it out and voila! I got a nickel!

Total Found last week.... .07¢ 

Grand Total Found this Year.......$4.48 & 5.30 Euros

That's all I got.  

Any frugal wins in your neck of the woods?  Let's hear all about them!

Sluggy