Discovery

    I woke up this morning at 2:22. At 3:33 I decided enough was enough and got on up. Magnolia, my overweight chocolate Lab, and I stumbled down the stairs and I fired up the waiting coffee pot while she blundered around in the outside world wondering why things had changed. The shocked coffee pot cranked out about three thick initial cups which I emptied into my quart plus sized Picadilly Restaurant Commemerative red plastic mug. My inner sun was rising with the aroma.
     I'd been thinking about the pictures I'd assembled the evening before, coming up with brilliant lines to get this thing started, a feat which has come hard due to my generally disinterested state of mind. It is now 3:44 which leaves me a little time to move forward. Are you still with me? Raise your hand.

    When I do my little hobby, riding around on a motorcycle taking pictures of everything and attempting to tell about it, the need for organization has presented itself and it seems like that would be a nice touch. Concern about organization is said to be a sign of the fear of "losing one's mind"or actually "losing it". I'd like to at least make an attempt at a rating system to get things a little straighter. This I came up with at 2:33 this morning. I find places and things and once in a while, but rarely, people, on my adventures, or I wouldn't be riding. Finding these PPT's (People Places and Things) is my motivation. The PPT's need a classification system. Something modern, I've decided. I've chosen the immediate solar system as a model. Really great finds would be stars (the Sun's one Frank), then there would be planets (ranked in size), and moons. (all moons would be generally called moons since I have no idea how to rank each planet's moons, not knowing much about them. Maybe small, medium and large would suffice.)
So you're wondering where I'm going with this and why the immediate need, at now,4:01.
      This new exhibition of my finds are not stars, they are planets and big moons. A star would be something like Grand Gulf Military Park in Mississippi or Chicot St. Park in Louisiana, places that would command a direct ride because they are so spectacular. These planets and moons are places that you definitely want to see if you are in their neighborhood or you could join them all together and come up with a "planet system ride". See this is working. (a swig of coffee and a re-read please)
Darn, it's empty.

      After returning home from the Natchez Trace and all its surrealistic beauty and aura, a local ride into mundane south Louisiana seemed repetitious and it was a while coming. I'd been star stuck and needed to come back to Earth. So what did I do? I headed up the same old route. When I got to Opelousas I headed west on US190, a bumpy straight four laned snoozer that I know oh too well.. It was like I was trying to prove my feelings about local riding. After passing through Lawtell, home of Richard's Club, a Zydeco Shrine, I continued west. Enough was enough. I decided that straight was fine, but boring bumpy was not. The roads dipping to the Gulf from US 190 are straight shots, mostly, and that was fine. I wanted to go to the coast and see how horrible I suspected it was post Hurricane Rita. I had places down there that were some of my favorites, like old friends, that I needed to check on. That became the focus for this ride. I figured I'd revisit a bunch of places, take a few "after" pictures and call it a day. I should know better and this ride is a good lesson. In your immediate sphere there is hidden stuff you'd never suspect, keep your eyes open. They are not advertised. Often there are no signs directing you there. But, they are there for the taking.
       The first spectacular find, "Jupiter" rated, was found down La.35 where it crosses La. 365. I'll call it "Butch's Museum" because of the maybe opened restaurant on the property named "Butch's Restaurant".
       The main attractions, because they are the most visible, are the cars, but there are tractors, motorcycles, farm empliments, bicycles, and many "just plain mysteries" to mortal men. The two tractors by the road first caught my eye and then I saw more and more. The "housed" collection can be seen through little sliding glass windows which you stick your head into. I think the place was modeled on a "peek show" theme. You go from one little window to the next. A brief explanation of that window's main attraction is painted on the exterior wall. There's more stuff than explanations. I think Butch gave up painting the names and leaves the majority for you to guess at. I suspect that even he has to guess at some of it. Or not. Butch has to be a very interesting person. I appreciate his mode of collecting. Butch is a COLLECTOR. If all his stuff was restored, its worth would easiy top a million dollars, maybe two. His stuff is also awaiting a million dollars, maybe two, to be restored. Butch's stuff is amazing because it is at that balanced point. It could be restored but doing it would be prohibitive becaue there is so much.
      It seems Butch has protected his gems from futher deterioration with paint on the outside stuff and cover for the prone. Butch, if you are out there, congratulations on a great job for not only saving this stuff, but for exhibiting it to all while making us wonder how this all came to be in the middle of the rice and yam fields north of Rayne and south of Lawtell. Maybe it should be called Butch's Little Smithsonian. Let me show you some of the booty.

And, I didn't show you the "good stuff". Actually, I showed you a lot of the "good stuff", but, there is more. I felt a little nervous and hurried my browsing, expecting a tap on the back at any moment while I had my body thrust through those little windows. I didn't really look in layers like I should have. There is stuff on the back walls, stuff on the ground and stuff everywhere. You will see more than I did. Plan a day out of it. I hope the restaurant is open. Go on in, I bet the man is in there.
I just couldn't do an interview, I was swooning.. I'll go back.
Now we're going to play a little game. Below I'll list what names that were on the outside wall and we'll see if you can match them with the pictures.

1958 MG
1958 Jaguar
1950 MG TD
1923 Buick Touring Car
1923 Ford Model T
1956 Edsel
1927 Horch
1937 John Deere B
These I saw and didn't see a name and are pure guesses on my part.
1949-53 Ford (my dating car)
Honda 350 197?
Honda (bad) Dream 197?
Corvair 196?
Mercedes (how fine can you get?) 195?
Dodge 194?
Ford Model A 193?
Plymoth 195?

Discoveries

Labelled as, "Turn of the Century Outhouse"
19th to 20th, I'd presume. I hope. I'm telling you, I just glazed the surface.

See the little windows behind the cars?