Three hurricane evacuees from Vidor, Texas, received a Cass County treat last week. They took a mule-team wagon ride from the country into town to watch a football practice.
The old-time event helped Jalynn and Kristalynn Bloomer and Grycie Dody, all of Vidor, take their minds off the devastation of flooding. Jane Blizzard hitched up the pair of mules to her late husband Joe Blizzard's wagon and away everyone went.
That's "away" in a modest sense. The ride in from Smyrna to the Atlanta Middle School took an hour and a half. Once there, the wagoneers picked up Jane's grandson, Ty Blizzard, after football practice.
"My husband, Joe Blizzard, was always giving people a wagon ride," Jane Blizzard said of her husband, who died two years ago at age 61.
"He wouldn't have wanted me to sell the mules, so I've kept them and hitch them up to the wagon when I can to do the same for others."
Vidor resident Jaylynn is a 2013 graduate of Atlanta High School who now works in Vidor. The three left Vidor before the flood hit to come and stay with relative Bobbie McDowell.
"There was nothing we could do there when the rain started," Jalynn said. "It turned out to be 52 inches of rainwater. The most any town got. There was also no work and now no pay for two weeks. We don't know when we can go back or what we'll find when we do."
"It was devastating being there," said Kristalynn Bloomer. "No gasoline, water, sewer or lights. When we left, we took the one interstate road out, and once you were out you could not get back in. We're here until the water is down and the substations of electricity are working again."
Blizzard stopped the mules under a shady tree where everyone could see football players through the limbs of a tree on the green grass of a nice-looking practice field. It was an 80-degree, unusually comfortable and beautiful fall day.
"Even the mules were glad to be out in this cool weather. They started off almost at a run. They finally got a little tired and slowed down," she said.
The travelers were plenty comfortable in the wagon. They enjoyed music from a solar-powered CD player and had ice drinks close by. Not everything was as far back in time as the mule-team and farm wagon.
"Joe and I would go on trail rides, especially with the Cowboy Church people. He liked to be around others and help people. So I'm glad we can help these evacuees enjoy their time with us here," Blizzard said.