If Reese Witherspoon Can Ride An Elephant..

So can I.  The State Fair of Louisiana was really an amazing event for me this year.  The reason:  I got to do something I've never done before  -  ride an elephant! 

There were really cool looking tigers in a caged area in the zoo,  one was even white.  I was thinking, this is hilarious - we have the LSU Tigers in one cage just across from the elephants, (Bama's mascot is Big Al, the Elephant) where people were standing in line for a $6 ride.

Maybe what made it more interesting for me were two things.  One,  I'd just seen the movie, "Water for the Elephants," starring Reese Witherspoon, the chick from "Sweet Home Alabama."

She plays the star of a circus,  who rides a beautiful elephant as part of an act.  The movie had the flavor of the epic, "Titanic, " in which a glorious majestic,  history-making event becomes disastrous.   It even stars the guy who played bad guy Cal in "Titanic."   Having just seen that movie with my teenage daughters,  I was ready to jump on Traci the Elephant and go for a spin.

The other reason:  I rode the elephant last Saturday night when the LSU-Bama game was on the radio and TV,  and boy could you hear it blaring on our sister station AM, 1130, KWKH.   People were also watching the "Game of the Century" on laptop computers just before the John Anderson concert.

I can't describe how incredible it felt to be "on top of the world!" Traci was pretty doggone huge.  Her trainer,  Almando Loyal,  was giving her cues  while walking beside us.  He said the secret to training her was the hay she was eating on the ground in front of her.  I even pet her.

Now,  I've been in a hot air balloon, landing on I-65 in North Alabama, and I've flown in a small bi-plane with an acrobatic pilot,  rolling me upside down, but Traci the Elephant is a ride I'll never forget.  It must have been the timing of it,  with the LSU-Bama game and the new movie.

That's something I can dump out of my bucket list.

By the way, the State Fair of Louisiana is still on tonight.

Tell Traci I said, hi!

http://www.statefairoflouisiana.com/