The Big Easy

Bonsoir, Campers! J'ecrite ce soir… oh… I forgot… you're not in New Orleans, and I'm still in the 'US of A'… thankfully!

It's Silver Cliche' here, writing to you this evening from the French Quarter RV Resort in New Orleans, Louisiana. That's right, NOLA, the Big Easy, the Crescent City! Been here 6 hours already and first impressions are that the place needs a good cleaning (I think Tidy Bowl might address most of the smells we encountered in the French Quarter. If that doesn't do it then I'd try lye or acetone.) and some property owners who own at least one paintbrush for every missing tooth.

That said, this place is the site of the original social network. It's obvious that there are three types of people here: 1.) people who are here to party. They are seen on the streets drinking as they walk from bar to club to bar to club. The drink in their hand is to make sure they don't lose any time or buzz between venues. 2.) the people who serve the people who are here to party. That includes of course the waiters, bartenders, musicians, hookers and police. Each of those groups is visible in approximately equal numbers during the daylight hours. I can only guess after dark and 3. people who are here to watch group 1 and group 2. Guess which group Mrs. C' and I are in?

You may recall I'm on an “authenticity” kick. I'd give NOLA high marks for authenticity. Sure, you can say it's a fake French town. To that I'd say 'peut etre'. I think its truly being itself. It's too busy and strained doing that to try being anything else. Here, let me show you a couple of shots of street scenes…

 

 

and here's Jackson Square and the St. Louis Cathedral. It's believed that the east face of the Cathedral shown here would photograph beautifully in the morning sun but that has not been proven since nobody in New Orleans has been both awake and sober enough to try it...

and finally some random house that just seemed to capture the French Quarter…

So, we ate, walked around, saw many types of people (the homeless are highly visible here as are a wide variety of free spirits. ok… profoundly strange people). We saw a guy in black clothing whose face was painted red and he had horns riding a bicycle and pausing to have strangers photograph their girl standing next to him. You don't see that in Vero Beach!

More on NOLA tomorrow. We have another day off the road and have time to explore.

How'd we get here, you ask? Today was the longest driving day of the whole trip. Based on availability here at the FQRV resort we almost two days of driving in one. Naturally we took the fastest route rather than then most scenic. That was I-10. We hit 4 states today (also a high for the trip). Leaving Santa Rosa Beach we continued west across the Florida panhandle. We passed Pensacola and the huge military presence in that area. Of course the Navy is big in Pensacola, but also Eglin AFB is there. The trip odometer read 640 miles total since we left Vero Beach when we rolled into Alabama. It's hard to believe you its that far to the edge of Florida from where we live. Its a big state. We zoomed past storied places in Alabama. Of course there is Mobile (that's pronounced like the Cleveland Browns defensive tackle from the 1960's Moe Beel. OK, I made that part up. I am not sure there was a Moe Beel, but there might have been and if there was he would have played DT and it would have been in Cleveland.) If you ask someone in Alabama how to get to Moe Beel then you'd go where we went. If you ask how to get to Mo-bull then they'll send you to a gas station and if you say “can you tell me how to find Mo-bile then you'll get directions to a cell phone store. You've got to know how to talk 'Bama to get around there. We also passed Bayou La Batre where Forest Gump learned shrimpin'. Then on to Mississippi with I-10 places including Biloxi and Pascagoula. I have no idea what happens in Pascagoula but it rolls off the tongue like undercooked biscuits and I like trying to say it. We also drove through the NASA Stennis Space Center and Gulfport and saw endless marshes and all sorts of waterfrontage.

After 3+ hours we reached Louisiana. It started out totally rural. 20 minutes or more later the extended sprawl of a major city kicked in. Then we crossed Lake Pontchartrain (I started singing Hank William's Sr. songs until I was asked to stop by my 'ma cher amio') and 'bam!' New Orleans. This is literally the first time ever that we have stayed in a commercial campground. Its very clean, well kept and expensive. While we have one of the classier rigs at most state parks (new, shiny, etc.) here we are the low end (a travel trailer set among massive motorhomes, some costing well over $1M including the Prevost across from us).

OK… its been a long day. Tomorrow we'll put on our clothespins (for the nose) and head back in to the French Quarter. I'm hoping to down a beignet or three and hear some music. Tune in tomorrow for news of that!

Au revoir…

SC'