Mardi Gras in New Orleans

Today is the last day of Mardi Gras and the last two parades are in the morning and we miss the sign up for the shuttle. But a couple near us were going to take their truck in and offered us a ride. We met him as he was taking out their trash. He was wearing surgical gloves and shook hands with us with them on. That was weird. We were to take off at 9 AM, but they were late and we got off after 930.

He was driving wearing surgical gloves. We decide he has some skin disease. They are possibly younger than us, hard to tell. But he drives like someone 95.

He was born and grew up in New Orleans. They lived here in the Garden District until a few years ago when they moved to Florida to be close to her elder parents. They just have her mom, 89, left. Mom is very clingy and they bring her along everywhere. Today they left her in the RV with the dog.

Our driver is having a constant conversation with himself about where he should turn and what off ramp to take and he misses his off ramp. I am quietly semi cracking up in the back seat as we have to cross over the Mississippi bridge away from the city and turn around to come back and pay $1 toll. I thought he was going to miss the turn off again, but he made it. He dropped us off at the old mint where we were used to getting off the shuttle bus. He dropped his wife there also along with her chair and 2 canes. He was going to get the truck parked and come back and help her to Jackson Square where she just sat and people watched. He was in costume and planned to go to a party. Takes all kinds.

We walked over toward the parade routes. Although it was morning we decided to walk down Bourbon street.

We ran across the street parade group Mondo Kayo.

Mondo Kayo, to be sure, has an aesthetic all its own. Compared to mainstream parades, which tend to be highly organized and prepackaged, Mondo Kayo is footloose and rambunctious -- a tribal free-for-all. Their (mostly homemade) regalia is generally tropically themed, but in the spirit of do-it-yourself performance art, individual participants are free to decide for themselves what may please the Tiki gods. And the fact that the krewe operates on the fanciful premise that New Orleans is the northernmost banana republic -- backward by some standards yet blessed with tropical abundance -- seems to encourage a gonzo mentality whereby participants gleefully embrace “primitive” Bacchanalian impulses. That, and copious quantities of early-morning beer.

I got the quote from a cached page by Chuck Busch one of the founders back in 1982.
Their emphasis is obscure African and Caribbean music.


Bourbon Street is the home of colorful characters like the tit lady.
The doom and gloom prophets were out in force. There are 4 campers full of them here. They have fluorescent lettering on the sides predicting the end of the world May 21,2012. Even though we thought we were too late for the Zulu parade we really missed only the first few floats. the Zulu Social aid and Pleasure club has been in existence as a Mardi Gras Krewe since 1909. Their membership is mostly black and they parade in black face.You can tell we were down at ground level and far back in the crowd today.I made friends with Gregory, 5, and his sister Jay Cee, 10. Jay Cee says that she is going to get to ride on a float next year though she doesn't know what parade.
After the Zulu Parade William and I went to Remoulade. William had "Taste of Louisiana" and I had Crawfish pies. All very tasty. We wandered back to Canal Street to watch the Rex parade. Very fancy floats with a literary theme.
After Rex came the truck parade. These are neighborhood floats pulled by semis. All the other parades have their floats pulled by tractors. We watch a few of these, but it is after 3 and we have to walk back to the mint as our ride wanted to leave at 4. No more walking down Bourbon Street. Way too crowded. We chose a less crowded route and found another street parade from Preservation Hall.
Out of the dragon's mouth and back home to the RV.

A Long Revelry Filled Sunday

The weather dawned crisp and not quite clear, but with no rain in sight. We took the shuttle into town and after a coffee began a stroll through the French Quarter toward the Uptown parade route. Five huge parades were on the agenda today, Okeanos, Mid City, Thoth, Bacchus, and Endymion.
We happened upon the Bacchus Krewe members loading themselves and their throws onto regular city horse/mule drawn carriages that they had reserved. From the line, it looked like they had all the carriages.
We decided to pay for the viewing stand at Serio's again as it gave you good views of the parades and access to bathrooms. Though one time when I went up the long flight of stone steps to use the facilities a number of women had staged a takeover of the men's room. The Women's had one working and one broken stall, none with doors. The men's had two working stalls with doors and a trough style urinal. The women's line usually was at least 10 deep. I usually lined up anytime I thought I might have to go and didn't drink much. I think the takeover was staged because a number of beer filled younger women did not want to wait.

The Parades of Okeanos and Mid City were kid themed.

But even though the floats were kid centric and the children loved the throws. Throws are dangerous, though the injuries I incurred and saw happen to others were minor. I caught a large packaged throw containing a heavy medallion on the end of my thumb and broke the nail badly about 1/2 way down. I kept it wrapped in a handkerchief the rest of the day. I also jammed the fingers on my right hand and was hit a couple of times with full bags of beads I did not see coming as it got darker. I saw others complain of finger jams and saw a guy wiping blood from his face after a throw hit him in the forehead. Next to us a young woman was sitting down with her youngest who had fallen asleep when he was hit with a bag of beads.
The Thoth parade had much fancier floats with a theme of university departments after their Thoth Egyptian style floats. The floats were interspersed between bands and marching,dancing, or equestrian units.
There was supposed to be a few hours break between the morning parades and the evening parades, but the morning parades were delayed and took longer and stretched into dusk. We wound up grazing on shared bits of Serio food throughout the day. The night was cooler and I was already wary of the throws, so I had been spending more time resting down in Serio's. As a consequence, I missed the first float of Bacchus with their parade celebrity, Anderson Cooper. But Bill was there and made eye contact with Anderson and was tossed a plastic cup with Anderson Cooper's visage on it. He was pretty thrilled. The Bacchus floats with their main theme of honoring our armed forces were very impressive. They had a lot of vintage vehicles including a real Sherman Tank.

The only touch of irreverence I noted was in this float labeled The Greatest Generation which was covered with clowns. Did they mean to imply that The Greatest Generation were a pack of clowns?
Endymion's light filled floats were fabulous, but we were both weary and left at midnight. Our goal was to walk to an area where we could call a cab company that would take us to the KOA for a flat rate. But New Orleans was in total gridlock with the intersections filled and unmoving in all directions and of course everyone was honking. We walked and walked and successive policemen encouraged us to head to the Amtrak/Greyhound Station where we might find a cab. The station was closed and locked for the night. Will open at 5AM was posted on the front. We joined a few others stranded there and called for a cab. After 3 calls and 40 minutes a cab pulled up. A black woman immediately rushed up to it and claimed it even though she admitted that she had not called. So we said we were OK with sharing the cab and he could take her home first since she was nearby. So we drove on into the projects and dropped her where she wanted. The driver asked us if we were frightened to be driven into the projects and I said we were too old to be afraid and that it looked like the projects were all asleep anyway. I did say I wouldn't walk around in them. He said that you would never see those who would find you. He made it sound like a jungle and I guess in a sense it is, although we have been told that in renovating the project area New Orleans has tried to make it a more mixed housing and mixed income area. We arrived home exhausted after 2AM.
We slept in today and did little besides some house cleaning and laundry.

More New Orleans

Today was parades, rain and the Insectarium.

We rode the street car from the French Market to Canal Street, just to ride. We paid full fare and then read on the side of the fare box that seniors get a much reduced rate. Nothing said about being a resident of Louisiana either. We walked down St. Charles a block or two until we came to some viewing stands built over the street. We went in to Sergio's Po-Boy Deli and were told that you buy your way on and that also gives you access to the bathroom. So, why not. The parade was a long parade by the Tucks Krewe associated with Loyola. Some of the bigger floats did have the edginess that we had hoped for. There were floats making fun of Farmville, Viagra, breast enhancement, Twitter, Match.com, etc.None of the floats were any where near as elaborate as the ones that we saw in Viareggio. The Viareggio floats were as elaborate as those in the Rose Parade, but with very edgy themes. No goody, goody stuff.
By now it was pouring rain and it was hard to take pictures from under an umbrella while trying to keep the camera dry and still shout for beads and prizes. By the end of the parade I looked as if I had been thrown in the river and fished back out. But we had about 20 lbs. of beads and prizes.
We went back down into Sergio's to get fresh beers, dry off, and finish the one Muffuletta Sandwich with Olive Salad we had bought there earlier. That is one big sandwich.
After we were semi recovered, we went a block back down to Canal St. to the Insectarium, a neat museum all about insects. We finished up the day with a drink while waiting for the shuttle bus.

New Orleans

We took the shuttle bus in from KOA West New Orleans to get a taste of the city today. We started out at Cafe Du Monde for beignets. Richard had a box of beignet mix one time I was visiting and I tried my hand. My effort was not any where near the original.

Our walking tour next took us to the St Louis Cathedral Basilica, the oldest Catholic Cathedral in the United States. It was lovely, but the cathedrals of Europe have spoiled us for anything in the USA.

Next we went to the Louisiana State history museum. Did I mention it was raining? Off and on rain and wind, but the temperature was mild. I got tired in the history museum and began to just read bits. But it was impressive how the Louisiana territories bounced back and forth between France and Spain a number of times before being sold to the US 16 days after Spain had given the territory back to France. Napoleon wanted the money more than the territory and the US wanted to secure the Mississippi trade route. I was also impressed with the disease in this city in a swamp.
We rested with a leisurely lunch at The French Market. I had fried catfish on sweet potato fries with hush puppies and William had jambalaya. The meal was delicious.

More walking tour then back to the State Museum for the Katrina exhibit. Very powerful and so sad.
More walking and a drink before heading back to the old US Mint for the shuttle home.

Day Eleven: Louisiana

We took it easy getting off today and then spent a leisurely day getting lost on back roads in South Louisiana. Road signs or lack thereof do leave something to be desired. We found the highest rated restaurant in Houma, LA purely by accident.

William: I'm turning here. I want to find downtown. Me: But that says No Outlet. William: Look this is a restaurant. It looks busy, so it must be good.

And it was good. http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-18180033R-abears_restaurant-i

We both had the lunch special. Fried shrimp patty, white beans on rice and potato salad. None left for dinner and no room for their special desserts.

A Bear's Cafe est 1963

Day Ten; Louisiana

We spent this morning at the Acadian Cultural Center learning a lot of history I did not know about the Acadian people. These French peasant people were searching for freedom and found it in Nova Scotia or New France. They landed just before the pilgrims landed in Plymouth. They were pretty much abandoned, but they were resourceful people who made friends with the natives and began to prosper. When the British took over Canada the Acadians were eventually thrown out of the country in a very brutal way. First the British confiscated all the peoples guns. Then when they complained the British required all the men and boys to congregate in churches and other meeting places to discuss the issue of the guns. The Acadian men were then locked in and arrested. The women and girls were required to pack up what they could carry of their belongings and march to the sea where they were placed on boats. The plan was to distribute them among the various colonies, but the colonies did not want them. Some were imprisoned and some were sent back to France. More than half of the ten thousand deported died. Here is another culture that has had it's trail of tears.
After 10 years land was offered in Louisiana to fifteen hundred who had returned to France. This was the start of the Cajun culture in Louisiana. Many more followed and were successful here. The first houses they built were made of palmettos.
Time for lunch in St. Martinville. I ordered an alligator sausage po-boy and Wm ordered chicken/sausage gumbo. Then we switched half way through. Pretty good stuff. Someome had written on the chalkboard that listed evening entertainments that the latest ghost sighting was by Brad Tibadeaux on 2/5/11. I asked the waitress and she said she knew nothing, although there are a lot of ghosts around there. But she was from Breaux Bridge.
The church had encouraged catholic settlers here. We went in to look and then walked around back to see the statue of Evangeline. Longfellow is famous in these parts for his poem about the Acadians, "Evangeline." Also the Evangeline Oak is back of the church. Lots of things that commemorate this piteous history.

St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church

Evangeline and Me

Evangeline Oak and Me

Next on our agenda was the Longfellow Evangeline State Historic Site. We toured a large two story Acadian house then walked out to smaller Acadian houses next to the Bayou Teche. William was right at home here.
Round and round on back roads until we arrived at our destination for the night Lake Fausse Pointe State Park. Nice park and after we set up William wondered off to the water behind us leaving the door open. Then I am yelling for him as a small brown bird flew right in the RV, pooped on my seat and flew out the door. Thankfully it did fly right out.

Where William was when the bird flew in

Day Nine; Louisiana

Today was a day for sightseeing. We managed two sights and lunch.

We drove down Front Street in Natchitoches with the iron pillars holding up balconies with iron railings. Iron gas lamps were lit on the fronts of the commercial buildings. Fort St. Jean Baptiste State Historic Park was our first stop. We watched the movie and looked at the displays inside before we walked out to the replica of the fort. The fort was quite amazing and the docents were wonderful. When we arrived one was caulking some chinks in the walls with a mixture of mud and dead Spanish moss and another was getting ready to light a fire in the bread oven. Since we were the only tourists, we were given a private tour of all the aspects of the fort.

The docent even fired off a flintlock for us and regaled us with many of the common slang expressions that come from the flintlock such as; “Don't go off half-cocked,” “lock, stock and barrel,” and “flash in the pan.” The French had good relations with the Indians as they were ordered to make friends with the natives by their king in the interest of trading with them. The original fort was built in 1716 to prevent the Spanish forces in the province of Texas from coming across the border of French Louisiane.

By the time we left the fort it was time for lunch so we headed to Mama's Oyster house. William had a fried catfish Po-boy. I wanted to have something unusual so I chose stuffed soft shell crabs. Very good, but a huge plate of food. I ate ½ and we will have the rest for dinner.

After lunch we took the historic Cane River Highway to the Oakland Plantation. We had a guided tour of the plantation house with just one other couple. The plantation was occupied by the Prud'homme family continuously from 1785 to 1990. The park was established in 1994 and furnished with furnishings from the Prud'hommes in the style of the 50/60's. The house was added on and enlarged starting soon after it was originally built when Mrs. Prud'homme brought home furniture from France that was too large for the house. The last add on was an indoor kitchen and kitchen eating area in the 50's complete with the ubiquitous chrome/formica table and chrome/plastic upholstered chairs of the type everyone had in the late 50's. Mrs. Prud'homme chose yellow. My mom chose red and passed the set on to us in the 70's. I would not leave the grounds until we had found the privy. It was worth walking to the other side of the house to find a communal 3 holer for adults and a small low hole for little ones. I could not help but think of Axel. He knows why.

Day Eight; the first of many in Louisiana

We decided to try a series of Texas Farm to Market roads to avoid freeways in the Dallas area. This might have worked better if William had gone over the route with me prior to departure. Here is William planning the route with Val in a picture shot by Ben.

Farm Roads can change direction abruptly and although you may be going in the most traveled direction your Farm Road may have cut off to the left or the right. William said why are there no big road signs and I said if people are driving here they already know where they are and the small signs telling you that you are in Wylie or Emory are sufficient.

We needed to freshen up our groceries a bit so we stopped in a Brookshire in Emory. We pulled out of the parking lot and went a bit before we realized that we were on the wrong road. We had entered the parking lot prior to an intersection and exited after the intersection and the road we wanted had taken a jog.

Farm Roads are also fun to drive with no shoulder, narrow lanes and 55MPH traffic that feels like you are flying along a tiny curvy track. We crossed Lake Lavon twice in different directions on different roads. Gray shallow water with skinny tree trunks sticking up like sparse dark hair and tiny white caps from the fierce wind on the narrow bridges. This is where Val's tap water comes from. Water is sucked up out of the reservoir into a tall water tower so the water can flow to the houses and come out of the taps smelling like a swamp.

Finally we found Route 69. We decided to just follow it to I20 and then I49 rather than do any more fooling with back roads. But you do miss a bit of the countryside. Once we were on the interstate with wide mowed meridians and verges bordered by skinny short needle pines and hardwoods, we might have been on an interstate south of Jacksonville FL except for no kudzu.

We pulled off at Ajax into the Country Living RV park. Quiet now that the small sawmill across the road has shut down for the day. William shot a few pictures and spent time looking for the resident alligator in the RV park pond. That alligator is sleeping on the job as he has missed a few little yipper dogs tied up outside RV's.

William found no sign of the alligator, though he was told it had been seen today.




Ajax, Louisiana sawmill

Day Seven in Lucas

A long day at the laundermat because the dryer is not working right. Ben ate a huge lunch at Cici's and had fun taking pictures. We also went out to dinner at Mexigo.

Ben's cleaned dinner plate

Richard and Robert at dinner

Self portrait of the artist

More self portraits of the artist

The artist doing tricks

Grandma

Ben and the car

Ben at Lunch