Ben and Sue Day 37

Day 37, Saturday, October 13, 2007

. . . One thing about  travelling is hat one never knows what  each day will bring -- one day is as  mundane as the next is exciting. . . We stayed in a hotel last evening in Tusculoosa, Georgia because we couldnot find a camping area for the longest time and we were both  tired.  Was nice in one way because we could have a very long and a very hot shower.  But difficult in that we had  to take everything we needed from the trailer  to the hotel.

. . . So. . . we started out quite early actually -- about 8:30 -- and were on our way to New Orleans.  What an absolutely boring trip it  was!  There was nothing to look at except trees, trees and more trees on both sides of Interstate 59 and often times even the median had thick trees so we cold not see the oncoming traffic.  Just outside of New Orleans we came upon a huge body of water, which, when I got out my trusty map, I discovered was Lake Pontchartrain.  It was quite scary to me because  the highway went right thru the Lake -- not like Lake Washington though,  where you can see across the lake.  As far as I could see was water.  Then there was this steep hill on the bridge -- I could hardly keep my eyes open!

So we mde it across the bridge  and were continuing to folllow Interstate 10 when all of a sudden we saw a policeman standing in the middle of the highway with his motorcyce lights flashing and forcing everyone to exit.  Oh my goodness we had NO idea where to go from there.  But after a while we saw the way to Interstate 10 again -- only again to have a policeman blocking.  Many people were waiting to get back on the Interstate so we just waited too.  After a while on  the interchange above us we saw two large trucks --one carrying a mobile home -- the other carrying some kind of modular unit completely wrapped in plastic.  Both loads were definitely way over size and so we are guessing the police had to re-direct traffic to let them pass.

. . .Anyway . . . after about ten minutes traffic began to move again and all was well.

. . . We arrived at the camp;ground perhaps about 4PM and had to set up and unhitch the trailer from the truck and fix a broken window.  We noticed the window this morning -- not sure if a rock hit it and broke it or if something else happened but we had to take out the broken glass and use cardboard for now and -- of course what else -- duct tape -- NEVER leave home without it!  So we fixed the window the best we could.  It ws just starting to get dark when we drove down Jefferson Highway a little bit.  We saw a few neighborhoods where one house would be all refurbished/rebuilt since Katrina, and people sitting on the porch in a rocking chair -- outside lights on as if to say "welcome home/welcome back".  But  then the very next house next door was still very water and  wind damaged and left to deteriorate these past two years.

. . . I have a very dear friend who lives near me in Monroe Washington and her sister and brother in law live here in New Orleans.  They have so graciously offered to show us around tomorrow and I am surely looking forward to that.

One other thing I just remembered.  We stopped for lunch at a seafood restaurant.  Ben loves seafood and so he ordered crab -- I think he called it a soft crab -- fried and then put in a bun and "dressed" (decked out with lettuce/tomato).  He thought it was pretty funny that the waitress asked him if he wanted his crab "dressed" and had to think about it for a second.  Neither of us had ever heard that before.  Actually the whole meal was pretty difficult for me -- I ordered a chicken salad which actually was pretty good.  But I had  to sit across from Ben who was eating this "dressed" crab and the crab's legs did not fit into the bun but were sticking out from  the bun.  I can eat seafood but definitely don't prefer it -- actually I always thought it was kind of a waste that I grew up in Saugus -- just a few miles north of Boston Massachusetts and don't particularly love seafood.