"Rainbows and Unicorns" part 1.
As will be expected on an adventure such as this, traffic will be encountered. That was the case on DAY ONE as we tried to get through Cincinnati. The plan for our first day on the trip was to go about 500 miles south to try and get below the 'frost' line so the pipes would not freeze in the trailer. Well, I-75 was closed to all south bound traffic just before Cincinnati, so the detour added over an hour to an already long first day. We almost rear-ended a very small Japanese car as she decided to stop dead in the second lane while I was gaining a head of steam with my 10 ton rig. Lots of horn work did not make a difference and the brakes and tires worked well and a disaster was avoided. Clue-less, she drove away as if nothing ever happened. In the end, Rainbows and Unicorns prevailed.
"Gas Mileage Triple Threat"
Lots of money was spent prior to this trip on the truck to help reliability, comfort and mileage. That being said, a truck that weighs over 6900 lbs, pulling a fully loaded Jayco fifth wheel at 14, 500 lbs up a 5% grade, with a 40 mph headwind is a fuel mileage killer. We still realized 8 mpg. Well below my 10 mpg goal, but the new engine and tune up was worth every penny.
"Rainbows and Unicorns" part 2
In contrast to Cincinnati, Birmingham AL was a dream. When we saw the 'red' line on the GPS tracker and expected 'rush hour', we were delayed five minutes. Rush hour my ass.
"TEXT FLASH: Flood warning for the area you are in"
Not something you see at home, for sure. We were in Meridian Mississippi when we got that flash. Three inches of rain in six hours. It was raining so hard that when we decided to stay in and watch a DVD, we had the surround sound on full blast and still could not hear the TV above the noise of the rain hitting the top of the trailer. (Bonus: Time for a bigger sound system!).
As a side note: We have hit a lot of 'weather' on the way down to New Orleans. We have been extremely lucky to catch breaks in the rain to set up or take down the site. 'Someone' is looking out for us so far.
"The House of the Rising Sun"
If you google 'House of the Rising Sun', it tells you that this building is PRESUMED to be the house of ill repute depicted in the song. That was good enough for Tom and I. (Did you know when you write down the acronym it is HORS (get it? Whores!).
We arrived in New Orleans on Friday, April 1st, during a huge rain storm. On Saturday, we decided to take the truck down to the HORS and then check out St. Louis cathedral. (I know, right?)
No one told me about the width of the streets in the French Quarter. Tight is an understatement. We pulled unto one street and cars were all parked on one side and a moving van was parked on the other side. The term 'KY jelly and a shoe horn' came up, and we squeezed the dually between the cars. I was cool but the passengers had to learn how to breathe again. (We never took the truck back down there again BTW).
"Doctor Gumbo, I Presume?"
Words I never thought would never pass my lips. Thanks to a retirement gift from the Joe Kapral family, we went on a Culinary Tour of the French Quarter run by the good Doctor Gumbo. We met at a great little fancy restaurant called SoBou. (South of Bourbon Street). We started the tour there with two samples of fancy gourmet food and proceeded to spend the next three hours walking the French Quarters experiencing everything from shrimp on a stick, to Leah's Pralines, to a muffalato (the BEST), a po'boy, oysters, a hot sauce bar and Cafe duMonde. We highly recommend trying something like this if you hit this city! Thanks Micki!
Some Pictures:
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| "Dinosaur World" near Mammoth Cave KY |
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| Car Guy Heaven. National Corvette Museum |
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| My point of view. Please note GPS is white on land. |
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| Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. Longest over the water bridge in the world. |
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| Note GPS over water is blue. For 32 miles. Blue. |
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| Tom Rybicki at The House Of The Rising Sun. |
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| Bourbon St. A post unto itself. |
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| Sitting at the bar at SoBou waiting for Doctor Gumbo. |
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| Shrimp on a stick |
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| The best sample of the tour; Muffalato |
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| Cafe duMonde |
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| Dinner with the Neighorns at the Pontchartrain Landing Campground |
Til the next time!
Bump
I drove that causeway at night. I thought I had wound up on a runway. My headlights and the white lane markers were all I could see. I left NOLA a couple of hours after sun up that same morning. It was the final leg of my north to south trip from Moose Factory to NOLA and I do believe that excursion was the last time I went on the road.
ReplyDeleteI am glad, that like normal travelers you're having a good time Steve, stupid people in traffic--trust me they are everywhere.