New Orleans, Fini

On our last full day in New Orleans, Linda wanted to go to the famed Commander's Palace for lunch.  The restaurant is just a half-mile from us, and she has always wanted to eat there.  Unfortunately, we could not get a reservation for that day, so we decided to go back to Dooky Chase restaurant where we have been before. 

Unpretentious exterior, elegant interior

Dooky's is a New Orleans institution, and its lunch buffet is legendary . . .red beans and rice, veal stew, andouille sausages, fried chicken (some say the best in Louisiana), greens, sweet potatoes, and salad. 

Lunch date

See . . . not Mexican food

Bread pudding . . . what a Southern dessert should look like

After lunch at Dooky's, Linda had to stop at the yarn shop in the French Quarter (no surprise, there) . . . 

The yarn shop on Chartres Street

Inside . . . half yarn, half needlepoint, all luscious

and get some beignets at Cafe Du Monde to enjoy with coffee in the evening.

Required tourist stop

The aroma of fresh beignets is seductive

The dining area is busy 24 hours a day

As always, we had had a terrific time in New Orleans. 

We drove by the Superdome several times

All kinds of musicians on the streets of New Orleans

There's a parade for something, somewhere, nearly every day

Classic view of a carriage ride in the French Quarter

Contrast of the old vs the new in New Orleans

We would have stayed even a few more days, but alas, Thanksgiving Day was upon us.  Jeff and Derrick were going to go to their mother's house up in Jackson, Mississippi, for the day, and we decided we better started heading for home in earnest.

It was hard to see that this wonderful trip was coming to an end, but we did have to get back.  Duties at home called, and so we pulled out of New Orleans on the day before Thanksgiving. 

New Orleans, Culture

It was time to partake of some local artistic culture (or so we thought).  So, we (along with Jeff and some of his friends) went to an outdoor play that was part of the Fringe Festival going on that week. (Google Fringe Festival.)

The narrator, Turtle, greeted us as we walked to the play site

The play was titled The Vanities of the Poor.  So far as we could tell, there was nothing about "the poor" in it.  We really couldn't tell what it was about at all.  The audience had to stand or sit on the ground and then move around as the scenes moved from place to place in the small city park.

Did the crowd love it? We couldn't tell.

To the cast (and many in the audience) the play was oh-so-very-important.  I guess we're just not sophisticated enough to understand what it was all about. 

The cast and the orchestra

The ending was just weird

Was it worth the $8 ticket price?  Definitely not, we all concurred afterward.  Fortunately, it was not vulgar, simply boring.   

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After the "play" we went to Buffa's to see the latest episode of Treme (an HBO drama about New Orleans) on the big screen, and to hear some live music. 

An enthusiastic crowd at Buffa's

We love the live music in this town . .  most of the musical talent is simply amazing.

Jazz pianist Al "Carnival Time" Johnson was the night's headliner

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The next day there was a free concert at the Joy Theater by Grammy award winning Chucho Valdes.  This was a big event in the city.  Valdes is one of the premier jazz pianists of all time . . . right up there with Oscar Peterson and Chick Corea.  

See his website:  Chucho Valdes Website .

We were near the front of the line

The Valdes Quintet

His playing is simply magical

To round out our Crescent City experience, we wanted to get come Cajun cooking and drive through the Quarter again.

BTW, it's not the French Quarter, doncha know?   Real N'awlins folks just call it The Quarter.) 

Come back and enjoy the rest of New Orleans with us.

New Orleans, Family

New Orleans is a fascinating city with outstanding music, fabulous cuisine, and unique shopping.  If you choose wisely, there are lots of worthwhile things to do here.  But first, a nice long visit with Frank's cousins was in order.

We have stayed at the Chambliss shop a couple of times before so by now we are getting to know our way around the city.

on Tchoupitoulas . . .

. . . about a half-mile to the bridge over the Mississippi

Linda drove over the above bridge to the Verizon store to --finally-- turn on the Samsung touchscreen phone that Chanda had given her back in San Diego (when Chanda upgraded to a new, better, faster, bigger, Samsung).  But Linda loved her old Blackberry-type phone, even with the sticky keys, lethargic response, and tiny screen. But in the laid-back atmosphere of New Orleans, Linda took on the challenge of relearning a cell phone.  And it was good. 

And Jeff and Derrick (their father and Frank's father were brothers) were frequent visitors to Pooh.

 Our gracious hosts

We also visited Jeff's house to see the post-Katrina rebuilding progress. 

Most of the outside repairs have been made

He says it has been exasperating dealing with insurance, government red tape, and the scarcity of contractors.  He had hoped to have the repairs completed by now.  The inside of his house had to be completed gutted and is now being rebuilt.  

The water came half-way up the door opening

It is closer to completion than you might think

Jeff is living in the Airstream during construction

Soon we were anxious to get out and about see venture into the art and culture of New Orleans.

Come back and see what we found.

New Orleans, Bridge and Bacon

Next stop . . . New Orleans . . . to visit Frank's cousins, listen to good music, get some good Cajun cooking, and rest our bones after the long drive from California.   Frank's cousins, Jeff and Derrick, own an auto body shop near the Garden District, complete with full RV-hook ups in their lot (thanks to post- Katrina trailers provided to the cousins by FEMA because their houses were flooded out). 

Private, family oriented . . . and the price is right

So we pulled into the back lot late one afternoon and settled in for a nice visit in New Orleans.  

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Also living in New Orleans is another Oceanside High School grad from the Class of 1962, John Onstott.  Both Frank and John were on the OHS football team. 

Two All-League members of the 1962 Pirates offensive front line

John was at the reunion in Oceanside and invited us to a party he and his wife Eleanor were giving on November 17 at their lovely home that faces Lake Ponchartrain . . . kind of a pre-holiday get together with his bridge club and business clients.  If you play bridge, you will recognize John as a Grand Life Master and one of the biggest names in the contract bridge world.

As it so happened, that date worked in perfectly with our travel plans, and so we scheduled our driving back East so we'd be in New Orleans for the event.  In fact, we pulled into New Orleans just the day before the party.

Bridge aficionados all . . .

Hard to see . . . but there was live music and dancing by the pool

Where does the bacon fit in?  Well, among the tasty delights of the evening was an item called Sweet Chile Bacon . . . a Cajun concoction if there ever was one.  It is simply thick-cut bacon that has been sprinkled with a little brown sugar and chili powder, and then baked in the oven to delightful crispness.   The bacon was just part of an amazing spread of shrimp, spicy pasta, beef tournedos, crab and assorted salads and finger desserts.

A luscious New Orleans buffet

After most of the guests had left, John opened up the good wine and real Cuban cigars and he, Frank and a few other good friends really got down to some male bonding by the far end of the pool.

What a great time we had!  It was a delightful evening.

Romans 1:20

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.  Romans 1:20

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With the dust storm behind us, and the glorious western landscape ahead of us, we woke up the next morning and continued our drive east.  The duct tape repairs were holding well, the weather was clear, and we had a beautiful drive over the next couple of days to Houston.

There were no incidents of note, just a glorious drive through God's creation.   Enjoy the trip with us!

We pulled into Houston anxious to spend a couple of days visiting with Chanda.  We have always loved visiting Texas, and it is a treat to have our daughter now living there.  We had a great time with her.

Sitting pretty just off the Sam Houston Parkway

We are blessed.

Desert Storm and Duct Tape

Our first day's drive toward home brought us to Tonopah, AZ, to the park where we had stayed on the way to California.  Quite a nice park, and a perfect distance for a day's drive from Riverside.  We had planned to make it to New Mexico on our second day out . . . in fact, we had planned to basically retrace our steps and stopping points from the trip out.  What we had NOT planned on was the dust storm that was blowing south of Phoenix all the way to Casa Grande (just north of Tucson).

See that car in front of us?  We couldn't either!

At first, the dust was just a nuisance, and we knew our gas mileage was suffering.  But soon, we heard a chattering from the back of the coach, and discovered that the bedroom window on the driver's side was flapping like an angry bird, and appeared about to take flight.  The latch had broken and the wind was about to rip the whole thing off.  We pulled off at the next exit, and Frank duct taped the thing down and we were on our way again.

Barely noticeable, and still intact

But, we weren't 10 miles down the road until there was loud thumping and vibration from the passenger side of Pooh.  At first, we thought we had blown a tire, but Linda looked out the window to discover that the awning was blowing loose, and the awning arms were beginning to separate and pull away from the rig.  Major problem, no doubt.

Miles and miles of wind and low visibility

Frank pulled to shoulder immediately and got out to inspect.   This was not a good situation.  Linda was still in the motorhome and listening to other items (like vent covers and the TV antenna) flapping and banging on the roof.  Soon we saw a couple of semi-trucks pull off to the side as well, with similar wind-related problems.   We were in the middle of a 50 mph dust storm in the Arizona desert.  Just ducky.  

Linda had to get out of the motorhome herself to help Frank . . . no easy task with the high wind blowing against the door.  She did panic, a bit.

Eventually, with some tense moments, Frank and Linda were able to get the now-shredded awning re-rolled up onto the side of the motorhome and the locks on it re-engaged.  (There are no pictures of this scene because it was too terrifying to contemplate letting go of anything we were holding on to, in order to try and focus a camera on the situation).

Everything looked well, and we pulled back onto the highway to continue.  We were not five miles down the road before the awning started acting up again.  This time, we were able to get to an exit before the thing pulled completely out.  We parked on the sheltered side of a Denny's restaurant, and rerolled the thing again.  This time Frank used his duct tape to tape the arms of the awning together so that the wind could not do further damage.

The gray of the duct tape coordinates nicely with the exterior graphics

It was a scary day.  We only made it to a campground just south of Tucson that night, and even that, just barely.  These incidents are like the horror stories we sometimes read about in our RV magazines; we never thought we might be in one ourselves.

Thank goodness for duct tape.

We will need a new fabric on the awning.

California Wrap Up

Our month in the Oceanside RV Park came to an end on November 2 and we had to vacate the site.   The monthly rate had been quite acceptable, but their daily rate was outrageous.  However, we were not quite ready to leave the area, so we scouted around for another place to stay for a few days.

Enter our good friend Susie Bruun one more time; she told us that several of the local Elks Clubs had small RV parks.  Susie and her son-in-law John Corbin (who is Exalted Ruler of the Encinitas Elks Club) arranged for us to stay in the Vista RV park as their guests.

Woo hoo.  We couldn't turn down that offer.

Elks Club RV Park

We lived in Vista for over 30 years, and drove by the Elks Club hundreds of times.  We had no idea there was an RV park behind the club.

John Corbin paying a visit to Pooh II

We stayed there for 5 nights. Lovely place, but no TV service, so what else could we do but buy that satellite we'd been talking about. (Note the coax cable coming through the driver's window above.)

Pooh enters the 21st century

We were close to our house in Vista, so we made a couple of swings by the place to make sure the tenant hadn't painted it purple or something. 

So many memories here

Actually the whole cul-de-sac is now rental properties and the lack of pride of ownership is beginning to show.  But, we are grateful to have a responsible tenant.

We also "joined" the Valley View Casino, and we each got a Players Card.   The real deal with this card is that the casino gives you one free dinner at its all-you-can-eat Lobster Buffet. 

Our ticket to the lobster buffet

We met our good friend Tina Baroni, her daughter, sister and brother-in-law at the Casino, and feasted on the buffet.  It was better than most Las Vegas buffets.  The lobster, of course, was not on par with what we had in Maine, but the price was definitely right.

Casino promo picture . . . in reality, they serve you one tail at a time

Fellow lobster lovers

And there was one last shopping trip at the Best Grocery Story In The World, Frazier Farms in Vista, CA.  Truly a remarkable place with the freshest produce, the best bulk bins, fabulous prepared dishes, hormone free beef and poultry, incredible baked goods, etc., etc.   California does have the best and freshest product anywhere . . . and the cheapest, also.  Of course, most of it is grown within 100 miles of the stores, so this is to be expected.   No other state compares . . . and we have been to a few states!

One of the few places in California that Linda misses

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Updates from the Old Friends, New Memories post:  Tina's daughter had her baby.   A healthy, hearty (9 lb 8 oz) baby Hudson was born on November 3.   Mother, son, and grandmother are all doing well!  And our friend Gloria finally was able to go home from the rehab center.  She is getting strong every day from her back surgeries, and we hope she will be able to visit us again in Florida this winter.

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Our last stop in California was up in Riverside to spend a few hours with Frank's brother Phil, and his significant other, Theresa.

Our last visit in California . . . at Phil and Theresa's place

Too soon, we were back on Interstate 10, this time heading east . . .

It seems as though we just got here.