Louisiana - Pineville to New Orleans
January 8, 2008 - New Orleans, Louisiana -- Since our last update two and a half weeks ago, we have covered a lot of ground. We spent the week of Christmas in Austin. On Sunday the 23rd, we took the city bus to downtown Austin, about a thirty minute ride, where we did a self guided walking tour of the capitol building, had a very nice (and expensive) dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House (recommended in Zagat) and walked the Trail of Lights, a Christmas light display at a downtown city park.
On December 29 we packed up and headed southeast to Conroe, Texas, about 30 miles north of Houston. Joe's sister Patty and her husband Mike live in Conroe. We had originally planned to stay a week here, but because Patty and Mike had previous plans to travel to California, and also because Joe and I REALLY wanted to move on out of Texas, we boondocked overnight at Walmart, where Patty works the graveyard shift. We met up with Patty and Mike in the morning, had a nice breakfast at Denny's, chatted for an hour or so, said our goodbyes and headed due east towards Pineville, Louisiana.
Amy and Abbey in Pineville, LA Pineville is located across the Red River from Alexandria in central Louisiana. My friend Amy who I know from when I lived in Long Beach lives there in an old plantation style home built in the 1800's. Her house is right on the levee. We arrived around 4pm. Amy was in the process of cooking up an authentic southern dinner consisting of a roast, sweet potatoes, rice and Okra. It was wonderful, although I must say that okra must take some time to aquire a taste for. I had to work on the 31st, so spent most of the day at my desk. That evening, we ordered a pizza and spent the evening having pizza watching a good movie (Reign over Me with Adam Sandler). Fireworks were going off all over town for New Years Eve. Amy's five year old daughter Abbey was very entertaining. She is very intelligent and as can be expected for a five year old... a handful for Amy.
On January 1, we were back on the road again, headed south to New Orleans. We pulled into Bayou Segnette State Park at 6 PM, just after dark. This park is about a 13 mile drive from downtown New Orleans yet when in the park, you'd never know you were near a big city. Very nice. The only problem is that it does not provide a sewer connection so we have to be conservative with our water consumption to keep the holding tanks from filling up. Today, eight days after arriving, we drove to the campground entrance to dump the tanks. We'll be good now until we leave this Saturday.
Bourbon Street, New Orleans We rented a car this last weekend so we could check out downtown New Orleans. Our visit coincided with the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) Championship football game in The Big Easy, taking place Monday night (last night) between LSU and Ohio State (LSU won 38-17). The big draw in New Orleans is the French Quarter, and specifically Bourbon Street, the center of activity. It is four weeks until Mardi Gras, but this event created a huge crowd in the streets all over the quarter. It was insane (but fun)!
On Sunday Joe and I drove through the lower Ninth Ward where flooding from hurricane Katrina did so much damage. We checked out on of the levees there holding back the river and drove through some of the streets. There are still a lot of boarded up homes and others under renovation. It felt a bit intrusive because real people are living there, so we didn't really spend a lot of time there.
Natchez Steamboat Later that afternoon, we took a two hour cruise on the Mississippi River aboard the Steamship Natchez. This is a genuine steam powered sternwheeler, the ninth in a line of ships named Natchez since the first one built in the 1800's. This one was built in 1975 and made of steel. It was very interesting both in terms of the ship itself as well as seeing the sights along the river.
On Saturday, we will actually cross the Florida state line. Pensacola is about a three to four hour drive from here. We'll be crossing over the states of Mississippi and Alabama on the way there. Our plan at this point is to spend next week in Pensacola and then travel south along the west coast of Florida making our way to the keys.
We've had good luck with weather for most of the trip. There have been some cold nights, a few cold days, a little rain here and there, some windy days, but it's currently a humid 66 deg at 11 PM after a day of 78 degrees. There is a chance of thunderstorms for the next 2-3 days. Ahh, the south!
That pretty much brings us up to date.