February 9 to February 15, 2002

The time has come to make our best try at a description of Mardi Gras, but I still feel inadequate to the task......and this is Friday evening after 3 days to recover from the experience.  Still, tomorrow morning may be our last shot at a digital cellphone connection this weekend, as we are going back toward the coast and expect more analog only connections, so here goes.....I have a full pot of coffee, a container of grapefruit, and motivation driven by the desperation of NO MORE PROCRASTINATION TIME left.  :-)

Saturday February 9 we made our first stab at the New Orleans Rapid Transit Authority city bus lines to make our way to the French Quarter.  We planned to conceal everything of value inside our clothing, and it was quite fortunate the weather was cool enough to tolerate all the clothing. When dressed to leave, it felt almost like full combat gear, although our Walmart hats would not do very well if the going got REALLY rough....  We found the bus drivers helpful, but it appeared few tourists used the bus.  Much of the route passed run down houses where I would not have wanted to walk.  So much for the idea of using our bikes to get around New Orleans....  We had been cautioned a few days back against using public transportation after dark by a Lousiana State Tourist Information employee, but our campground manager assured us he had used them at 2AM coming from the "Quarter" with never a problem, and he did not think we would have any either.  After riding down in the morning, we thought the chances were at least as good as by cab.....as long as we remained sober, at least.  We stepped off the bus on Decatur St near St Peters, ande soon found our way to the free Canal St Ferry to Algiers, where we planned to watch a parade scheduled to start late morning.  The ferry trip gave excellent views of the busy French Quarter riverfront.  There were even barges with RVs on them, giving those who paid the steep fees real up close quarters for Mardi Gras.

We asked police officers stationed there if there was any reason we should not walk down to the parade route they indicated; they said it was not the best neighborhood, but there were lots worse.  Having heard that bathroom facilities are hard to find at Mardi Gras, we also used the clean and empty porta potties outside the ferry terminal.  We found the street fairly empty for a few blocks, then it was lined with folks having parties outside on the street.  It became quite warm in the sun as we walked, and it was quite obvious we would never blend into the crowd here :-).  Still, we felt no hostility, no sign we were not welcome.  After asking when the parade would arrive, though, it appeared we would NEVER make our next parade scheduled across the river if we waited to watch it.  We reluctantly turned back, found a coffee shop mentioned in Fodor's New Orleans guidebook, and Claire ordered a small iced coffee;  the pleasant girl behind the counter said she would give us a large for the small price, as she had no small glasses.  I followed suit, and added a day old sweetroll to the order.  It was pleasant as we were nearly alone in the shop, it was cool compared to outside, and there were magazines to read that were MUCH newer than any we had seen.  There was sure no shortage of police presence in New Orleans, something that gave us much more comfort than concern.

We then proceeded back to the river and walked along the levee.  

When it appeared the ferry might be delayed, we decided to have lunch at a cafe near the ferry terminal.  I chose an oyster po boy, Claire selected sausage;  DEEE-LICIOUS!   We waited at outside tables, and a gentleman at the next table started conversing with us.  Claire recognized him as being mentioned in Fodor's guide, and indeed it was Russell Templet who was filling us in on the local happenings.  One thing he did mention was that a young man had been mugged nearby the night before; several hoodlems had asked to use his cellphone, and did severe damage when he refused.  I was glad my cellphone was secured out of sight in a pocket of Carol's Christmas gift fishing vest hidden under my shirt.  The jacket had long since been shed in the sun.  Fodors advised visitors against being in Algiers after dark; this advice we would heed!  As we finished lunch, Mr Templet went into his barbershop next door and returned with three strings of Mardi Gras beads which he hung around Claire's neck.  Hey, first beads and we had not yet seen a parade.  :-)  We returned across the river and saw floats moving on canal street; it's a PARADE!  

We quickly joined the crowd, and started catching the thrown strings of beads, cups, and large Mardi Gras coins.  It became apparent now that the parade schedule was of little value, as this parade was many HOURS behind schedule.  The only thing to do was look, if there was a parade, go to it;  if not, do something else.  Claire met two girls watching the Iris parade who recommended the Gumbo Shop as a good and less expensive restaurant to eat in, with food as good or better than the well known ones; somehow we found it (happened upon it is a better description).  We ordered the recommended crawfish etoufee, and it was superb.  When we finished it was dark.  We wandered a bit; streets were not JAMMED, but there was lots of activity, lots of on street drinking.  

Some of the porta potties are LOCKED.....Duhhhhhh.....isn't that kinda ASKING for trouble?    Yeah, sure; have a HAPPY day?

I heard a feminine voice loudly declare "I'm gonna grab some ass....."  Next thing I knew it was MINE being grabbed....YIKES!  I looked around to see a cutie in cowboy hat doubled over giggling.  Oh well....what to do but smile and in my best New Orleans Mardi Gras spirit show her Thumbs Up, turn, and walk away..... 61 year old geezer butt gets grabbed; fancy that!  :-)   By now Claire and I both knew we were tired.  We had walked much more than usual today, and stood much of the rest of the time.  We inquired about the night parade schedule, found it would not start before 10PM, and decided to return "home" for some much needed rest.  The bus ride back was uneventful except for a rather long wait to transfer to the Chef Monteur bus after leaving the Quarter.  The cats sure seemed VERY glad to see us, athough we had left all overhead vents open to keep them cool, and plenty of food; it was now time to close up and start the furnace.

Sunday February 10 I awoke early, finished the website update, and uploaded it to the primary site only; the mirror site would have to wait.  We planned a leisurely morning, as the parades we wanted to see were afternoon ones.  We bussed downtown, and decided lunch was in order;  we looked at several recommended places on the Quarter, found long lines for seating, and decided the ferry ride across to Algiers would be pleasant, and faster than waiting for lunch in the crowded Quarter.  We found another cafe nearby, and both ordered oyster po boys.  They were also delicious; we finished and crossed to catch our scheduled parade.  As it was still not running, we walked past Cafe DuMonde, and decided to take advantage of the short line to try their highly rated coffee and sugar coated beignets.  We carried them up onto the river levee, and ate them on the riverbank; quite pleasant and delicious!  

The afternoon parades finally did arrive, hours behind schedule (we see a PATTERN emerging here....).  Still, the floats had a seemingly inexhaustible supply of beads; at least one Chinese city must be kept fully employeed supplying New Orleans with beads... :-)  We came away with as many beads as we could carry without having our necks stretched longer.  We also came up with a number of bags of potato chips thrown by Mid City Krewe; bless them, as they really helped us out on the long trip home.  We were DETERMINED to see a night parade, so we waited....and waited...and FINALLY a float appeared, in all it's lighted glory.  I was fascinated by the working horse drawn  steam calliope.

 This parade featured a well known actor, Nicholas Cage (who I never heard of).  He threw goodies from the float, but at night we could not see to catch them; you either pick them off the street (YECH) or go without.  The crowds were also bigger and more drunk.  It was also getting COLD!  After a few floats, we decided we needed to sit & rest;  we called Matt from a seat away from the crowds.  Sometimes ya just NEED a break from it all.....  :-)

New Orleans police cars really do live a tough life.  Wonder if the city has footprint insurance?

We finally decided we would have more fun sleeping.  We walked to the bus stop, and waited with two New Orleans ladies who had finished their work day and were returning home.  One lady decided after some wait to WALK home 20 blocks.  The other waited with us until we collectively decided to walk to Elysian Fields Ave in case the busses were turning around short due to traffic.  The three of us walked through ever darker and less populated streets until we reached Elysian Fields; there RTA supervisors sat, turning the busses back as they reached the corner of Decatur.  Grrrrrrrrrr........We got on our 55 bus, only to have it routed through the traffic we had just walked through, to the end of the line, then back; at least it was warm.....  We suddenly realized we had not eaten dinner;  POTATO CHIP time!  The transfer at Chef  Monteur seemed to take forever too, as we waited in the cold breeze.  The gal who had walked to Elysian Fields with us rejoined our group; she had fallen asleep on the bus and failed to get off at the right place; she rode back, and we were still waiting.  :-(  We got home after 11 PM, and were quite ready to sleep late; fortunately the Mardi Gras schedule cooperated, and had little scheduled the next morning.

Monday February 11 we arose so late we ate lunch in the RV.  We were starting to understand the most important point of the Mardi Gras experience; it is EXHAUSTING!  We bussed downtown, and decided to leave the bus before ouir destination as it was caught in traffic; we could walk much faster.  We found a Zulu festival going on in the riverfront park, and although we found it hard to blend into this crowd too, we loved the live music coming from the stage, and felt welcome.  

We could not long resist the food stands, and enjoyed jambalaya, Jamacian chicken, more crawfish etufee, crawfish pie and a rich German chocolate cake.

 The Zulu king arrived;  I fear I caused alarm among his surrounding security guards by approaching too close to take pictures  (Security was QUITE a feature at this Mardi Gras, with military units assisting police, but probably lessened any chance of us coming in harms way too).  

The Rex King arrived and we joined his speech, and enjoyed the fireworks display over the river.  

We walked back up Canal street, and saw the sign at a well known casino advertising free beads. What the heck, lets collect the free beads!  We passed thru the security screen (age 21 required) and walked inside to seemingly ENDLESS rows of slot machines, most occupied;  free beads? WHERE?  We passed the restrooms, and took advantage of that opportunity;  clean, HOT WATER, and SOAP TOO!  There was disturbing noisy "music" playing constantly.....it brought up a deeply buried memory, one I could not immediately place.  I found it EXTREMELY unpleasasant, and soon lost interest in the free beads.  Claire and I agreed without hesitation;  OUTTA HERE, NOW! Only after reaching the street was I able to place where I had previously heard music like that;  it was almost 40 years ago in an Army training film to prepare us to resist.... BRAINWASHING!  YIKES!!!  Maybe the training worked....  :-)    This evening was given over to Mardi Gras Balls; most are invitation only, but the general public was invited to the Zulu ball at the Hilton Hotel for an admission of $10, and we considered going just to see what one might be like.   Mardi Gras day festivities were scheduled to start early, however, and we were again QUITE tired, although the day had been short; we opted to return home for a good night's sleep.  After all, we had heard the Zulu king promise that his would be an uncharacteristicly TIMELY parade tomorrow....  :-)  We walked down Decatur street until we found an RTA supervisor; he promised our 55 bus would be along shortly. When it did not appear, he suggested we could also take another bus and change at Franklin and Chef Montour.  Rather than risk another late night, we took the Franklin bus.  We knew by now that the transfer point was not as well lighted, but the neighborhood appeared to be a good one.  We waited away from the street in the shadows for quite some time until the bus came; nothing anyway threatening happened.  We found the RV as we had left it, and dropped into bed with alarm set for the morning....

Tuesday February 12; MARDI GRAS DAY!!  I did not hear the alarm, but we awoke only 30 minutes later than planned, and hurried to leave.  I packed a peanut butter sandwich in case we could not get breakfast due to crowds.  The bus trip was uneventful, and the crowd at Cafe DuMonde was light; we bought coffee and beignets, and walked down the street to eat them at the base of a monument (SEATS are scarce in New Orleans at Mardi Gras time too...).  We walked to canal street and came upon the Captain Morgan stage;  Captain Morgan and a bevy of shapely assistants were conducting a costume contest (cash prizes; some over $1000), throwing beads and other goodies to the crowd, and conducting demonstrations of drink mixing on stage.

 The crowd was not TOO big yet, and the catching was relatively easy.  I was most interested in the T shirts being thrown out occasionally;  I got to touch one only to have it yanked away....Still, we persevered, and filled our pockets with beads and frisbies.  FINALLY the T shirt came right at me...I grabbed, ducked, pulled. but still did not have clear title.  My opponent said "Jump Ball".  I looked and saw I had all but the sleeve under my control, and told him I'd let him have the sleeve.  He relutantly left me have the WHOLE THING!  :-)  I looked around to show Claire....and saw she already had one on!  WOW, double success; her black belt training finally brought practical rewards!  :-)  We watched the Zulu parade, but the crowds were bigger and competition for the throws heavier;  families had ladders set up at the edge of the street, with planks between them to sit or stand on.  The Captain Morgan beads were good trading items for those things we could not catch.  The infamous Mardi Gras porta potties had by this time ripened to full DISGUST.  YECH.......their reputation is TOTALLY deserved.  Mardi Gras Day is a holiday in New Orleans too, and the Jean Lafite National Monument was closed;  we had much enjoyed the clean restrooms, hot water and soap there on the previous days, and wondered why more folks did not use it;  it must be the best kept secret in New Orleans......   Now we had to join the common folk...  :-)  I enjoyed the costumed ladies, who refused to wear covering shawls even though their goose bumps were showing goose bumps in the chilly weather.  They were quite beneficial to have close by when watching a parade;  they attracted all sorts of  good throws from the floats.  :-)  

I also enjoyed the children in costume; CUTE!  

We watched the Rex parade, caught what we could, then tried to stroll down Bourbon Street.  The crowds were so tight we could not move;  the beads rained from balconies on high, but it was risking injury to look up to catch them.

   There was probably not as much skin showing as there might have been if the weather was warmer.  Still, there were people showing body parts (or plastic replicas of same) that would not be seen outside of a bedroom or nudist colony.  It was not easy to spot them in the big crowd though, except perhaps from overhanging balconies.  :-)  I caught a horse hitching post full in the gut while walking, looking at sights instead of my path; that hurt enough to discourage my further interest in Bourbon Street.  We escaped with difficulty, and made our way slowly to Cafe DuMond.  Coffee seemed to be the beverage called for at the moment.   The bench at the coffee shop smelled like it was too close to where someone had used a "Sneaky Leaker" (Clearly advertised and sold from a vendors pushcart as a means to "Pee where you want"; it appeared to be a tube to be run down a pants leg....  YECH)   At this point, the riverbank seemed to be the place to drink it;  my back ached from too much standing and walking, and my psyche suffered from too many people.

 We looked out over the river and recovered our strength and senses.  The Coast Guard had a fast hydroplane running the river, and we noticed at least one of the crew held a rifle at the ready.  

We decided to have dinner at a nice restaurant to finish our Mardi Gras.  We made several potential choices, some further than we wanted to walk, some of which were crowded beyond our tolerance, and others that were closed, but we finally found one open and had delicious crawfish diablo.  This was a pasta dish with cheese and just LOADED with scrumptious crawfish tails.  It was a LOT of food, but we ate the whole thing and requested a second order of the super bread too....  We walked down to Elyseian Fields to catch the bus home, stepping right on it, then ran to catch the transfer bus as it loaded a crowd of people as we exited the first bus.  It was the fastest bus trip ever, and a fitting end to our Mardi Gras.  We felt SHOWERS were first in our priority list....wonder why?  :-)  To answer the obvious questions; YES, we are glad we came and experienced this almost indescribable event while we still have the energy to do it.  NO, we will not be back for Mardi Gras next year.  We would like to see New Orleans at a more normal time, however;  the crowds and parade activity made it difficult to enjoy the parks, the Charles Street trolley, and other attractions of the City.  We expect to return here again.  The people are quite friendly, the food delicious, and the history and sights exciting.

We reserved Wednesday February 13 in the campground as a recovery day;  we did not appreciate when we made the reservations just how much we would need it, but it turned out that the motorhome's V10 engine oil needed changing, and LOTS of cleaning was required, starting with a thourough scrubbing of our shoes and laundering of all our clothes worn to Mardi gras.  We did sleep late, but it was a full day, and we retired early.

Thursday February 14 we finished the cleaning chores and prepared to depart.  I managed to connect to my ISP using the campground phone line, and send emails that I cannot do any longer with the cellphone.  At noon we left the city and drove south along the west bank of the river for 82 miles;  we wanted to see the mouth of the Mississippi River.  We did find an interesting area, low delta land protected by levees against spring river floods, many miles of  big ship dockage and port activity along the river edge, a citrus industry, cattle farming, sulfur companies, fishing, but above all...OIL and GAS, and the support industries for the offshore oil rigs!  We were not sure where (or IF) we could stay at the end of this run, but wanted to see it even if we had to drive back near New Orleans to a Walmart in the evening.  At the end of the road, we found a harbor; the harbor master suggested that the fishing marina on the other side of the harbor had RV hookups.  We found a QUIET, PEACEFUL, BIRD FILLED place to stay with electricity and water for $8 a night.  It was a working place, a boat place, but something we could recall fondly from our sailing days.  

The folks were all friendly, the roads lightly travelled, and we were anxious to get back on our bikes.  We rode over an hour, but as evening drew to a close it became too cool for our dress;  we returned to enjoy Claire's delightful chicken & rice, and to walk the cats.  I also happily contributed to the waste oil tank the marina offered.

Friday February 15 we arose early (for us) and biked for two hours before returning to prepare for departure.  We enjoyed travelling along the levee, and entered a coast guard station where two servicemen were resting at picnic tables; we wondered about the river channel, and whether it had been dredged artificially.  They indicated it was a natural channel, maintained in some places by dredging.  One indicated there was a good seafood merchant north of the first bridge;  we determined to try that on the way back.  We decided to have our mail forwarded to a mid sized Texas town where, we hopefully will arrive in 5 to 7 days, and called our mail forwarder with instructions.  The cellphone signal was strong, but only analog service was available.  We rode north, and stopped at Fort Jackson, built in 1832 to defend the Mississippi against attack.  

Here we drove the RV on the Mississippi River levee for a short distance; it was the easy way out.  We found the recommended seafood store, and bought 3 pounds of boiled crawfish steaming out of the pot.  The friendly folks in the store showed us how to eat them, then gave us a couple soda cartons to catch the mess, and paper towels to wipe up with;  we ate at a picnic table outside the store.  What fun; everybody coming into the store had a friendly word, and those crawfish were sure DELICIOUS!!  We ate over 2/3 of them and decided the rst would make a nice snack cold; we did need to move on to our intended overnight destination in the Houma Super Walmart.  It appeared we would arrive there with nightfall.  As we approached New Orleans, traffic thickened, but we skirted south of the worst of it.  We rejoined Rt 90 West, and travelled only a short distance when what should appear...but an unexpected Super Walmart!!  Claire lost no time turning into it, the neighborhood looked fine, and we quickly settled in for the night.  I checked the cellphone...DIGITAL!  And tomorrow is Saturday with free minutes.  We'd better get this page finished for upload!  

Future plans now are to follow the Louisiana coast into Texas; we want to see the hot pepper farms and processing plant in New Iberia LA, visit interesting state parks, and possibly tour Houstin's Space Museum.  Ultimately, we will probably follow our headlights all the way to Brownsville TX, at the Mexican border.  The RV will not cross the border; we might do so on foot. We have two months before we want to be in Massachusetts, and hopefully will find Spring warming the Indian ruins of Arizona and The Grand Canyon a month before that. ENJOY folks!  We're having a BLAST!