Day 18 of 63

 

We have arrived in New Orleans where it’s motto is “Laisseez Les Bons Temps Rouler” or as others may say it, Let the Good Times Roll!

…. And roll they do.

It is interesting arriving in New Orleans during its revival although Hurricane Katrina was in August of 2005, so nearly 8 years down the track there are still derelict and battered homes that are boarded up waiting for demolition there are houses in the process of being renovated.  Interestingly most of the homes that where literally blown or swept away in the Ninth Ward were experiencing winds of 250 mph but the water level reached 20 feet before is settled down to 13 feet, but the controversial situation is that the homes are being rebuilt in exactly the same place which is already 12 feet below sea level, there is an absolute certainly that these homes will flood again.  Those people who were insured have had to build their homes on very high stilts, so high that lifts are often installed at the front of the house.

The main tourist part of New Orleans, the French Quarter which was built in 1734 and was built on higher ground and only had kerb high flooding, which we experienced yesterday, one minute the sun was shining and next the rain fell down and got heavier and heavier, to make matters worse there are drains from the roof  tops that pour straight into the street.  It lasted about 30 minutes then the sun came out and dried the streets.  Unfortunately, we got caught out and had left the sky light windows open in the RV and came back to bed full of water, luckily there are launderettes on site.

Unless an outsider knew about the disaster that happened here 7 years ago there is no clue in the atmosphere and the local people as the streets are full of music and laughter.  Every street you turn into there is live music, music from the bars, cafes, restaurants, street corners and in the market places.  Everywhere there is a band, usually a piano, banjo, drums, bass guitar and often clarinet, double bass, washboards and many more instruments.  It is wonderful listening to music from Dixieland jazz, trad jazz, blues and in Boubon Street funky music, we love it.

We have done the touristy tours, including a two hour ghost walk through The French Quarter, not at all scary, a three hour coach tour with a driver who was directly affected by Katrina, so very interesting getting a first hand commentary, then yesterday we went on a paddle steamer up the Mississippi.  This evening, our last day before we go to Texas, we are going to an Oyster Festival on the Mississippi foreshore; someone has got to do it!

Highlights

New Orleans, New Orleans

People of New Orleans

Lows

Wet bed!

The humidity is draining

Typical Menu

One of many unique Cafes, we eat off plastic plates with plastic cutlery, Louisiana has not heard of recycling!

One of thousands of homes waiting for demolition

After the flood, every house was checked for bodies and this sign left on the front of the house, date checked and number of bodies found or not. People are now repainting the originals on their renovated homes as reminders.

In the market, taking requests

and it rained!!!!!!

Day 8 of 63

We are really seeing the 'real' America, we have stayed off the major roads and travelled along the coast road along the Florida Panhandle and today arrived in Alabama.  When I say the true America, its not only the people, their accents, the way they live and eat but its the stretchs of pristine white fine sandy beaches with no crowds, it is the friendliness in the shops, its the long stretches of clear roads boarded by trees of blooming magnolias.  We have now stayed in a few different RV sites but my favorite so far was our last two nights in  Grayton State Beach Park, not only was it surrounded by lakes, grasses and lilies but just two minutes on our bikes was the beach as discribed above, even Terry had a swim in the Gulf of Mexico!  As I said it was my favourite site so far, but not Terry's as we camped in a secluded area surrounded by bush and of course he could not pursue his favourite pass time, watching others and chatting with them.  Which was how we meet some Brits on another campsite, we couldn't believe it, one of  the couples who now live in America also met each other the same place we did (they were inside the Orchid Ballroom in Purley and we was outside) just one year later!! 

I really enjoyed going out and shooting the sunset over the lakes at Grayton State Park.

Highlights 
Food - As we are deep south we have experienced some amazing seafoods, including oyster, triple yellow tail, grouper and seafood gumbo soup. 
Beaches
American people, they all want to go to Australia!
The fantastic facilities at the RV sites, home from home with extras.

We have just arrived in Alabama, a place called Fairhope, it is a a very pretty typical American village, lined with little shops (which often smell of moth balls inside).

All the streets are lined with flowers in different and quirky containers.  We have now stopped in an RV site called Wales West RV Resort & Light Railway.  What an incredible place, apparently the owners are passionate about light railways and visited Wales and commissioned a company to manufacture a couple of small engines and the whole business grew from there.

We are only staying one night as we are driving to Mobile and Biloxi Mississipi on our way over to New Orleans, be in touch then.

Day 4 of 63 in our RV travelling from Miami to San Francisco

We are now professional RV (recreational vehicle) travellers, well that might be an exaggeration but Terry is using amazing driving skills negotiating the 30ft van, the problem is that at every American crossroads we are expected to turn right even though we want to turn left, which then involves us going into various carparks to turn round so that we can turn left.

Highlights of our trip so far (so as not to bore anyone with details):

The hot tub in camp one
The friendly and helpful people we are meeting along the way. Thank you Betsy for the lift to the shops and advice on everything RV.
The three black snakes in camp one, just missed seeing the rattle snake apparently.
The great bikes we bought at a charity shop for $80 each, off for a cycle ride tomorrow
The great variety of food.
The brilliant stretches of road.

Lowlights

Not getting enough time to relax but I know that will come!!!
Constructing bbq with a 1000 parts in the dark

That’s only after four days!

So far we have travelled from Miami across to the West Coast to Naples and now we are staying in Carrabelle Florida in an RV site which is across the road from the Mexican Gulf beach, it is amazing. We went for a walk along the beach and the white sand is so fine it is like icing sugar, the water is beautifully warm even though it hasn’t reached summer yet. The end of the beach had a forrest of petrified tree stumps sticking out of the sand, an incredible sight.

We plan to stay here for about three or four nights to relax and get out and about on our bikes, should be fun. So far we are having a ball!!