Thursday 26th, Drive to Scott, LA:
We woke up, but took no showers, as it was cold water, and walked out the dogs. This would be the last time we would see in the morning of the stay in New Orleans, and I looked at the courtyard, and got a little sad, because I had liked this R.V. Resort better than others, and was a little teary to leave it after only a few days, it's pool, and the area. I had loved my stay at New Orleans. Although we had not done everything you could do in NO, we had all we wanted to do, except one thing, which was going on a carriage tour, and it was only thirty minutes for something we had already done so there was no reason to do it. Almost everything. I could always do more there. I was in a white t shirt and sweat pants, and Rebecca was in sweat pants also, in a kind she got at Cape Cod and has had it ever since. Dad and I put everything in, and then took the slides in for the last time at New Orleans. Then, I put my computer which was on the couch and put there when Mom put the T.V. trays up, and then put it on the table, with the mouse and the cord there. Dad put his jacket over the chair, to keep the wood from hitting the wall. Okay, so we were now ready to go. We started up the engine, Mom in the jeep, and we pulled out of the R.V. park, reattaching by that field I mentioned in a different blog. Then, we drove off, on the bridge, away from the Cajun Employees, the refreshing pool and terribly hot hot tub, the gate and barbed wire 7 foot wall, the light posts and the cobblestone streets, Matthew and his family, and last, but certainly not least, the Billboard with the ads and the charm that made me want to wonder and look at it. Goodbye, to the Great French Quarter R.V. Resort. See you later F.Q.R.V.!
So we drove, away from the low ground of the Katrina devastation, and away from all the balcony homes of the French Quarter, and the old southern homes of the Garden District, and the Cemetery (won't be missing that). Away also from the Super Dome and all the big skyscrapers. We then got out of New Orleans. Now, I know it has Bourbon Street, a lot of drunks, smokers, and other people I'm not going to mention, and there are also those people we saw in the last blog, with dreads and lamps over their heads. But, taking away from the weird voodoo things and the other junk it has, New Orleans is a wonderful city. All the music, art, culinary delites, the styles, and other things. People, are generally, if not drunk, nice down there, easy going, and nice enough, like the artist Trevor Scott(we found out his name by looking in the right hand corner of the painting he gave us) who gave us a $40 painting just because Rebecca likes art and wants to become an artist, and all the people who helped us out and were really kind. New Orleans is truly a place of it's own. Right on the Mississippi River, they have a good shipping economy. The primary birthplace of Jazz, it is always musically sound. The Saints, they are one of the best football teams in the country, and NO loves them so. And Mardi Gras, a festival only the best, New Orleans style. The Hurricane Katrina came, and it looked like it had torn New Orleans apart, but it did not. They came back together, united, and the Big Easy was brought stronger with Katrina, better homes, better flood preparation, and more determined people. The Big Easy, New Orleans, NO, NOLA, what ever you call it, will always, reader, be a place for visit. There is truly, no place like it. And I long the day... for my return.
I blogged, and did a little Math and started writing that story, and I called it, "Adventures in Alligator Land" with the main character Trevor Scott. I used the artist's name as the main character. I admit to it. It was fun and a good story. I have thirteen pages on it now. As we came into the freight and oil and boats and factory city of "Red Stick", a lot better known as, Baton Rouge, Rouge meaning red and Baton meaning stick, like in a parade. I might have already told you this, but for those who haven't read the Katrina Exhibit and LA State Museum blog posts, you might not know. But anyway, there were large barges as we passed up on the bridge of the Mississippi (hardest word ever) River, and all the factories steaming out their white gas, with the big cylinder tubes. It is truly an industrious town. I couldn't find one park, really. I know, it's sad. But, another way to look at it, is all the industry brings jobs. But then again the children grow up in all the gas, but they get jobs. This is a tough debate between myself and myself. Better stop now. Back to the blog. We arrived in the boondocks, through forests and little towns, arriving at the point of our departure, at a repair shop in Scott, LA. We tried people at a big one in GA, then a guy in FL, then in MS. If they can't do it, no one can. We wanted to trust the liability of these redneck mechanics. There was a small white sign on a post, and this place with R.V.'s all in a bunch, and a building. Dad drove us in this roofed garage, it seemed, as we got all our stuff and prepared to go out. On our way out, we watched the guys go in. I hoped my computer wouldn't be stolen, and that the dogs would be okay. They don't like being left alone with strangers. Well, we got in the jeep, and preceded to make good time, and just do SOMETHING, if anything.
Hungry as it was 4:30 and we might not get the chance to eat again, we stopped at a Mexican Restaurant overlooking a Walmart. There was a little parking spot and some glass doors that we walked into. An open room, booths, tables, and Mexican Music, plus paintings on the walls. Upon closer inspection once we were seated, I saw they had kind of a rich detail feel, with all the paintings of the towns. I said to our black haired waitress that it was cool, and she showed me a 3-d one that was cooler than all the others. She also told the owner that I liked them. She had gotten them in Mexico. People from Mexico say it like this (Me-he-coa.) Mehecoa. We say it like this, (Mex-ee-co) In the following days, I would find out what they used to call Texas when it was attached. But we got a good meal, and our waitress was nice, and she had to go in the middle of the meal to pick up her special needs daughter from the Private School, and we talked a little bit about that before she left. I read about a character in the Tin Woodman that had twenty legs from a witch's enchantment. Johnny QuiwStep, because he was so fast, with twenty legs. Funny chapter, really.
I got a good enchilada and Mom did too. They were about to close, and then reopen at night (weird, right?) and so we ate quickly. We left and went back to the R.V. repair shop, and they said all these problems as a man came in our R.V. and explained it all to Mom, in blue shirt, with black all over him and a weird odor. He talked very fast also, like the people at Emeril's. He said primarily that there was a crack in the unit and the motor was bad. We hoped this truly was the reason, and that we would have to pay for something that didn't work. Would it again? Only time would tell. Well, we pulled out after Dad paid them, and we got out. Driving a little longer, we got into a small R.V. park with much grass, mud, and dirt. This could be an exciting moment in the blog, but sadly I didn't see it or even know it was going on, because I was blogging. Although I like to do that, still sometimes I miss things on the road. I have my window open though. I came outside as it was dark, and said hello to Mom and Dad. Mom told me, amidst the flashlights, that upon our entry we had gotten stuck in the mud and had to be pulled out by a truck! She showed me the thick tracks where all the grass and brown mud was making a big hole. I couldn't believe my eyes. I am sorry that we did not in fact recount the adventures and make you on the edge of my seat. I have failed.
We went to bed that night, with some T.V. It was a pretty boring day. We had left New Orleans, and it was a great city, and then we went to a repair shop to fix the Hot Water Heater. Hopefully, but only hopefully, would it stay like that. And then we got stuck in the mud at Cajun Haven R.V. Park.
Friday 27th, Drive to Houston, Texas:
I woke up and Dad and I both went out to take the dogs, and tried to avoid all the mud by staying on the patches of concrete. We had to have short leashes. There was not just mud though, but also a lot of green wet grass. We tried to steer clear of it, but the dogs got pretty wet. We got them toward a pond, where a lot of birds were. Man were there a lot of birds. The dogs barked and tried to chase them, unaware that if they tried to get the birds they would just fly away, in safety. We then went along a patchy wet concrete by the pond, with anthills right and left. Birds, wet grass, mud, anthills. The worst terrain for a dog. But they went to the restroom none the less as we talked a little about the upcoming day. We would try to drive up to Houston, Texas, by going west across the two states. Louisiana was about to be finished, and the Southeast for that matter, as we entered into the Southwest. The Southeast had shown us repair shops, Florida, naval stations, rodeos, and the house of Jefferson Davis, plus all of New Orleans. We had experienced southern hospitality and their charm, and rednecks and hillbillies alike. And now we were going to leave that, for the South, yes, but the SouthWEST. So we took the dogs back inside, wet and their legs dirty, inside, in the crate.
Later that day we pushed in the slides and left for Texas. Now, when I was expecting we were going to Texas, I expected like dirt and desert and brush, cowboys and everything, not a highway with trash and green grass, or a normal rest stop building, with parking places, the sign, and a giant white star in a circular platform. This was the Texas state line. Dad went to the restroom and rested his legs from driving while Mom, Rebecca and I, went out to take the picture. We took one under this star, and then one by the Texas sign, which is basically an American flag, while, blue, and red fat stripes, and then a lone star, because, something interesting here, when Texas got independent from Mexico, they wanted to join the U.S.A(which had a lot of benefits) but on one condition, they are a REPUBLIC and that means with the people's vote they can secede whenever they want to, and become their own separate country. No other state has that power. But for now, we get to enjoy Texas as our own and live there and say we're in the U.S. FOR NOW.... Rick Perry might be so mad at the government he might secede and start his own country, perhaps. Or, he never thought of the idea and I just gave it to him. Oops! (double meaning there).
We took the picture, and with squinting under the sun's rays we barely made it. Also fighting was an issue. It always is. Anyways, we drove off to Houston, who was a general or something in Texas's fight for Independence, and the city is a good ways in the west, a little bit by Mexico, but not much, and it is a safe city. Big Vietnam population though. (I would only find out that way after we had been to Houston, when I was watching an educational crime show, on History Channel or something.) Alright, so, instead of coming into the city right by it, San Jacinta, and hoping for cowboys and desert environment, I got more of what we had seen in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and other places along the Gulf of Mexico: huge cylinders with gas, rivers and the bay, and barges, freight, and restaurants and stuff that you would see in any other city. I was mighty disappointed, wanting to get off the Gulf of Mexico and maybe see desert. I am sorry, but growing up with True Grit, Lone Ranger, and actually being in a cowboy film at Red Door Playhouse all adds up that I would want to see Desert Texas, not industrial river barge factory freight Texas. I have to admit, I was disappointed.
We got to an R.V. Park, and it was on a back road, although in fact very nice. It was called San Jacinta Riverfront R.V. Park, and there was a nice building that Mom and Dad went into while I blogged my head off. I've been so trying to catch up. But anyhow, we parked on like the second or third row, and all the lots were of concrete or asphalt, with many nice motor homes there. It was a rich plus against all the dirt and mud and little trailers of the last dum... I mean place. So we pulled out the slides and after that did all the sewer and electric and water(a tedious process indeed) and then so preceded to walk the dogs around the R.V. Park and check it out. Mom and Dad were in the middle of something inside, and Dad told us to go by the office before he and her came out. I don't remember what they needed to do, but it's probably not too important. So we went and saw that there was a small playground and pool area, with gate, plus a patio and picnic tables. But a lot of construction materials and what I thought was a huge playground in the back, surrounded by trees. A lot of Latino (not being mean or anything, but that was their nationality) workers around in trucks and stuff. On the front porch was a little parking lot and patio, with some rocking chairs, and I looked inside. Rebecca let me go in, while she had the dogs.
There was a little store with counters to the far left, and a counter in the middle of the room with a lady behind it, and it was high, and she was sitting down. To my right were brochures, and a door. She said hello, and she asked me if I was the kid who had just come in, and I said yes. "So you're dad is a car dealer?" she remarked. I replied yes, and she asked what car I was choosing in my teenager years. "Probably a truck or jeep, but maybe even a challenger." She would later ask Rebecca that question. Well, Mom caught up with us, Dad trudging behind also, and so Rebecca came in. The lady said that there was a library to our right, through the door, and it had a book exchange. Delighted, I searched on a sole bookshelf, with lounge chairs and desks in other areas of the room, filled with silent people. I hate being silent among books. I am very loud among books. Very quiet in a gym though, which doesn't seem to make sense, does it? But I looked among a collection of Star Wars books, and I don't really like the "Extended Universe" that talks about Luke's son and everything. Why can't you just stop a series and all the merchandise already? It's gone too far! But some people, despite all persuasions, don't get it. Sigh.
Mom knocked on the door as the lady told us that our Mom wanted us outside. When out, Mom gave us a scolding about staying in there too long, and we all turned right, among some damp grass. It was the dog walk area, but we weren't gonna go there. Too wet. We retraced our steps and came down back the aisles, and also to the vertical way down, down to the water. We saw so many kids on bikes and scooters, having a good time. Rebecca asked if we could go join them now, but our parents said no, to enjoy this time with them, and that we would have time later, and this was so close to Mexico we had to be careful and not get out of sight of them. In retrospect, I so wished that I had that chance to get on my bike and play... for one last time. (foreshadowing)
We came by a river, on a hillside, with a site with a hot tub to our right, and other skate boarders. I so wished we had played with those kids; we wouldn't get the opportunity later. It saddens me. I will change the subject now. There was a lot of barges and the stuff I mentioned earlier, and I talked a little about how bad a book Mockingjay was on the way down. We also speculated about the science of barges and locks, and Dad learned us a few things. Here's something I have a problem with, people say "learn" to mean teach, but that's the exact opposite of teach, so it doesn't make sense. But anyway, I was with Mom until Rebecca caught up, and we went up the wooden stairs of their clubhouse, which also had an adult pool, flowing a crystal clear water down, clear coming down. We weren't allowed in. There were a few Mexican workers that we steered clear of, and we peeked in the locked doors of the clubhouse, then going back to the left and up a hill, and saw a Chihuahua that barked at us, and walk fast we did. After that we talked to a guy who had an old blue car, and there was a three legged dog right by there. That's sad. But we got back to the R.V., and over a lot of debate, finally decided to go to get dinner. We then drove off in the jeep.
We found an Outback Steakhouse. It was packed, and we had to have a beeper, expecting an hour or thirty minute wait. So many people in the threshold. But then after like five minutes of receiving
the beeper, we were called to a booth. It was because a man who had waited a
long time had given it to the lady and given up, and so now we had his. Lucky
break. We didn't say anything about it, which wasn't very trustworthy, but we
were tired. Got a nice waiter but there was nothing else very interesting about
the meal. I got a kid plate and did some activities, which had all the Aussie
animals and stuff like that. Very fun. So after eating some steak and stuff we
got out, into the dark night. Upon leaving a lady, a waitress, handed me a
yogurt thing that was Aussie. It was all right. Oh yeah and I forgot to tell
you, when we were out of the car, I saw a lady smoking on the front porch, on a
bench, and I shouted out, "MONKEY!!!" I am sorry, but I looked at her
so shortly I thought she was a giant stuffed monkey. Sorry, but I did. I am
still laughing about that today. But anyway, we left in the dark of night and
on the road saw the most beautiful thing. I was reading "A Tramp
Abroad", a Mark Twain book about his travels in Europe, and Dad said,
"Get out of your book and phone (in talking to Rebecca), you'll never see
this again." And then I saw it.
It was like this:
futuristic towers with circular lights all on them, very thin, but flat too,
like paddled sticks. It looked like something out of Star Wars or a
science-fiction book. I blinked and rubbed my eyes repeatedly. It was so
bright, and so amazing. Dad told us it was a gas plant, as all the wonderful
pale white lights shimmered in the distance. It was unreal, so fake, but real!
And we passed by so quickly. But I loved that dreamland; it still is in my
head.
So we went in to the
R.V. and went to bed. So in that day we drove to Houston, and into the great
state of Texas. And many adventures and trials would come in the next few days,
in the Lone Star State.
Sure, these weren't
the best days, but everybody needs some boring days once in a while.
The next day would
bring us to battlegrounds, and battleships. Goodbye for now.
So if there's all this
global warming going on, why don't we just throw the Earth in a giant freezer
or give it an ice pack? Just a thought...,
Andrew.
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