Well as we alluded to at the end of our last post, we got in an accident 1.5 miles from the New Orleans RV Park and Marina after traveling 265 miles that day. Turns out that New Orleans is one of the worst places to get in an accident. Louisiana and specifically New Orleans parish (they have parishes instead of counties) has laws in place that allow people to sue for little or no reason. We were told that it is one of the most litigious places in the country. We only had a little damage to the ladder on the back/side of the RV. David already fixed it. The other party had a scratch/small dent to the side of their car and yup, you guessed it, they got a lawyer and are claiming injuries. It is difficult to have faith in people when they lie to get money out of the insurance company. Sorry to start out on such a negative note, but it only gets better… The second day we were here, there was a really bad storm with 60-80 mph winds, torrential rains (6.5 inches in 7 hours), tornado 23 miles from us and lots of flooding. As you may know, NOLA is below sea level, so you do the math, haha. Of course, during all this, David and I were both sick. We will finish up with the negative things, so we can move on to sharing the fun things. Driving here is a real challenge (thank you David for doing all the driving), between the awful roads, lack of signage and the absolutely crazy drivers. People here park wherever they want, including in the middle of a lane of traffic (to go into a shoe store) or on the median and they drive literally like there are no laws. We also saw a woman get assaulted on Bourbon Street in broad daylight and then somebody decided they didn’t like our Harley Davidson sticker on the smart car, so they removed it for us. OK, we are done ranting….

On to the fun parts…We took several people’s recommendations and found a few new places as well. On the way, in Lafayette, we stopped at “The Best Stop” and got cracklins and boudin balls. Nothing like deep fried pork fat! Here is a list of other places we went… Breweries: Skeetahawk, St. X, Faubourg, Courtyard, Brieux Carre, Second Line, Oak and Ale, and Zony Mash Beer Project. Wine Bars: Copper Vine. Restaurants: Bourbon Heat, Segnette Landing, Lighthouse Bar Grill (at RV park), Ruby Slipper (breakfast), Mother’s, Clesis Seafood (we had crawfish for the first time there, it was awesome), Paladar 511 (Kim had delicious squid ink spaghetti), Frenchman All Day, Marigny Brasserie. We also went to Charlie’s Steak House (the oldest steakhouse in NOLA) for David’s Birthday. There was no menu and hasn’t been since it opened in 1932. Kim had the filet mignon and it was the best she has ever had! Kim also made a lemon merengue birthday pie. Museums: Jazz, WWII (amazing and largest WWII museum in the country) and Southern Food and Beverage. We did visit one cemetery, but the oldest ones require a tour guide. We had to have one hurricane at LaFitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar (the oldest bar in the US) and a craft cocktail at Jewel of the South. We did come across the old Falstaff brewery (Kim’s Dad remembers that beer well). The RV park and Marina was on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain. The lake is roughly 40 miles from west to east and 24 miles from south to north. It was very cool driving across the causeway, which goes right over the lake!

The French Quarter Festival was going on the first weekend we were there. There were 22 stages with live music, lots of venders and of course, food. We had po’ boys, sweet potato filled beignets, red beans and rice, gumbo, hushpuppies and bread pudding. In the evening, we listened to music a few different places on Frenchmen street. The band Bon Bon Vivant was particularly good at Cafe Negril.

We took a very cool swamp tour too! We spent 2 hours on a small air boat with a great guide. We saw turtles, eagles, water moccasins, various birds and lots of alligators. The male alligators all had names. We got up close and personal with Thibodaux, a 12-foot-long male. It was mating season, so the males were pretty skittish, but we were able to feed marshmallows to several of them. We got some great video, if anyone is interested, we can send it to you.

We left New Orleans in the rain and wind (not as bad as when we first got there) headed to our next stop in Mississippi. We stayed one night at a Harvest Host, R & R Winery in Greenwood Springs. It was an amazing property with an outstanding host. Ruth did a wine tasting for us and then served us a home cooked meal (pot roast with potatoes and carrots). We really need to stay at more Harvest Host locations. It was so peaceful and relaxing. BTW, our new batteries performed perfectly through the night. The drive through Mississippi and Alabama was absolutely beautiful, we were on two lane roads most of the way through the rolling hills and trees. We are now in the Nashville area for the next month to celebrate a big birthday for Kim and we also have some friends and family coming to visit while we are here. Let us know if there is something we must see or do in Nashville.

Last but not least, the unusual things along the way…A lot of things were unusual in New Orleans, but things not already mentioned were Fred the gator at the RV Park and Marina, a regular car with a sticker that said “this vehicle does not turn right on red” and a truck spa. Also, in most places, people don’t use their turn signals, but in Mississippi people turn them on and leave them on until they are going to turn in the opposite direction and then they leave that one on.