Awake: 6:43am Temp 36 sleep 6+23 sunny overnight @ Gulfport, MS.
Before leaving the campground, I call Ron @ the Newell Service facility & discuss what tips he might offer to help me get signals from space for our TV. Ron is the best electronics & electrical guy Newell has & when he talks, I listen. One of the tips he mentioned was to check the green cable leading from the receiver directly to the TV; that clue got my attention so I thanked Ron & then made preparations for travel.
We leave the Southern Oaks Mobile Home Community & RV Park @ 8:47 am. Following I-10 to New Orleans, LA, we have smooth roads 98% of the time.
During the last (2) miles of today’s journey, K & I both apparently had a brain malfunction, especially me. Approaching the campground, we didn’t believe it was the same place as mentioned in our campground book; although both our Pioneer Princess & Lady Garmen GPS’s told us to turn right, we ignored their wisdom & knowledge & continued onward & onward & onward; it added another (20) min to our arrival time which was around 11:00am.
Today’s Travel: 1+ 57 time 75 miles 12 gal used 6.1 mpg 38.4 avg speed.
This campground, “Pontchartrain Landing,” is a new waterfront RV Park; from the main hwy, one drives about (2) miles down a back road through a heavy industrial area before the campground is seen. Our host was extremely nice & gave us some verbal info on city parking & offered us a river site with no extra charge, which we accepted.
We disconnect the Suzuki & then Kathy plugs in our shore power cable while I let the engine compressor level the coach. Kathy programs our Lady Garmen for the Old Mint building downtown which should get us right in the French Quarter area. From our campground, the French Quarter is within (5 to 6) miles distance & with fast moving traffic, we are downtown lickety split. It took awhile to find a legal parking spot near the French Quarter as we were forewarned that city parking is a big problem….unless you choose the pay-to-park method. Those prices begin @ $3.00 to $4.00 for the 1st hr & work upwards.
Kathy visited New Orleans as a teenager with her parents & I’ve landed here several times but never spent any time sightseeing; so basically, we are both strangers. Using our map, we start walking southwest on Decatur Street; so many boutique shops, Cafés, galleries, restaurants, music clubs, etcetera. Our campground host suggested that we take a city bus tour 1st to get a layout of the land.
We stopped along the way on Decatur St to talk with the visitor center people about tours; we didn’t like their prices & suspected they are taking more of the cut than usual. Our map shows a real Tourist Info Center located (5) blocks northwest of where we are now, which is close to Canal St so we casually walk in that direction. Along the way, we take a peek @ the Saint Louis Cathedral-Basilica, the oldest Catholic Cathedral in the US. Fronting the Cathedral is Jackson Square where we take time to sit & listen to live R&B music.
@ the Basin Street Station, Clare was most helpful; she furnished us with more info on lower prices for city tour options. She let Kathy use their phone to make a reservation for a city tour tomorrow. Would you believe, the price dropped in half + being a senior citizen was also in our favor.
Weather today has been great; so we continue our foot touring, covering the famous Bourbon St. Ahaa, but 1st, somebody is hungry & wants to try some of the good seafood that we’ve heard so much about. Clare recommended Deanie’s Seafood on Iberville Street & we trusted Clare.
We started squelching our hunger & thirst by sharing a schooner of Abita-Turbo Dog beer in a frozen glass. Wow! It was reminiscent of the Pipeline Stout from the Moose’s Tooth days in Alaska. Next came the (6) broiled oysters with some good tasting condiments on top. Another Wow! The shy oyster eater from the frozen north had no problem devouring (2).
We should have put the brakes on right there; the so-called, Crab Quartet was disappointing. It had little flavor, was very dry & seemed to be of such smaller amount for the price. We let our server know of our dissatisfaction & he said he talked to the cooks, but that was it. Most likely he knows we will not be seen in here again.
Anyway, walking northeast on Bourbon St. was quite different than walking on Decatur. Darkness was upon us & the many bars, live bands & people of the evening are everywhere. Bar volume, music volume & people traffic made this venture an adventure. (30) yrs ago, this would have been great stuff…but now we have a tendency to act more our age. We return to our bus by 6:00pm.
Now it’s troubleshooting time: tonight with Kathy’s assistance, we remove a panel underneath the LG (Life is Great) TV & over the computer desk that hides cables feeding into our LG TV. Using the bright LED flashlight that John gave me before leaving Nicktown, the aforementioned green cable from the DirecTV receiver was easily seen unplugged & dangling. (2) of the glued fasteners that hold the cables must have let loose, probably after thousands of road bumps which gradually shook that cable free. Our front TV is now back in business.
We watch the history channel on: “Churchill” about 1/2 of part I.
We also watch the evening boat traffic on the Mighty Mississippi River out of our front window.
Lights out: 11:24pm
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