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04/20/03; New Orleans, Louisiana

 

Hello Faithful Followers:

 

We had another good day on the road. Weather was broken clouds and 66 degrees as we departed Vicksburg, Mississippi at 0652 – an earlier start than usual as Joanie set her alarm too early and when Keith came out to uncover the car Dennis had already done that chore!

 

We arrived in New Orleans about 1215 after a 200-mile tour. We encountered one of the worst roads of the tour, thus far: I-55 about 30 miles north of the Louisiana border and for about 30 miles south of the border. We felt as though we were basketballs being dribbled down the road! The right lane was so bad that we pulled over into the left lane and rode there for miles and miles; just daring a highway patrolman to stop us – we had our speeches already prepared! On this road, in Mississippi, we also encountered one of the nicest roadside rest stops of the tour. It had a brand new information office built like a small plantation house and a 24-hour armed guard, who greeted us warmly and called his wife to tell her about the two old cars that stopped there. He didn’t say anything about the “old folks” driving them as he appeared to be older than we are.

 

We learned a lesson today. We found a Day’s Inn coupon for a motel near the airport. As we didn’t want to mess with parking and security for our cars in downtown New Orleans, we opted to stay at the Day’s Inn for the next two nights. It is turned out to be pretty crummy, but we had stopped and unloaded before we really assessed the situation and we were in a hurry to see some of the sights, so we decided to stay. Later, we found a more reasonable motel a mile closer to the airport with better facilities and next to a Denny’s Restaurant. (Where we are, we must drive at least a mile to eat.) We have decided to move our New Orleans residence tomorrow. But that will be the story for tomorrow!

 

We had a picnic lunch in the Olson’s room and then boarded our cars and were off to visit an ante-bellum plantation, “Oak Alley” about 40 miles west of our location. Joann and Keith had seen this plantation a couple of years ago and thought that the Olsons would enjoy it. They certainly did – even to the two Model A Fords parked in the old ‘20’s garage and the mint juleps served on the veranda.

Oak Alley Plantation

From the house, looking down the alley

The oak alley

The trip out was via a good four-lane highway for most of the way. On the return, we took an old “Model A road” that wound beside the levee on the south bank of the Mississippi. It was a leisurely pace we set on the return and very enjoyable after our normal high speed (50-55) on the Interstate.

 

We learned via TV that Kerrville had a severe thunderstorm yesterday with baseball-sized hail stones!! Glad we were out of there and hope that we don’t encounter anything like that!

 

We returned to our motel with plenty of daylight to clean the cars a bit before covering them for the night. Since we will not be going into town until after we change motels, we can sleep in tomorrow, for a change. After we move, we plan to get a taxi to the near by airport and then take a bus to town to see what sights we can see. Check in tomorrow to learn what these are.

 

That’s all for tonight,

 

The Dauntless Four

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