Tuesday, January 25^th, was cloudy with some light rain but still in the 60s. We went into New Orleans to visit the WW II museum. Elaine did not like the stretch of I-10 that had seven lanes in one direction but she survived it (I didn’t tell her we would be doing it in the coach in a few days). We learned a lot about WW II that we did not know. The museum was really great but very sobering. We just hope the younger generation can grasp even a little of the magnitude of sacrifice so many made to keep us free. We came back in rush hour traffic – again Elaine was not happy. Had supper at the Red Lobster.

Wednesday, January 26^th – Sunny and 60 – First tee shirt and shorts day. Stayed around the coach in the morning. I washed the curb side of the coach and Elaine wrote a dozen or so postcards and cleaned. In the afternoon we toured the Laura plantation. It was nice because it was the first place we could take flash pictures inside the house. We climbed up on the levee and took pictures of the river and some ships. It was warm enough that we had the A/C on in the car a couple of times. Ate all our meals in the coach again.

Outside of New Orleans itself, this place is mostly swampland and oil refineries. At night the oil refineries are all lit up and look like small cities. Because there is so much swampland, many roads are built on pillars 20 to 25 feet in the air. Some stretches are 15 to 20 miles like that. Roads on land either have a big levee alongside or have big wide water filled ditches.

Thursday, January 27^th, stayed around the coach most of the day. I finished washing the rest of the coach. Elaine did laundry. We went to Walmart again and I’ll be darned but two more bottles of Crown Royal jumped in the cart again. I made chicken and biscuits for supper. Then I proceeded to delete all pictures for the last two days. Needless to say, Elaine was not happy.

Friday, January 28, we went into New Orleans to Jackson Square, the French Quarter and the river walk. But first, a quick stop at the WW II museum to retake some pictures (honest, I plan to put them on the website in the next few days). Thanks to all our good friends’ warnings about crime in the Big Easy, Elaine was scared stiff about walking around New Orleans. But she loosened up after she saw we were still alive and not mugged after a couple of hours. It was sunny and 70s. In fact, it was warm enough that Elaine took off her knee socks and sneakers and put her sandals on. We had diet Cokes and Beignets at the Café du Monde. We walked the river walk, visited Jackson Square and did some shopping for tee shirts and souvenirs. 

Then we took a city wide tour and learned a lot about New Orleans. They took us to a cemetery and explained the burial process. We went to the 9^th ward to see the Katrina damage. The entire downtown business district was shut down for a full year after Katrina. The ninth ward is still a mess. Many houses are still damaged, collapsed or completely gone; only the driveways and foundation blocks indicate where the house used to be (pictures to follow soon). The Feds are spending $130,000 of yours and my tax dollars to have many of these houses raised up 3 to 5 feet on cinder block or brick pillars. Of course many of these houses are only worth $50,000 to $60,000, and the water in that area was 7 to 13 feet deep so they might as well flush the $130,000 per house into the Mississippi River. 

We also toured the Garden District where many of the old houses are worth $2 to $3 million each. All in all a very interesting tour. We had supper at “The Famous Gumbo Pot”. Elaine had fried shrimp and French fries. I had a cup of shrimp and crab gumbo (it was delicious but did I make a mess eating that crab). Then I had the combo plate of Shrimp Creole, Jambalaya and Crawfish Etouffee. I could easily weigh 300 pounds down here. 

Saturday, January 29^th, was partly cloudy and in the mid 60s. Elaine stayed at the coach most of the day and sewed. I went back to the Laura plantation and retook the pictures I deleted. I worked on the website and added some stuff.

Sunday, January 30^th, was cloudy with some light drizzle but still in the 60s. We drove to Martin Lake RV Resort in Biloxi, MS – 114 miles. Elaine did not like the stretch of I-10 that had seven lanes in one direction but she survived it again. Yours truly got an attention span on I-10. All of a sudden the highway became a Twin Span Bridge over the east end of Lake Pontchartrain that was a long left curve. It wasn’t real high but it curved right out over the water. And, it was under construction so the left lane was closed and shifted over to the right line. That meant yours truly was forced to drive in the right lane which was actually the shoulder right next to the concrete side barrier. Not fun, but I made it. We went to Applebee’s for supper to celebrate. Elaine got a shrimp and chicken sizzling fajita combo plate. It was only mildly spicy to me but she thought it was hot. But she ate it, along with two big scoops of sour cream and two diet cokes.

Monday, January 31^st was hazy sunshine and 70s. We went to Hobby Lobby and then walked the beach along the Gulf coast. Took some pictures of the Biloxi lighthouse. Then we went to the Boomtown casino and had our usual success, we lost. We went back to the coach and had a crock pot roast beef dinner.

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