FTJ, Entry 64: The Second Phase of Our Journey Begins

Last Thursday, Joyce and Dave arrived at Heritage Orange Beach RV Resort in Alabama. To us, this event signaled the beginning of our big trip west. 

The Butler's site at Orange Beach. Isn't their coach gorgeous?

Note my shadow at the bottom -- should have cropped that out.

We drove out to Gulf Shores together, and lunched open-air with both our dogs, in their carry bags (we have to get a photo of Lucy in here next time!), at a place called Ribs and Reds. "Reds" refers to a particular type of shrimp here in Alabama -- large and delicious, but they are typically served heads-on. Kind of gross, in that you of course have to remove said heads.

A few photos of us at lunch:

Lovebirds forever.

Monkey lips!

On Saturday, we left the beautiful Heritage Orange Beach resort to convoy to our next stop, New Orleans. But not without a bit of drama. First, Mississippi roads are not quite up to Florida and Alabama standards...

...and at one point, on one washboard stretch of highway, Harvey the Marvee RV was thrashing up and down so much that we thought our new bike rack was going to go flying!

The calm before the (bike) storm.

And sadly, we did lose the basket that Buddy rides in on my bike. (Fortunately, no one got hurt from the flying accessory.) Another trip to Walmart is in our future, I suppose.... 

Fearing a disaster, we slowed down and pulled into a rest stop so Beau could address the thrashing bike issue. (It's always something, every trip!)

Beau managed to secure everything with some rope, but Speed Racer's bike (trike) did get a bit scratched up from the rough ride. Bummer - some of the flames on the fenders lost some paint.

But we weren't the only ones with a problem. While Beau figured out the bicycle rack issue, Dave discovered he had left their new toad (tow car) running -- with the doors locked!

At first he thought they had no other keys, but luckily, Joyce was able to unlock the car with her set. No harm done, just some gas consumed.

Okay, so we resolved these problems, took a deep breath, and continued our trip to New Orleans.

Photo of our companions en route, taken from our coach.

The Big Easy, Baby!

We arrived late afternoon at the French Quarter RV Resort, a lovely RV park in a not so lovely part of New Orleans, right off Interstate 10. 

Once we got settled, we set out to do the town. Laissez les bon temps rouler!

We started on smelly ole Bourbon Street...

...where the weirdos reign (the silver guy spilled his drink on my shoe).

After enjoying the show, we had a great dinner at Pere Antoine's on Royal Street. The guys ordered sampler plates. Dave seems to like the red beans and rice; Beau loves jambalaya; and everyone but me ordered gumbo. Because of my acid reflux, I stuck with salmon. Delicious!

 
We then returned once more to the craziness that is Bourbon Street, for after dinner revelry.

Joyce got into party mode with the city's most powerful drink, the "hand grenade."

And as you can see, it had the desired effect.

Hey, he's just a regular New Orleans guy working for a living.

Liked the sign, so...

...the guys bought two of them!

Then things got a bit wilder.

Here, Joyce gets a shot of Sex on the Beach. You go girl!
(I missed getting the photo of the unique alcohol delivery system, shown below.)

Yeah, baby! I think Dave enjoyed sucking down his Kamikaze, don't you?

I forgot to mention that we also got to see the St. Joseph's Day Parade (I think this town uses any excuse for a party).

The parade Queen and her court.

I am cramming a lot in this blog, so bear with me. Almost done!

The next day (Sunday), we took the streetcar to the Garden District for brunch at the world renowned Commander's Palace. But before we got to the streetcar stop, we saw this oddity:

A metal casket commemorating Hurricane Katrina. Saw another one later in the day.

Anyway, we had a marvelous and decadent meal and enjoyed the jazz trio as well.

The St. Charles Streetcar.

Outside Commander's Palace.

And inside the upstairs dining room, which was beautiful.

The roving jazz entertainers. They played the old Cajun standby "Jambalaya" at Beau's request.

We walked all the way back to our RV park (had to be MILES!), and along the way ogled the beautiful homes in the Garden District. Hopefully, the walk helped burn off a few of the gazillion calories we had just consumed.

In case you haven't noticed, we've been having a grand experience! Till next time!

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 63: Of Ships and Subs and Sister Strong

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes - and ships - and sealing wax -
Of cabbages and kings -
And why the sea is boiling hot -
And whether pigs have wings." -- Lewis Carroll

Last evening we had a lovely dinner at Flipper's at Bear Point Marina, right around the corner from our resort. The sunset was the typical spectacle, so we snapped a few more photos.

Beau had just returned from his day at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in nearby Pensacola. He spent the day engrossed in the exhibits and planes.

F-14 at the museum entrance. All are now retired from active combat.

The famous Chance-Vought F4-U Corsair, many of which were built in Stratford, CT, and powered by East Hartford-based Pratt & Whitney engines. Many claim it was the finest propeller-driven fighter of WWII.

Honoring the "Good War"

Today we hit Mobile, AL, and Battleship Memorial Park.

F-4 Phantom, from the Vietnam era.

Right as we entered, Beau saw something very familiar: a B-52 "BUF" Stratofortress. (BUF stands for Big Ugly F--ker in Air Force slang). When he was serving back in the Vietnam era as part of the Strategic Air Command in  Plattsburg, NY, he was a mechanic (some may find that hard to believe), working on these babies every day until he was switched to tankers (KC-135s, the military version of the Boeing 707).

Beau climbed over, under, around and through these big birds during his service days.

The park's major attraction is the USS Alabama battleship, which served proudly during World War II. The park allows you to go all through the ship, which is jaw-dropping in its complexity and engineering genius. It amazes me that someone -- particularly back then -- could design a floating, fighting city housing 2,500 men. Boggles the mind. The turret and the projectiles, the gun barbette, the mess halls, the operating room, the darkroom, the ice cream parlor, the cobbler's, the tailor's, the officers' quarters, the brig, the chapel...you get the picture. My brain imploded. Then thinking of all the men and all the sacrifice the ship typifies...it can get very emotional.

Kaboom! She has nine 16" diameter main guns in three turrets, with 2,700 lb. shells propelled by 270 lbs. of gunpowder -- accurate to 20.7 miles range!!

20 millimeter anti-aircraft guns. She has dozens of them all over the deck.

Crew quarters -- cramped is the word.

Beau was tempted to just turn the key and walk away, methinks!

We also saw tons of aircraft and the submarine Drum, which also saw action during WWII.

Beau in front of the Drum.

And another highlight: Colonel Glenn Frazier was there signing his book, Hell's Guest. Also featured in Ken Burns's book The War, he was incredibly dignified and forthright about his experience during the Bataan death march and his years of confinement in Japanese POW camps. But when he told us about his best buddy who did not make it, and the way he died, Laura the mushmelon lost it. Had to walk away before I boo hoo hooed all over the poor man's medals.

He inscribed the book to Beau and I took their picture together. Sadly, we somehow lost the photo (I may have accidentally deleted it). But here he is:

Meeting Mobile's Sister Strong (Baby Sister) at the Condé Charlotte Museum House

Since we had left Buddy at the groomer's, we rushed to our next stop -- a lovely old home called the Condé Charlotte Museum House, located in the historic section of Mobile. We were greeted by our tour guide, Sister Strong (also known as Baby Sister -- pronounced Bah Suhs in her accent). 

Anyway, she gave us a wonderful history lesson about the city of Mobile and its founders, along with interesting details of the house and its furnishings. She was super adorable, and Beau kissed her when we left (he is such a flirt!).

A few things we learned -- related to Mobile, the house, or to Sister herself:

• The house was built on the foundation of a jail (dating from the 1820s).
• The expression "sleep tight" comes from the need to tighten the ropes on rope beds.
• It was so hot in the summer that book bindings melted, and books were put into special presses overnight to rebind them.
• Sister enlightened us on the Black Belt -- an area of fertile black soil stretching across central Alabama and northeastern Mississippi (she was born in the area and it gives her a very distinctive accent). It was one of the South's most important agricultural areas before the Civil War.
• Although first explored by the Spaniards, Mobile was founded by the French (Bienville and d'Iberville); then the English took over, followed by the Spaniards again (who came in to help Washington kick the Brits out of Mobile during the Revolutionary War). Then  the Americans took it back, without a shot being fired.
• Mobile's sister city is...Havana! Mobile traded with Havana, and one of the two founding Frenchmen succumbed to Yellow Fever in the city and is buried there.
• Mobile and Havana both have the same statues of d'Iberville. Mobile's statue is pointing south and Havana's is pointing North.

Cool, huh?

Outside the Conde Charlotte house.

Sister and her new boyfriend.

Beau was thrilled to see this Seth Thomas clock (from Connecticut) among the furnishings.

OK - enough for now. This could have gone on forever. (I think Beau took about 100 photos at the Naval Aviation museum!)

Joyce and Dave will be here tomorrow afternoon. Can't wait to see them -- and start our trek!

Tanks, Panky

PS - hope this is not filled with typos. I am tired and bleary-eyed!