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Our Magnificent Journey
Chapter 8
New Orleans

 

Carol and David on the job  
12.13.06
Wednesday
Day 1
The Journey Begins
 
 

I drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was gone...

 

By far, the most difficult aspect of travel for us is leaving the dogs behind.

 

On a cold December morning we kissed Cody and Merlin goodbye, jumped in the CRV and made the twenty-minute drive to Tucson International Airport just in time to board our Continental 737 to Houston.

 

A quick lunch in the Houston airport, then onto a Continental 757 for the 45 minute flight into New Orleans. Landed at New Orleans' Louis Armstrong airport at 2:30PM. Great flight over the swamps, Lake Ponchartrain and the mighty Mississippi.

 

Collected our bags and rental car, then found ourselves in 80-degree humid sunshine as we drove into New Orleans, a fifteen minute drive from the airport. We had expected cooler weather.

 

We arrived at the 1896 O'Malley House at 3:30PM and enjoyed a wonderful, warm reunion with Angela, who informed us of Michael's recent, unfortunate automobile accident. We hope to be able to make it to the hospital to visit him over the next few days.

 
1896 O'Malley House
 

We met Brad Smith, co-owner of this lovely B&B, his playful Golden Retriever Cody (like our pup) and also spent a few minutes visiting with Ms. Greta, who has finally been able to move back into her house! It took sixteen months after Katrina, but she finally has her house back, and she is quite happy.

 
Bedroom at the 1896 O'Malley House
 

After unpacking a resting a short while in our familiar room on the second floor, we drove two blocks to familiar Sav-A-Center market, where we bought supplies for lunches over the next couple of days. Back at the B&B we made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, played with Cody, then jumped into the car. We are on a mission to locate Chuck Badie, who is hopefully finally situated in his new house at Musician's Village.

 

We quickly and easily found our way down Carrolton to Orleans to Claiborne to Roman, but as we turned north on Roman and drove the few blocks towards Musician's Village, we could see police cars with lights flashing, barricading the area. We drove around trying to find a way to into the Village but all streets were blocked by very serious-looking police officers with guns drawn. Whatever was happening, it was quite serious, so we were forced to give up our attempt to locate Chuck this evening. We never did find out what happened, but we did find out that there has been a surge in crime in New Orleans. According to Angela, this is partly due to the fact that since some gangs have lost their turf due to the storm, there are now "turf wars" throughout the city.

 

We quickly left the scene and drove back to the B&B. Along the way we decided to pick up our dear friends Marc and Muriel at the airport. They were going to take a cab to the B&B but since we were not able to spend time in Musician's Village, we would have time to pick them up, which we did. It was great to see them, and we drove them to the B&B where they checked in and met Angela, Brad and Cody. I called our friend Rebecca, who had already arrived and was checking into Camp Hope , the Habitat for Humanity center. Half an hour later, she arrived at the B&B and the five of us drove east down Carrolton to Esplanade, then south a few blocks to Lola's, a restaurant suggested by Brad. Lola's offers Spanish cuisine, and our garlic shrimp, paella and sangria were excellent. Rebecca had a stuffed portobello mushroom, and Marc and Muriel enjoyed several appetizers. The food, wine and ambience were all unique and superb, and we asked one of the wait staff to take our photo. On the way out we purchased a humorous painting by Simon, a local artist.

 
Rebecca, David, Carol, Muriel and Marc at Lola's
 

Back at the B&B we said goodnight to Rebecca, who drove back quite a distance to Camp Hope in St. Bernard Parish, and to our friends Marc and Muriel, then Carol and I fell into bed at 10PM. We set the alarm for 4:20AM in order to make it to Camp Hope by 6:45AM. It is great to be back in New Orleans.

 

Next Day

 

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