The Windmill Posts

A few last thoughts about New Orleans. Managed to get out and get to Cafe Du Monde for juice and coffee. Loved that hotel. The shower was one of those sunflower looking things that mimics rain, except the water falls too lightly to get. a proper shower – but this one had pressure! The controls were on the opposite wall from the showerhead. The room felt royal. No typical hotel tan, and the in room coffee maker had *two* decaf cartridges. Not the standard single. I wasn’t quite as early out the door this morning, so I didn’t get the same experience of watching the city wake up over half an hour. But it was still quite peaceful.

I found the contrast of audiences in the shopping of the French Quarter. In one case there are people who are going to buy Doritos slippers. Having nothing to do with New Orleans. And there are other people who are going to pay thousands of dollars for a large crystal. Two different extremes, and originally I was thinking of that as a negative judgment. But I think instead it just speaks to the fact that different people, classes, types, styles, shoppers are able to find value there.

Also, my car is perfect for the tiny streets of the French Quarter.

It was a day of long driving. Either on the interstate playing the truck game, or on the state highways playing the stoplight game. Did get to have the top down for a bit, but I was getting further frustrated by my hair. I got a haircut before I left but that was some uncountable time ago. But the wind was making it all go straight up and I ended up looking like the Heat Miser. (look it up) So I located a Great Clips and popped in. They have the notes about my preferred haircut on file, which is helpful. I usually let slip I used to work at corporate but not as anyone important. Got a good haircut and headed for lunch.

Which was, of course, the rest of the muffuletta. Complemented by an iced latte, I thought I’d stop at a beach and watch the gulf waves. Except there were no beaches. There were resorts, restaurants, bars, and all sorts of things. But no public beaches. I finally found a state beach a ways down the road. For four dollars entry it was a bargain! Plenty of parking, covered picnic area, restrooms, and a nice long land dock leading to the beach proper. I headed out and planted myself in the sand and began munching my sammich. Not too many people on the beach, but it wasn’t abandoned.

And then he looked at me.

I tried to avoid his gaze, but he was being really obnoxious making all sorts of weird noises and walking toward me in a roundabout fashion. I knew what he wanted and I wasn’t about to give it to him without a fight. Then his friends started showing up. Screeching and jumping about. The first seagull started attacking the incoming friends, as if to establish dibs or something. Meanwhile, the pigeons started to wander over. They were mostly just walking around getting ever so slightly closer. I found it fascinating that the seagulls and the pigeons had rivalries, but were completely separate. The alpha seagull would chase off other seagulls, but it was like he couldn’t see the pigeons at all.

In the end it was my sandwich all the way. The pigeons looked kinda cool though.

Road Report

Again, I don’t like interstate highways. They make me sleepy, they make me play “the game.” (BTW, you just lost the game.). I took the interstate through Pensacola and didn’t see a thing. Not a building, not a house, nothing. So I try to stick to state highways, and so far it had been working.

Today I learned why both of the GPS systems were throwing a hissy fit. The state highway that ran alongside the interstate was indeed interesting. And it had good passing lanes and patterns. And somewhat fewer trucks. But the stoplights? Many. And long. And they interrupt the flow of traffic. And in today’s case there wasn’t any great scenery. I thought it was going to run along the shore. It did, but there were many properties in the way. So from here on out I’ll blow through busy areas on the interstate and take the state highways when crossing desolate lands.

I’m doing okay on my license plate spotting. New England is the sticking point and I think that will take care of itself in a couple weeks. Except for Kentucky. It’s wedged up there right in the middle, and beyond the shoulder season issues of no tourists, I think it just has fewer people in it. Hopefully I’ll catch a break in the middle of the east coast. In the interstate game the trick is to pass as many people as possible. But in the license plate game, it’s easiest to see the plates of a car that is slowly passing you. So I’ve been trying to be mindful, stress less about passing, and keep in mind that the car behind me might just have Kentucky plates..

And don’t forget, Bridges Ice Before Road.

Story Time

Something old,
something new,
something borrowed,
something heathen?

If you’ve been keeping up, I mentioned a trip to New Orleans with our 18 month old baby. The whole trip is spotty, electrocuted out of my brain. But I have flashes. We stayed in a motel near Jackson Mississippi, and it had a pool. I feel like it was one of the first times we got to take the baby in a pool, and we were all excited about it. Swim diaper and everything! I remember being in the pool, splashing enough that the light would shine through the flying water. I have a strong feeling that I had strong emotions. I think it may have been some sort of extreme joy or happiness. Those days were hard. The baby was still colicky and so there was a lot of stress and frustration in the family. Many of the memories of that time are hard. Unfortunately the memory wipe don’t always pick the memories we don’t want.

We also went to a roadhouse. We were looking for the proper southern traditional restaurant and were told to just drive until we saw one and stopped. So we did. On the way in we mused about what it was going to look like on the inside. My partner’s opinion was red Naugahyde. I thought it might be something that could be easily hosed down at the end of the night. I was right.

The place was not too crowded, and the waitress was wonderful. She was not a server, she was a proper waitress. She was kind and attentive, and spent just the right amount of time distracting the kid. Hush puppies were their favorite, so she brought more. Some of the customers were cliched southern characters, almost caricatures. But everyone was nice, and we were all there for the same thing. Wonderful food. Every order came with a whole load of wonder bread. And of the food all I can remember is the impression of grease. Good grease.

I was a groomsman, and we went to the practice. While I was on stage being positioned here and there, the rest of my family posse was finding ways to busy themselves. And in doing so, our super crawler managed to get backstage and find the hot tub. We thought that was interesting as all get out, we hadn’t been to a baptist church before, but it made sense that they would have one. Not having a river in the church and all.

We were northerners. And even up north we were alternative. Boots instead of high heels. Black instead of neon. Urban instead of rural. Hipster snobs might not be far off. But we worked really hard to be polite and not snobby. But we couldn’t help feel out of place in a southern baptist wedding and reception. And my friend who invited us and asked me to be a groomsman (he was one at our wedding) was great, and made us feel welcome. But when it came down to it we really felt like we weren’t something borrowed or something blue, but something heathen. And we were okay with that.

Deets

• License Plates: None new. Did realize the Mississippi license plates state name looks like hair. Curly hair.
• States: LA, MS, AL, FL (wow!)
• Departed: 8:02 am CST, 72 degrees
• Original ETA 1:15 pm CST
• Arrival: 3:25 pm CST
• Warmest/Coldest: Death Valley 90°, Wallace ID 22°
• Weather: Pleasant and clear leaning to cloudy at end of day
• Music: Smashing Pumpkins – Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, 100 Hits from the 80’s playlist (sucked), Toto – Toto IV, DJ Rap – Learning Curve

Observations

• I knew there were a lot of waffle houses in the south, but I had no idea just how many there were. Just when you finally stop thinking about how gross they are, another one shows up.
• The sand on the gulf beaches is white and almost powdery. The water is green or blue or something. Aqua, even.See my previous post talking about people describing things and then saying you had to see it in person.
• I love off season beaches. I don’t know why. I think it’s the beauty meshed with the loneliness of it all. Throw into it the idea that it’s not just lonely, there are times where the beach is teeming with life. The drama of family and vacation. It makes the absence of people even more pronounced.
• Passed a cemetery and there were little flags planted next to the grave stones. Confederate flags.
• I’m so road seasoned when I see there are 3 hours to go, I think “Oh, ok, that’s not so bad.”
• Downtown Mobile has some pointy buildings

Pictures