Month: January 2017

Big Easy

One of the parties planned for Adele’s 90th birthday celebration was to be a champagne & chocolate fete thrown by her eldest daughter Susie. So I thought I had it made with the Hammond B&B being practically next door to the birthday girl’s house and all. This way if I had a flute or two too many, I could walk home afterwards not risking a DUI. I was also hoping not to have to drive into New Orleans and thought maybe I wouldn’t have to, as Donna was not to pleased after our last trip in 2012 to the town where she last lived before joining Uncle Sam’s Yacht Club.

Sunday afternoon, not long after arriving in Hammond both hopes are dashed summarily when I was informed the Champagne & Chocolate party was going to take place in the Big Easy’s Garden District. Susie and her husband John were renting a house in New Orleans so they had a place for them and their two adult daughters that was a little more cosmopolitan and more to their liking than Hammond. And when I say house, its not just any old house, it is owned by a native New Orleanian artist and decorated in a style that would probably be too funky in any other town in America. It is kind of over the top, but so far over it worked. VRBO Listing

The party was slated to run from 1-4 PM, so we decided on a 2 o’clock arrival. We left Hammond about ten o’clock and instead of taking I-55 due south, we opted to take the somewhat scenic route of LA-22 west around Lake Maurepas before catching I-10 east into the city. We had three goals in the French Quarter to take care of before making our way over to the party. First up was lunch real Louisiana gumbo for Donna and red beans and rice for me. Then we needed to make our way to Aunt Sally’s for pralines, one for dessert and a box to bring home as souvenirs. Last up were some beignets from Cafe du Monde. This one didn’t work out so well. Because it was mid-day the place was jammed with tourists1 and the line was real long for a table. We then though maybe we’d just get an order to go, but that line was even longer…maybe next time. We did get a chance to stroll along river on the Moon Walk for a bit and I took the obligatory photo of the St Louis Cathedral and one of the Mighty Mississippi.

Awwww Mom!

Even though this morning’s temperature was borderline freezing, Donna and I still bike rode over to our usual Sunday breakfast spot, Ridgecrest Coffee Bar for a panini. We were the only folks in the place until we were just about finished and a family of five came through the front door.

It was a man and woman probably around 30-years old, two boy kids maybe 5 & 6 and a infant in one of those car seats with a basket handle. The parents had on puffy vests, car seat infant was under a blanket, but the kids were just in flannel shirts. As the group approached the counter, the younger of the two kids, noticing the sliding window behind it, said, with as much exasperation as a person that age can muster, “They have a drive-thru!”

I’m not sure whether his annoyance was because he had to get out of the car and walk 15 feet to the door (in the cold) or because this was the first time in his life he had ever been in a restaurant that had a drive-thru and and they hadn’t used it.

Shouting At The TV

Growing up I remember my mom watching the network evening news and getting so upset at whatever was happening in the country and world that she would literally shout out her disgust at Chet Huntley or David Brinkley or both. I remember thinking what good does that do?

Donna likes to watch the network evening news, so if I’m in the room, by proxy I do too. We watch ABC because she liked to watch Diane Sawyer when she was the anchor, but we are still watching ABC long after she is gone. Diane used to always start the program by saying, “BREAKING NEWS!” even though it was only breaking if you didn’t have access to a 24hr news channel or the internet. I think the breaking news qualifier for them could be added if it happened since their broadcast ended the night before.

When David Muir took over I was hoping that he would drop the charade, but no, he’s even amped it up a notch. Plus he has continued the ridiculous “the Index” feature, 4 or 5 stories hyped at every chance during the first 20 minutes of the broadcast. They are the television version of clickbait, eight to ten word headlines that make you want to find out what they are about. They are saved until near the end and you get one 10 second Index item followed by a minute and half of commercials for prescription drugs your insurance won’t cover the cost of. Then another tidbit and another 2 minutes of commercials, rinse and repeat until it is time to see what the daily lottery numbers are.

It used to be just watch the show and listen with 1/4 of our concentration letting the news wash over us, but since what’s his name took over the news cycle over a year ago, that has been impossible. We don’t shout at the TV, but Donna has taken to sighing a lot and I cussing non-verbally in my mind. Now that the hirsute yellow-fin tuna has taken office Donna’s sighing is becoming words of disbelief and I’ve started muttering incoherently. It is only a matter of time until one of us turns into my mother and starts shouting at the TV.

I’m here to tell you, it won’t be me. From now on if I join her on the couch anytime between 6:30 and 7:00 PM I will have my headphones on listening to Radio Paradise and staring at my Kindle.

Michabelle Inn

Normally when we take a vacation and are driving, we are typically spending each night in a different hotel, but this time we were spending the bulk of away time in the same spot, a B & B called the Michabelle Inn in Hammond, Louisiana.

Hammond was our destination because Donna’s 2nd mom was going to be celebrating her 90th birthday and that is where she is living after being exiled there by the Wicked Witch of the Gulf, Katrina. We would also get to spend some time with Adele’s daughter Sally who has been friends with Donna since they were like 9-years old. Also we’d get to see these “little” tykes who at one-time used to be sort of our god children, Claire & Stuart, Sally’s offspring.

The Inn, as well as being a really nice place to stay and costing slightly less than the Holiday Inn Express, it is within easy walking distance (less than 1/4 mile) to Adele’s house, AKA Party Central. Because we weren’t going to be up at Oh Dark-Thirty for a dawn departure as usual we would actually be able to take advantage of the breakfast part of the B & B, normally by the 8:00 AM breakfast start time we are 50 miles away from whatever table it would be served on. All four mornings we were there we woke at 7:00 AM (or our normal work start time), made coffee and tea in the Keurig machine in the hall and sat on the 2nd floor balcony until it was time to eat.

The only real negative about staying in this place for me was the crappy WiFi. I couldn’t get a decent signal in the room, on the balcony, in the hall or downstairs in the parlor, which is why I wasn’t writing about this while there. I’d give it 4-1/2 stars out of 5 and if we are ever near there again at a logical overnight stop we’ll probably stay there again.

Mr. Trump Makes A Point

Because it is Friday and no one will probably notice, I figure I’ll be safe with my new Over Reaction figure in this particular pose, but come Monday his right hand will be down by his side and in his left will be up high holding up a quote/tweet of his that I find particularly interesting. This way it will appear as he is in a debate with my other political action figure, the Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, who is already there holding one of his quotes/tweets.

Visibility 66,000 Inches



Two weeks ago I changed the oil and rotated the tires on the CTBNL because we were getting ready to take a weeks vacation and drive to Louisiana. After studying the future weather in Hammond all week with figures crossed, on Friday night we gave up hope and started to pack like we had 3 times the storage space of a Miata, because we did. The forecast said anywhere from 100% to a low of 60% chance of rain/thunderstorms for the entire four days we’d be there and for the drive both there and back. We’d take the Sonata.

We still were going to take the back roads as both Donna and I abhor the Interstates. We simply enter home as the start and add our the destination into Google maps while selecting the Avoid Highways option. We then made a couple of slight shifts in the route to accommodate our choice of an overnight stay and a small bit of nostalgia. 673 miles/12 hours 56 minutes There was of course a few more minor shifts (and one major) in the route on the fly as usually happens when we get going.

The minor shifts mostly involve wandering around looking for suitable lunch places. Because the route and timing may fluctuate it is nearly impossible research every little town and every little eatery on the internet beforehand, so we are usually end up relying on our Garmin GPS. And while I try to keep the maps updated (and I did just before the trip) its database of places to eat is not that comprehensive, so we’ll roll up on what is supposed to be a chosen lunch spot and it will be out of business, only serves dinner or there are no cars in the parking lot. So we try again. If that fails we will try and find a local and ask, “Where is a good place for lunch.” This works well, if you can find someone knowledgeable, but you might be surprised at how many people say, “I don’t know, I just work here. I live in another town.”

The major one happened because we were using the map of Alabama that we used 2 years ago for the Motoring Challenge Loop and it had a nice highlighted route on it. On that trip our last stop over was in Evergreen at a Sleep Inn & Suites, somehow we got that in our heads that that was where were going, except we were staying at a Holiday Inn Express this time. As we got closer and closer to Evergreen the GPS was kept telling us to veer north. Finally Donna pulled out the reservation email and noticed that the HIE was up the road northwest 35 miles. If you leave the GPS in the Avoid Highways mode and select Shortest Distance under navigation, the route turns very zig-zaggy and adventuresome just to save possibly a few feet.

Visibility along the Gulf Coast last Friday was a little more than a mile in spots (or 66,000 inches) and along there somewhere the Purple Whale passed the 66,000 mile mark.

65,000 Oil Changes

Changed the oil and rotated the tires on the CTBNL this evening. I like to do this bit of routine maintenance every 5,000 miles because the nice round number makes it easy to remember. It takes about an hour and a half from start to finish and acts, like washing and waxing, as a bonding agent between a man and his car.

The first step in the procedure is to back the Purple Whale out from under the awning so I can use that for my wrenching under. As I rolled back I noticed the odometer reading was 650004. The last time we drove the Sonata was to work on Tuesday, so the 65k milestone was crossed about halfway home on that day.