Up, Up and Awayyyy over NNNWAWOOORRRLLLEEENNNZZZ

Did I happen to mention our Driveway Moochdocking Host is also a pilot?  With a plane?

Well, that kind soul, Eric, offered to take us for a plane ride over the city!   The weather cleared up enough to take a spin on Sunday...  so off we went to the little grass strip airport near his home, just west of New Orleans.

How exciting!!!!!    I have flown in big planes and jets, but have not been in a little prop plane like this since I was a kid flying with Bob Lou over Iron County, Michigan for a Penny A Pound ride fundraiser.

Steve's dad is a pilot and flew planes, so it was not so new to Steve.  But for me it was a whole new world again.  We pulled in to the little airport at Ama, 6 ft above sea level.  Eric had it all fueled up and ready to roll.  errrr fly!

Steve rode up in the copilot seat and I got in the back.  

Lucky it was a four seater plane, 

or else they probably would have strapped me to the tail 

or made me walk the wings or something....

He gave us instructions and managed to find a third pair of headphones so I could hear the tower and their conversations too.  Eric did all the pre-flight checking and radio'd ahead to get permission to take off and logged his flight plan.  We taxied out onto the runway..... and took off!!!!!


OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!  It was exhilarating!   My heart was pounding but I knew Eric has flown many many hours and hasn't crashed so we are good hands.  (but he did show me where the door lever was reachable from the back seat if we did... ack!)   We cleared the trees and went up up up to about 1,000 feet.   The clouds were coming in from the west a bit, so we went east... along the Mississippi River towards New Orleans.

Watching the tiny barges and boats along the river was interesting, and seeing all the homes, swimming pools, and rooftops that were spanning for miles and miles on end.

Steveio was watching intently all of the gauges, dials, and readouts.  Eric was explaining a lot of the systems and showing how it all operated.  Durikng the lapses of conversation, he has FM radio playing through the headsets and it was strangely eerie to be cruising along through the air to tunes?

As we got closer to the city, the houses were closer together, the highways were getting filled with cars and it was so interesting to look down over the Sunday doings of people in their yards and on the streets.  Kinda like a peeper into their yards and lives!

We followed along the winding Mississippi River and saw more boats and barges... but the clouds were coming in and blurring some of the vision, so Eric dropped down a bit lower to see better.

Of course while looking out the windows on either side, I had my video camera running all the while.. plus snapping pics with the digital camera.  Here we are circling around over New Orleans, and you can see the Super Dome (now called the Mercedes Benz Superdome)  over my shoulder.

This was a ride of a lifetime and I didn't want to miss a thing! We looped down along the freeway and over the main part of the city... tall buildings and roads were like a tiny maze beneath us.

Along the port by the convention center, two cruise ships were at dock.  There is even a putting green on top of the one to the right just out of the edge of the picture.  After hearing all the news about that one cruise ship stranded, plus the time Steve got shipwrecked and marooned on one en route to Alaska ---well....  no thanks.  I will travel instead in the motorhome and take our chances on the "terra firma"!   Even if we did get stuck for 5 days on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, it sure beats the experiences that those people had on the cruise ships.

Eric flew us over The French Quarter... right over where we had parked and walked around the day before.  It was really interesting to see if from up above today.  

I could see where we parked the Tracker... 

I could see where the mule carriages were lined up... 

I could see the rooftops of the quirky little houses we walked past... 

I was snapping pics as fast as I could, then looking around and snapping again.. all the while holding up the video camera with my other hand hoping it was filming something... anything... haha  (it did fine, we watched it back later last night)  I snapped 216 photos.. but don't worry, I am not going to post them all here.  It may seem like it, though!  hahaha

Eric looped over the city a few times making some tight turns that tickled the belly and made the whole plane tip a lot to the side... I was not scared because I felt comfortable with Eric's skill.... but see the ground ahead in the cockpit windshield?? Those were some tight turns!  Very exciting and we were loving every minute of it!~

Then we headed out over the 9th Ward where the most damage was done from Hurricane Katrina.   It was sobering to know many people lost their lives in this area because they could not or would not leave before the storm hit.  Also Eric mentioned the green sections of lawn all over were homes that were not rebuilt.  Either owners decided to not rebuild, or perhaps died and nobody has settled the estate, or nobody wants to buy the lot and build.  I don't think I would stay, nor would I rebuild.  I would want to move far far inland.  I guess I can not understand those who would stay....  

Now Eric did a wonderful sweep along the bayou lands far east of the city...  this was amazing and probably the most interesting part of the flight.  It was clearer to the east, so we could see down lower into the swamps and rugged bogs and marsh.  Every now and then was a little shack.  Someone's fishing or crawfish hutch to work from?  

It was like looking down on a whole new world... seeing the array of land and water and swampy trees like cypress poking up through the mud.  We could even see white egret birds flying below us.  I felt a strange kinship with them as they flapped their wings and soared along at a lower altitude than what we were flying at.

Seeing the depths of the water levels in shallow areas vs the deeper ones was interesting, and the whole terrain of the underwater was an extension of the upper dry lands.  Well, somewhat dry and somewhat muddy and marshy.  Seeing logs laying in the water and trees that fell over .. wondering how many of them fell from the hurricane or by naturally just getting old and falling over.  The damage the storms did to the eco systems was astounding and Mother Nature is doing her best to get things back on track.

Eric flew us back to the west again and radioed in to ask permission for a touch and go landing at the big airport in New Orleans.  We flew in to the area, and he explained the light systems to line up and head down the runway.  We landed soft and easy... and back up into the air again.... boy oh boy he was good!   Then we went past the tower and we waved to the controllers who had given him permission to do that.  Thanks guys!

Well, it was clouding up more now to the west, so it was time to fly back to Ama and land the plane.  He circled in and came down fast to the tree level.. it was amazing the plane fits so nice between the trees.  To a novice like me, it felt like they were wayyy too close and we would hit them!   But no .... Eric guided the plane in, and smoothly landed it on the grassy strip without a bounce or a jiggle... easy peasy for him!   He slowed down up at the end of the airstrip and taxi'd to a perfect stop by the fueling trucks.  WHEEEEE what a ride!

We got out of the plane and stood on firm ground again.  Although I am not nuts on heights when on a ladder or looking out from top stories of buildings, the airplane ride did not bother me.  It was exhilarating and fun and strangely serene and comforting to be up there among the clouds.  Maybe I was a bird in a past life?   Here I propped the camera up to take a shot of us, safe on the ground.

Steve helped Eric refuel and then he tows the plane back to his hanger with a golf cart!  All snug as a bug in a rug after our wonderful exploring over the skies of The Big Easy!

Here is the route we took from the airport on the lower left corner, 

across to the right and then up and back to the left ...  what a journey! 

Eric, 

(I know you are reading this)  

Thank you again 

for a well-informed 

and pleasant ride! 

It is truly the highlight 

of our trip to Louisiana!!!

NNWWARRLLLLEEEENNNZZZ and The French Quarter (blog about yesterday)

Saturday went by in such a whirlwind, that I didn't have time to post about the day.  So tonight I will try to catch up!

Our host, Eric, had to go in to work for a few hours on Saturday morning, so we hopped in our Tracker and headed out east to The French Quarter in New Orleans.  I had been there many years ago, but this time with GPS and our host's recommendations, we were able to really pinpoint the things we wanted to see.   (plus I was with my darling Steveio, a much better exploring companion)

We found our way right to the parking area we were hoping to find a spot so we would be near the French Quarter.  Yup...  an empty spot in the lot 3 spaces in from the gate!  The first thing we walked by were the carriages for hire, all with mules and not horses?  I wonder why?

Artists lined the gates around the Andrew Jackson square.  We saw interesting stuff, and some bizarre stuff, but nothing that we would consider having in our home.

We really enjoyed the "people watching" and wandered among the displays and vendors.  All round the park borders the artists were either creating more works of art, or gently talking to others... nobody bothered us or hawked their wares like some places we have been.  This was very nice.

Steve and I strolled arm and arm around inside of the park too, ringing the statue on the beautiful cobble stones.  It was such a nice romantic space in the middle of a very large city.  Just as it started to rain, we decided to go for lunch.

The lines at Cafe Du Monde were four people wide down the sidewalk and clear into the next block. This was only 11 a.m.  There was no way we were going to stand in the rain for a table.  We checked my tablet for another restaurant nearby with good recommendations and the one specific item I wanted on their menu.... a MUFFULETTA!   We went to River's Edge and got a table after a short wait.

Our food was served quickly and soon I had my MUFFULETTA!   

(Steve ordered Jambalaya) 

Wanna know what is in a MUFFULETTA? 

(from WIKIPEDIA)

The muffuletta sandwich has its origins at the Central Grocery in the French Quarter of New Orleans.^[4]

According to Marie Lupo Tusa, daughter of the Central Grocery's founder, it was born when Sicilian farmers selling their produce at the nearby Farmers' Market would come into her father's grocery for lunch and order some salami, ham, cheese, olive salad, and either long braided Italian bread or a round muffuletta loaf. In typical Sicilian fashion they ate everything separately sitting on crates or barrels while precariously balancing their meals on their knees. Her father suggested cutting the bread and putting everything on it like a sandwich, even if it was not typical Sicilian fashion. The thicker braided Italian bread proved too hard to bite and the softer round muffuletta loaf won out. Shortly, farmers came to merely ask for a "muffuletta" for their lunch

A traditional style muffuletta sandwich consists of a muffuletta loaf split horizontally and covered with layers of marinated olive salad, capicola, mortadella, salami, pepperoni, ham, Swiss cheese and provolone. The sandwich is sometimes heated to soften the provolone.^[3] Quarter, half, and full-sized muffulettas are sold.

The signature olive salad consists of olives diced with the celery, cauliflower and carrot found in a jar of giardiniera, seasoned withoregano and garlic, covered in olive oil, and allowed to combine for at least 24 hours.

I could only eat half of it, so we carried the other half around in our backpack for the rest of the day! We wandered up and down the streets of the French Quarter, admiring the buildings, peeking in some of the shops, and watching the people.    We wandered into some of the residential areas too.

We stood there, just wondering about the history of some of these buildings, who owned them, how many families passed through their doors.  The colors were amazing and even in the dark rain soaked streets, we found history and engineering and flavor of the area.

Back into the business district areas, we imagined the crazy scenes of many, many people jammed in the streets during Mardi Gras.   We even saw some leftover beads hanging from spikes up high here and there that had been thrown to the throngs of crowds as the floats went by.

We peeked behind some of the gates of inner courtyards and peaceful sections of the town.  Though I would imagine on Mardi Gras, there is not a quiet spot to be found.  It's amazing how trees can grow when sandwiched in between the buildings.  Birds were all over, even in the restaurant we were eating in.  The multiple door panels in restaurants lined along the buildings are opened wide, and the birds come in and hop around on the floor, looking for crumbs....

We found our way to Bourbon Street... it was too early in the day for a drink, but I did manage to stop in a kitschy shop and buy a Tshirt! The neon lights during the daylight looked strange and surreal. Some of the bars had bands playing and plenty of patrons already inside getting rowdy on a Saturday afternoon.

We found ourselves thinking we needed to get some pralines---- another thing on our list.  So we wandered along and found this shop-----  Called Southern Candymakers.  While Steve was at the counter ordering up some goodies.. our phone rang.  It was our host, Eric.  We asked him if he needed anything from "The Quarter" and he said hmmm could we pick up some pralines?  And he said the BEST place to get them was... ummm you guessed it!  Southern Candymakers!  hahahaha  and we were right at the counter ready to make a purchase.!

(also from Wikipedia)
Praline can refer to confections made from nuts and sugar syrup, whether in whole pieces or a ground powder, or to any chocolate cookie containing the ground powder or nuts.  French pralines are a combination of almonds and caramelized sugar. American pralines such as ones from New Orleans also contain milk or cream and are therefore softer and creamier, resembling fudge.

We added some salt water taffy and New Orleans Creme Brulee coffee beans to our sack.   I think this was a much better purchase than sitting in a bar on Bourbon Street and getting toasted.

Eric was done with his work, so we headed on back to his house.  The guys had some motorhome projects to work on, between both motorhomes.  Being only a year apart, many of the items are the same.  Eric even gave us a cool door bell/alarm unit to put on our rig.  I will do a blog post about it later when I install it.  They fiddled and futzed around with all their tools and toys.

Later in the evening, we tossed some of our good Wisconsin tenderloin steaks on the grill. (thanks to Paula and Mel!)   Eric had made up a batch of seafood gumbo and a pot of rice.  Oh my... when is this New Orleans eating is going to end? What a great way to wind up a great day!

We sat out late on the patio with the mild evening air...  not even jackets on!  Little Annie and Jackie kept making the rounds, looking for something good to nibble on.  Our host, Eric was so kind to have us moochdock in his yard.  Sure wish his wife, Cathy had been able to be there too.

 The conversation wound down about 11 pm and we toddled off to bed.  

Whew.. what a day!  

But wait till you read the next blog 

and see what we did on Sunday!!!

Moochdocking by The Big Easy

on Edit: 

 My blogger friends Paul and Marti Daul say: 

It's no longer politically correct to call it "Moochdocking", 

it is now GAFHing:

Gratefully Accepting Friend's Hospitality. :c)

Woke up after all the storms passed in Mississippi on Friday morning, and made contact with a fellow Safari motorhome owner who lives near New Orleans.  We have been frequenting the same yahoo Safari Owners group called  SafariCoaches    Eric offered an opportunity to "moochdock" in his driveway for a day or two so we can see the sights in New Orleans.  How nice is that?

We drove on down into Louisiana... stopped for a fuel up in Hammond at $4.09 a gallon.  We took on over 70 gallons which bit almost $300 outta our piggy bank.  We are doing just over 8mpg towing our Tracker and facing some headwinds as we came south.  Not too bad.

Driving along I-55 south was really interesting... we ran through some bayou country and the road was actually two long long bridges that spanned for 15-20 miles over the swamp lands....

Traffic was light ad we cruised right along... looking over the edges at the small shacks and cottages dotting here and there throughout the bayou.  (later Eric explained that often one person owned the entire part of land/swamp and leased out sections for folks to put up fishing or crabbing operations)

We found our way to Eric and Cathy's place in Luling.  It was too bad that Cathy was up in Ohio taking care of some family business, but we got to greet Eric and the two dogs, Annie and Jackie.

Eric got us backed in the long drive, and has his 1997 Safari Ivory motorhome parked crossways along the back to make room for us.   We snugged in the Tracker alongside, and had a nice little spot to park for a night or two.  The skies were still cloudy, but it was a warm day in the high 60's.  After coming from below zero Wisconsin temps, this was heavenly!

We toured each other's rigs and had fun comparing and examining the features of our great Safari Motorhomes.  Eric invited us into his gated back yard where we got to pick a ruby red grapefruit right off his tree!  He also has a large lemon tree just laden heavy with fruit too. There are birds singing and fresh green grass, trees and shrubs in bloom everywhere. Ahhh springtime!

Eric brought us for a tour of the area, around some little fishing villages and then over to his little airport hanger to show us his plane!  He offered to take us up in it later on Saturday if the weather cooperates!!!     

We got to look at all of the different planes in the club airport, just a few miles from his house.  He even has room to park a motorhome there if he wanted.  But it's nicer keeping his in the yard where he can work on it and fiddle around.  

Speaking of fiddling around, Eric had a project to do. 

Unfortunately, someone with a truck had hit and knocked over Eric and Cathy's brick mailbox! (not us!)  It needed to be repaired and Steve was quick to offer to help.  He examined the job and the guys determined they needed to go to the hardware store for a bag of mortar.   What a ride! 

They enlisted the help of a neighbor to be the third guy to lift the heavy upper portion back onto the lower portion ... it was probably 200 pounds.   They set small pieces of wood around the top, so they could tuck in more mortar once the top was set on.   OOOOMMMMMPPPPHHH! 

 Using quick setting cement mix, they tucked in around all of the bricks 

and quickly slid out the wooden spacers.... and it held!   

I sponged off the excess mud to clean up the bricks, 

and am happy to report now the next morning, it is still standing... 

so I guess it is fixed! 

They deserved a beer break after that big job!   We sat around on the back terrace and talked and enjoyed the warm weather.  Though it's very damp and humid, a lot more than we are used to, it was nice to set out and not be shivering in heavy winter jackets and snow piled up around us.

Eric mentioned a great local place for catfish---  So off we went to this place nearby that served HUGE portions.  This was called "Catfish Chips" which are all small pieces of tender catfish deep fried.   I only ate half of this and brought the rest home.  Yummmm melt in your mouth light battered and tasty.

We got to "meet" Cathy last night via some facetime on Skype.  Wish we could have met in person!   She sure misses their little doggies, Annie and Jackie. And they really miss her too!   Though this is a bad smeary pic of the people, the doggie portion of the photo tells the story.  Who say's dogs can't understand modern technology?  They were Skyping to their Mommy!

It rained horribly during the night, thunder, lightening and torrential downpours.  We woke up to a damp cloudy day... but we don't care!  We are going to drive in and explore the French Quarter today.  Sadly, Eric has to work, but we will return to the house this afternoon and see how the weather is holding out for a plane ride.  In looking at his app for flight planning, there is a line of storms coming with some rotations for tornado activity, so we might have to pass on the experience.

We will see... as I said, "PLANS MADE IN JELLO" !!!


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