Sunday, March 5, 2017

Finally Made it to New Orleans

We left the Breaux Bridge park after 3 days because locals kept parking in front of the RV with their engines revving and their high beams in our windows.  Other people who'd boondocked at the park reported the same harassment.  I don't really get it...whatever.

We spent our last night pre-dump in the Breaux Bridge Walmart, which was a much nicer stay for us.  Then we drove through swamps that were level with the road where there were signs that said 'It's Illegal to Feed Alligators' every ten feet.  I would have given you a picture of one of these signs but I value my limbs.

Winding dirt roads with creepy duckweed covered swamps eventually led us to a cat fish hatchery that also had RV spaces.  It was supposed to be a Passport America park, but when I tried to use my card I was told that I could not because it was a holiday.  What holiday?  Fat Tuesday.  -_-  Whatever.  I had to pay $30.

The owner had a hearing aid.  I asked him what the wi-fi password was and he had me repeat myself.  I asked him if he provided Internet.  He said they do not provide nets and if I was netting crawfish I need to have a permit.  I presumed free Internet was a lost cause. 

The ground was like a damp sponge and I dared not go even a little off the road for fear of mud eating the RV.  I went to connect my sewer line and saw that the pipe was filled with water.  I DEMAND the ability to dump when I just forked over three big ones (what I call ten dollar bills).  I immediately chased down the owner to complain.  He said to go ahead and dump anyway.  =_=  What?  He said there was a p-drain.  I have no idea what that is, but if a flood of poop was about to happen he was going to be to blame.  Note:  If you see ANYTHING in a sewer pipe, such as water, trash, ANYTHING, you do not dump.  I've done it.  Ever seen a poop geyser before?

I opened my black tank valve and backed away.  Sure enough, the brown stuff was going in the ground as it was supposed to.  I guess this is Louisiana, where water levels are too high not to have weird sewer connections.

After our dump/shower/trash/water ritual it was back on the road, this time to Baton Rouge where I planned to boondock in another casino parking lot.  When I was a kid my mom drove from Texas to Miami and had been traumatized by the enormous long bridge that went over the Mississipi River.  My mom has never done well with bridges.  She would have my little brother sing her this song to distract her and get her to go over the bridge.  (He was 8 years old at the time.)

The reason the rabbit's tail's fluffy,
I'm telling you this as a friend...
The reason the rabbit tail's puffy,
The powerpuff's on the wrong end.

My brother had to sing her that song so many times as we got through the low states that it's embedded onto my consciousness.  I saw the bridge and started to sing to her through the walkie-talkie, but had to stop, because I was more terrified trying to take the RV over it.

My mom apparently no longer fears bridges, in any case.  She has gone blind in her 'bridge side' eye.  I realized that if I closed that eye while I drived it was nearly as terrifying.  It just looks like a road with a railing on the side.  So mom was good...but I squeezed the RV steering wheel until my hands went numb.

We had to exit on the bridge and it was so jammed with traffic that I nearly lost her.  UGH.  If I'd lost her there I realized we had no plan of what to do.  There was no place she could pull over to wait for me.  We would have been so screwed.  I don't even want to think of it.

Anywho, we made it to the Hollywood Casino which had a huge lot and was happy to host us for five days.  I didn't take pictures.  You know what these parking lots look like by now.

Yesterday I took my cat Sultan to the vet and had him put to sleep.  It was a convenience kill, and I'm ashamed.  I loved that animal so dearly.  He was my pet for 22 years.  We just didn't want him to be under the care of the catsitter while we're in Puerto Rico.  He's too difficult a cat with his feline dementia.  He howls when he has his diarrhea, so he was in pain, but he wasn't ready to go.  He still had vigor to live.  I hated to rob him of the few extra months he might have had.  But it's done.  Despite what the top of this page says, we have two cats now, not three.

We left on a Sunday to the last camp of our eastward journey.  We're in a state park outside of New Orleans.  It's $15/day and I booked us for ten days.  It will give us a safe home for the RV to live while we're in Puerto Rico and puts us close to the airport.  Tomorrow I'll be packing and taking my two remaining cats to the catsitter I booked.  Then Tuesday we will be flying out to Puerto Rico.

I think you'll find my Puerto Rico entries interesting because we're not tourists on a vacation.  We're staying with my aunt, far from the saftey of San Juan.  We're experiencing PR like natives, poverty, crime, and all.  I'm looking forward to it.

I'm not looking forward to the journey back to New Mexico, but let me tell you this:  I am BOOKING it westward.  This dense population and hair-raising traffic is taking years off my life.  Take me home country road.

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