Adventure! Day 28 - New Orleans
Bonus Video from Torie:
Travel blog day 28
AKA our very last day on the road. I think everyone is looking forward to going home and no one really cares at all about the history of Louisiana etc. However, we are going to press on and enjoy the morning here. The plan is to get breakfast and coffee and take a pedal cab tour.
Then back to our bus - which is parked in swankier conditions than we currently are living in - and load up, get gas, and head out. Gas is under three dollars in this area, which is exciting. We will probably have to fill up once more before we get home.
Looks like storm clouds are rolling in across Florida. We might get to encounter the rain that we have missed so much. One awesome thing about the road trip yesterday was the grass - green, green grass and blue, blue skies. I know people love the terrain out west, but I was tired of looking at rocks. If you’ve seen one rock you’ve seen them all.
Oh. But all my kindergarten drawings of mountains were completely accurate representations. They do actually just look like triangles against a hazy backdrop.
Baldassare would have liked our Airbnb. Eli has found the top of his head many times, and I think we all have to duck on the way to the bathroom.
New Orleans delivered. You’ll have to ask Tara and Liam about the nightlife. They didn’t want to wait for a cab after dropping the bus at the RV park so they walked the mile home at 11:30pm. I only halfway listened, but from what I heard there were lots of people partying. I decided that if Vegas was drunk then New Orleans was high.
We walked from the French Market, where we got the most delicious gf crepes - both savory and sweet - to the Mississippi River. Then we walked along the River until we arrived at Jackson Square. It was just the right amount of walking and then we called for a pedal cab to give us a tour.
We all really liked the pedal bike tour. Our lady had about 500lbs of human flesh to pedal around for 30 minutes and she was a beast. She showed us the (yawn) historic sites and also her local favs (she biked past her aunt). The dude biking Stella and Olli around had a significant grudge against a bookshop proprietor - so that was entertaining. The guy pedaling Tara, Tanner, and Torie has a neuroscience degree, but is currently enjoying his time as a full-time pedal-biker.
Oh! I got a cappuccino and it was amazing. Seriously. From Envie (on-voy). My disposition improved significantly after that.
Best part was getting dropped off at our RV park. The pool was so inviting that some people stripped down and jumped in (I am not some people), and the bathrooms and showers were clean and air conditioned. We took another 30 min break there and cooled off, and then Tara took the driver’s seat to get us out of the city. We drove over the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain.
We stopped for gas and Eli is driving now. I’m the DJ and he’s a solid customer behind that wheel, singing every word and keeping a following distance that makes me a smidge uncomfortable. But he’s going slower than the speed limit in the right hand lane, so I won’t complain anywhere but here.
In Alabama. Just went past Mobile Bay. He also drove us through Mississippi. And now Florida!!!!
4 hours left. We gotta get gas before we get home. It’s sad because we are so close and no one wants to stop. Damien offered to order food for us - that is going to be epic!
I wish I had some philosophical things to say about travel and personal growth - but the truth is everywhere you go there you are. And maybe we are coming home different or changed but I can’t tell; I’m too close. Zoom out and maybe. But really I’m not sentimental in that way. I’ll leave that to the Romantics.
However, my heart and mind are full of a month of memories that feel both longer than a month and shorter than a month. And when I think of the time spent all together with my esteemed travel companions, the pressure in my chest increases and I need to stop and take a deep breath.
These are the moments I hold in my memory. Time together and time with friends and family is a precious commodity. Our visits with friends and family in other states was sacred, and it feels a bit of a spiritual journey and not just a month of travel and not just a month of sightseeing.
It’s been a long time since I’ve woken up 27 days in a row to the faces of all my babies; I suspect that will never happen again, and anyway I’ve heard children have to move away sometime.
I’m holding this time on the road with these people tenderly.
If you’ve been following along with our journey, you need to know it has reached its end.
I love you Mom. And our love to Lydia and Caitlin, Tara’s mom, Jenna and Eric, Tribe (probably just Heddy and Sophia by this point), Marci, Anna’s mom, Kayleigh’s moms, Resonance, Sherri (and Steve), Sam and Rachel, and everyone else who has been thinking about us and loving us.
