In Which A Grammatically-Inconsistent Summary Is Provided And Analysis Foreshadowed

Saturday, 12/5: Fly. Stop. Fly. Arrive at New Orleans aeroport at approximately 4:30 p.m. local time (which is, as I'm constantly forgetting, one hour behind time-to-which-I'm-accustomed). Drive to Baton Rouge. Eat at local Greek-and-Lebanese chain. Find motel. Sleep.

Sunday, 12/6: Arise. Examine websites of two local megachurches. Choose The Healing Place Church on basis of less overtly political Statement of Belief (this territory has been well-covered in a previous post). Attend "church". Leave "church" emotionally numb and further from God than when we arrived. Drive to Livonia, LA. Eve bikes about 30 miles to Plaquemine as I drive there and look around. When Eve arrives, go to Bayou Segnette State Park, set up camp in the dark, and sleep.

Monday, 12/7: Arise to rain. Determine too cold and wet to bike, so drive to Plaquemine and look around. Find beautiful Catholic church. Examine abandoned lock. Climb levee. Follow river south. Find plantation, attend tour administered by contagiously-unhappy Darlene. Tour attempts to address issue of slavery in Southern culture; ends up, as was inevitable, both euphemizing and romanticizing it. Drive into New Orleans. Get coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde. Find that we both like beignets more than any other form of fried dough. Wander French Quarter. Eat oh-my-god-this-is-amazing sandwiches. Go to Bayou Segnette. Sleep as rain starts to fall.

Tuesday, 12/8: Arise to puddles as previously described. Dry clothes and sleeping bags in free laundry room. Go to Westwego Library. Drive to Grand Isle State Park. Set up camp, explore, eat, get flat tire on drive back from restaurant, sleep.

Wednesday, 12/9: Arise to one tire flat instead of four flats as dreamt by Mac. Make arrangements to get tire fixed. Unpack car, organize everything. Bask in first and only sunlight since Saturday. Shower. Fix tire. Drive back up to NOLA, stopping at Walmart for groceries and two new tires and oil change. Drive to St. Bernard State Park. Set up camp. Drive to New Orleans. Park, wander, look for music. Find, first, passable music at trashy tourist bar. Leave, find pretty good music at emptier bar. Go to Candlelight Lounge. Wait for Treme Brass Band to arrive and play. Wait. Wait. Listen to excellent Treme Brass Band. Eat. Sleep.

Thursday, 12/10: Arise to cold. Drive to New Orleans, find cafe. Go to surprisingly small exhibition of pictures of the end of the Mississippi. Drive around New Orleans. Go to African-American Museum. Eat. Sleep.

Friday, 12/11: Arise to colder-than-yesterday. Drive to New Orleans. Find cafe. Post.