New Orleans.
After Hattiesburg — of which I only remember standing at an island in someone's kitchen and feeling glad to be off the road. . .
Didn't we shower at a (do the arm motions with me) YMCA? Didn't we arrive in the late afternoon?
I remember dining. The only word for it. The only fine meal of the entire journey. Didn't we have wine and. . . I dunno. Etouffee or something? I remember a table by a stairway in an elegant old restaurant. Crystal sparkling on the table. Henry tucked in behind with his back to the wall and a smile on his face. A little help here?
And I remember breakfast at Cafe Du Monde: beignets and steaming mugs of chickoried coffee on Decatur Street.
But I also remember a drive east after having left NO, in the blackest night ever, headed for the panhandle of Florida.
Stopping in the blackness somewhere, driven off the road by thirst. Two of us climbing up on top of the Land Cruiser, where the cooler is strapped. Lifting the lid to find drinks and then, turning on the flashlight.
A hundred thousand insects — in my memory they're lacewings and walking sticks and matises and frighteningly large beetles and gigantic, dusty moths — all legs and carapaces -- converging on our single light in all that inky darkness.
We douse the light and frantically brush off what seems like hundreds of hideous intruders, clambering down off the roof and back into the safety of the LC.
The next thing I remember is dawn in Sarasota, parking at the beach, running across the sand and diving into the gulf.
So my question is, how did we arrive in the afternoon, stay the evening, take off in the dark and somehow still have breakfast on Decatur street? What am I misremembering? Did we get to New Orleans in the morning? If so, what did we do all day?
Help!
4 comments:
wish i could help....the mooch list was great for Hattiesburg, we'd been without 'comfort' for a few days running. i can not recall for the life of me N.O. (exept walking in the French Quater at night and seeing the bizaar come to life.)
eating there? on our budget? i'll have to defer to KOTW because the timing (morning/night) seems odd. did we actually spend an entire day in the city?
i remember driving the night shift. the bugs, that's starting to creep into my mind and could be real before this is all over.
we made it to Pensacola by sun up and you and hank continued the drive to daytona/de land (via alabama and the great 'let's not wake up bill story while driving around in circles at a gas station)
i'll continue to dwell on N.O. and see what pull through the cobwebs.
Here's what I remember or maybe just imagine from NOLA: first, a panhandler asked us for money and I tried to counsel with him, saying I'd give him some coin if he would recite the 23rd psalm. He did. (!) After touring Bourbon Street, looking at the twin pianos in Pat O'Brien's (Home of the Hurricane), we made our way to the levee, sat at the Cafe du Monde, stared at the old Jax brewery, and totally buzzed ourselves on beignets, sugar, and coffee. That's probably when we decided to hightail it out of the city . . .
beyond this, I'm of NO help!
i can picture the brewery and both stories kinda merger and blend into an image that feels comfortable to my mind. my only 'vivid' memory is bourbon street and this small town boy's eyes popping out at the sights and sounds of human flesh peddlers.
the family we mooched from in hattiesburg was the Fletchers. one of those military friends similar to the colorado springs mooch.
i had to call my mom for the above info.
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