Now we finished early on day 6 as we'd had a lovely email from Shannon, the head of marketing at Bubba Gump in New Orleans after the Biloxi manager had passed on our impending arrival. We had to be in NOLA by 4:30 to say hi and when we got there we were treated to a slap up dinner and drinks on the house, all served by Mike, the resident FG expert. A good bit of the meal was spent answering trivia questions on the film and I think we just about impressed him, apart from maybe our knowledge of the chronology of the US Presidency! I got to keep my Bubba Gump glass that housed my Sam Adams Summer Ale and Nads bought a box of chocolates (of course). We took a load of photos and headed for a very brief tour of the waterfront and the French Quarter. I'd been here a few years ago on a roadtrip with my old mucker Simon, or Slapish, as we call him. At the time I was asked by a man who appeared a little down on his luck near the Natchez Steamboat to have a bet with him. He bet me $5 that he knew “where I got dem shoes”. Despite Si's protestations I went along with it, as of course he didn't know. “You gots dem on yo' feet”. One-nil, or one-zip (or zip and one?). I told Nads about this as we were walking along and remarked on how you'd love to go into that situation again, knowing what the score as, like when you walk away from an argument and think of something brilliant to say. “Hey man! Nice Nikes! Now I ain't never seen you before, but I bet I know...”. Brilliant. So after, I'd then replied to riddle two that my DAD had had no children, my mum had had them all (accompanied by his beaming smile) and got him with one of my own about how many animals of each species Moses had taken onto the Ark, he was in stitches. I always strugge with the dilemma of whether to give momey to the homeless directly or not, but I think what you at least have to do is treat them with courtesy and if you can brighten their day with a chat or some food/drink, that's probably best. Just be a human.
We headed down Bourbon Street, noting the bar where I'd watched the 2010 Superbowl (Packers 31-25 Steelers) and had too many hand grenades and caught a parade with full marching band and bead throwing on the way to BeerFest where a Sweetwater 420 IPA hit the spot. When we got back to our motel that evening (Hats off to Ken of Motel 6 for being a hero, by the way) I was looking for the card that identified which chocolate was which, but I should have known better. “You never know what you're gonna get.” (Nads demanding credit for comedy supplies) Now, even for a man with a pathological fear of nuts hiding in chocolate, I had to admit that they'd got that spot on! We got our heads down and got ready for the Megabus ($17 for a 7 hour journey – AMAZING) to Houston to pick up the RV.
We decided that we'd stay in the Holiday Inn near the dealer and felt like we in the Ritz after the majority of our previous experiences. A great steak, comfy bed, great staff and no stress. Paid a bit more, but worth it. The next day we headed over to PPL Motor Homes and Randy Lane (What an awesome Texas name!) even drove us to the bank to get the cheque and the staff there, Sharon, Gary, Jules, the parts staff and of course, RV Nana Miss Diana were awesome and we got our hands on Jenny (naturally) Jamboree, our 30 foot, 6 sleeper RV that we're just desperate to have people come and stay in now! Hopefully this will make our lives easier and allow me to start running earlier and go later if weather dictates and mean at least I'll always have a bit of shade! I'm writing this as we're heading back from Houston, on the way to stock the van and hopefully I'll be on the road again at 4pm. Been too long.