End of the week and moving into the city

We ended up getting into a rhythm in the RV Park. Wake up, go to the bathroom, login to the computers and start working. Make some eggs, and toast some bread on our griddle outside beneath the awning.  It was actually quite comfortable. We broke the AC unit out and vented outside the driver window. It wouldn’t get the bus terribly cold but it would relieve us of the humidity which, if you’ve lived in the South, you know can be pretty brutal.

Eventually we went into the city for a night. I think it was on Monday. Loren told us to eat at The Joint in the Bywater before they closed down for the night. We took a bus stop to a stop that we thought we could take into the city from the RV park. We waited and waited. Waited some more. It was near a Winn Dixie so I thought, heck I could go get some more sudafed to help with my killer allergies (of course the pharmacy was closed because of how late it was). Eventually a bus went by in the wrong direction (or so we thought) that was numbered what we wanted. We waited a little longer and said ‘Fuck it, call a cab’. So we did. The driver dropped us at The Joint for some to-go food. Matt and I both got sausage sandwiches and Jake got the chopped pork. Some seriously legit barbecue. Smoked to perfection.  This was my first night in the city and it was interesting. All of the houses are close together, the roads are complete bullshit. Lots of one ways. It was dark when we got into the city so I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. Anyways, we took our food to a bar up the street to a bar Loren used to work at called J&J’s Sports Lounge to watch the NCAA Men’s championship game. Michigan lost. Loren introduced to everyone there as his brothers from Michigan. Loren ducked out right after this. We finished up our drinks and we stopped by a bar that I can’t remember the name of. Neither can Matt or Jake. We ended up meeting some cool people there. Some guy from Cleveland who knew our friend DRB. I met a girl Zooey who was road tripping her way from her family’s place in California back to her place in New York, apparently just because it was something to do. We also met Kelly who was in town for conferences. Jovial drinking and listening to live music. We ended up going to Karaoke @ Kajun’s pub to finish out the night.

I woke up with a nice hangover the next day and worked my way through it. We went back into the city to get some dinner @ Buffas. Looking at the menu I saw redfish and po boy, and knew instantly what I was getting. Jake opted for the red beans and rice with sausage. The redfish was ridiculously good. We ended up getting some more drinks later on and cabbing back to the bus.

The next morning/afternoon Matt and Jake walked down the street and got some monstrously huge shrimp po boys. They were pretty good greasy messes. Just too much bread.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. We just worked and hung out on the bus to start with. Matt called and setup an appointment for his Tattoo on Friday, so we decided to take the day off and go into the city and eat some seafood. We stopped by Super Seafood in Uptown which was near where Matt was gonna get his tattoo. The pictures speak for themselves. We got a pound of boiled crawfish. Matt and I ordered a cup of gumbo each and split some fish on corn. Jake opted for a half dozen char grilled oysters covered in herbs and cheese.

Jake and I wanted to go check out Loren’s place. He said there was a spot for us to park, but many people don’t realize how large the bus really is. Anyways, we took the trolleys up as close as we could to his place and walked the rest of the way. We dropped by bars along the way and got day drunk in the city. I kept not bringing a beer to walk with. It still felt unnatural at this point. We ended up making it to Loren’s place and there was ample room for the bus!

Day turned into dusk and into night while we waited for Matt. Jake fell asleep for a bit. Matt showed up in the cab, and regaled us with his troubles finding a cab. He waited over an hour, the French Quarter Fest was going on so the city was a bit of a shit show. Anyways, Jake and I were still a little drunk so Matt had to drive. Which he was not super pleased about after having gotten his tattoo. We ended up going out that night after parking the bus. It was a bit of a mad rush to get everything secured on the bus so that we could head into the city.

I’m kind of surprised at how long this post is, because the first week felt so uneventful while it was going on. We managed to fit stuff in though to keep it eventful. We parked the bus on the street, unfortunately the street in front of the house dips way down near the curb. This meant that the bus was at an angle and I’d roll into bed. I eventually got used to this and it got to be kinda comfortable. We didn’t plug the bus into the house to start with. I didn’t know if it was cool or not since the only person I knew in the house was Loren.

Anyways, after going out on saturday night and getting a pretty nice hangover.. Matt and Jake wanted to get some breakfast. There were a lot of good reviews for The Ruby Slipper in Marigny (pronounced Mare ih knee). The food was fantastic, and the place was still pretty packed in the early afternoon on a Sunday. Everyone was ordering mimosas and bloody mary’s. I opted for an iced tea. We ended up walking back to the bus and I napped most of the day and caught up on some reading.

The one thing I noticed when walking back. There are so many little things to look at around the city. Just always something to check out. Street art, or decorations, or how someone painted their house.

So. Now we were in the City.