R O A D   T R I P   T O   N E W   O R L E A N S

Thursday, November 11, 2004

I wake to a really crummy morning, it looks like it rained last night.

Severe overcast is the flavor of the day, and a bitter one at that. Well, today is a driving day, so who cares about the weather, eh? Just as long as the roads are passable and I stay warm and toasty in my home on wheels.

Here's a little surprise greets me. Last night I parked in-between two large shipping containers. About 15 minutes after parking a tractor-trailer parks right in front of me, blocking my exit. I couldn't backup because of the curb. Well, in an emergency I certainly could, but perhaps not without tearing the snot out of my van's undercarriage. Regardless, when I woke this morning my 18-wheeled barricade had vanished, I didn't even hear its departure.

Hmmm, less than 300 miles to my next oil change. So far on my trip I've changed the van's oil a grand total of 3 times. That's right folks, I've been trying to change my oil every 3,000 miles. I'm baby treats me good ya know, so I justly reward her with regular oil changes.

All right, time to figure out where I'm going. The van man will soon have a plan in hand. Today's drive is going to be a whopper, a regular doozy, almost 400 miles all told. It'll take me south through central Mississippi and into eastern Louisiana. My destination? Good ole New Orleans. More specifically, the French Quarter. My topographic map foretells a sleeper of a drive, which promises to be rather flat and uninteresting, sorta like today's weather one could say.