TWG :: vol 31 :: New Orleans West KOA

New Orleans West KOA :: New Orleans, LA :: KS -> FL Trip

Today was the most frustrating driving day we have had in a long time!  Now I know why I really don't care if our GPS leads us astray and we miss major interstates and take the backroads all over the place.  I'm almost sure I'd rather be having anxiety about running out of gas before we find the nearest gas station, than running into random traffic jams!

We knew we were going to hit traffic leaving Houston this morning.  We thought about getting up really early and leaving around 6:30am, but everyone stayed up really late last night and I thought sleep might benefit us better.  We only had a 5.5 hour drive to New Orleans today, so if we got delayed a little that was going to be ok....only we got delayed a lot!!!!

We got out of our luxurious RV park around 8, hit Houston traffic, but really it only slowed us down about 20 minutes.  We thought we were good to go and just a short time later, we crossed into Louisiana!

And then we got slowed down by this torrential down pour...

And then again we were crawling along because of a broken down truck on the side of the road....but Louisiana, I am impressed,  I think it is really pretty!  I love all the green trees and swamps!  

And then we hit Baton Route at 2:00.  2:00 people and we were in stop and go traffic for an hour!  To go 6.7 miles!  We got cut off twice by two different cars that I thought for sure were going to take off our front bumper, but thankfully Royal slammed on the brakes as hard as he did the horn.  Ha!  It turned a 5.5 - 6 hour road trip into an 8 hour road trip.  The kids were cranky, the dog wouldn't lay down and was making horrific smells, it was just frustrating.  What was suppose to be a pretty easy day of driving, just wasn't.  But nothing blew up or went flat or stopped working and we made it safe and sound, so I am going to be thankful for that!

We crossed over the Mississippi River!  And watched a tug boat push a couple barges down the river.  We could watch it because we were moving at a snail's pace. :)

But finally we made it to our campground!.  I made some dinner, the kids rode their bikes, and then as we were about to walk out the door to go check out the French Quarter, we got hit with another torrential downpour.  We said screw it, handed out long sleeve shirts and went for it anyway!  I was getting my beignets, gosh darn it!  Luckily it stopped raining when we got there!  :)

I loved all the gas lanterns that hung over the walkways.

The kids hated the French Quarter.  Everyone was smoking and drinking, so it pretty much smelled like a bar.  Jayden kept saying it smelled so bad that his throat was closing up.  Willow declared she had blisters on her feet and could no longer walk and that only thing that would fix it was frozen yogurt.  Jayden kept saying he was seeing and hearing inappropriate things and that obviously kids didn't belong here, and he was never living in a big city because it was too noisy, and he didn't care what beignets were, he wasn't going to try them because he already knew he hated them, and we just needed to leave right now, and that he absolutely hated jazz music.  I did not give in.  I did not negotiate with my little terrorists.  I had never been to New Orleans and I only got 2 hours this time.  So, we walked around, I held my breath around people who were smoking, I held my kid's hands and drug them up and down the streets and kept pointing out things I thought were great, even though they kept telling me they were lame.  I bought myself some Slap Yo Mama seasoning and a magnet to go in our trailer.  And finally.  After we had found frozen yogurt to cure Willow's blisters, we stopped by Cafe Du Monde - supposedly the best place to get beignets in the French Quarter.  And by golly, they were delicious!  And the kids did like them!  And it made it all totally worth it!

 

On to Florida tomorrow!!!