Fine line between surrealism & costume shop closeouts

The day's activities had costumed pub crawl planned. While Katrina themed outfits were the predominate choice, normal costumes such as Dorothy from Oz, a Genie, and even Cartman of South Park were seen. We circled up around 11 in the morning and started the crawl all through the French Quarter hitting numerous pubs, landmarks, and historic sites. With 100+ hashers in attendance, there was never a lack of conversation or want for fun. Out of all the places I have been, New Orlean's liquor laws made the most sense. Instead of outlawing alcohol in public or other restrictive aspects, the law simple prohibited the use of glass containers. Now that actually makes sense and allows for people to mingle and enjoy themselves. At the end of the trail, we had a scrumptious catered meal in a theater that was reserved for our group. A few hashers were kind enough to let some of us crash at the hotel for a bit for a power nap and relaxation so that we could recharge our mental batteries before returning to the fray. We walked around a bit more in the evening as separate groups and enjoyed some of the smaller hole-in-the wall that made New Orleans famous. Hmmm, I'm really starting to like this place!

New Orleans means business and all that jazz

After the RDR in New Orleans in August, I knew I wanted to spend more time in the area and check off one more thing from my list. In religion class my sophomore year of high school, our teacher had us make a list of goals or things we wanted to do, so I tried to tally up all the things I thought would be fun or fulfilling before I died. Since then, I have been so fortunate to be able to check off so many of them such as skydiving, SCUBA diving, traveling out of the country, and even going to the top of the Empire State Building at night. Attending a real Mardi Gras actually on Fat Tuesday was one of those things. The New Orleans Hash House Harriers set up a Mardi Gras weekend, so I knew this was a perfect opportunity to go.

A week before I left, I sent a shout-out to their local email lists to find some kind of lodging arrangements. Within a couple of days, I had several offers from various locals inviting me to crash at their place. Even as a back up, I had a few responses from locals on couchsurfing.com that also welcomed me should my other plans not work out. I was able to stay with Angela (FillMeUp) for the week. I flew over early Friday morning and, having previously downloaded the bus routes before leaving, rode into town on the local routes. My host seemed quite surprised that I was able to travel on my own from the airport on the local bus line having made at least two transfers without any problems. The GPS with the downloaded maps and pre-set waypoints proved to be invaluable in helping me find the most direct routes during my stay. Once I made introductions with my gracious host and the other out-of-towners crashing at her place (PicOfTheLitter and ClapOn), we had breakfast and went shopping for costumes. I picked up some gladiator costume that would be my secondary outfit for when my Afghan Burqa got too hot to wear. Since we were already out and about, FillMeUp drove us to the Ninth Ward area of New Orleans. This was a place where you saw the most devastation due to the levee break. The damage even 6 months later is nearly indescribable. Homes were often laying in the middle of the streets with overturned cars and even houses on top of cars were still an extremely common sight. We stopped and even checked out a couple of the homes up close. The smell of mold was stifling and I nearly feared that I would return home with Black Lung if I lingered too long.

We returned to the house and got dressed up to head to the hotel for hash registration. One aspect I like about away trips is the opportunity to meet so many new people and hang out. After mingling for a while, we circled up and left for the evening pub crawl through the downtown area. We hit three bars or so and got to see a bit of the upper French Quarter. All too soon the evening ended, so we retired back at the house to prepare for another long day.

"Leaving, on a jet plane, Don't know when I'll be back again"

I'll be in New Orleans from Friday morning until Wednesday afternoon for Mardi Gras. I was there a few weeks before Katrina hit, so it'll be interesting to see the contrast. I was last in the city in September for the NOH3 Red Dress Run with several friends and we all decided that we were going back for this event, however one by one they dropped off, so I'm apparently going stag. I'll be there through Fat Tuesday and will return Wednesday afternoon, work Thursday, and then head to Daytona Beach for Bike Week on Friday afternoon. I'll have to leave around 2-3PM so that I can get back in time to get a good seat in the lawn area for the Coldplay concert that evening.

I just started packing tonight for my early flight and even just started to make sleeping arrangements this week. I kind of like the idea of a bit of adventure and not having anything definitive set, though I have several back up plans. I have had 4-5 hashers invite me to stay at their place and even have a few contacts from couchsurfing.com invite me to crash with them. So though I am not certain as to where I'll be staying, I'll at least be a bit protected from the elements and have a place to charge my camera and maybe, hopefully, get a shower. To me, it just all adds to the adventure and to the stories down the road. I hope to visit the D-Day Museum on Wednesday before I head back to home, but don't have any other plans in particular while I am there except for the Mardi Gras Madness hash Fri-Sun. I'll try to update the blog when I return, but I'll have a lot to do, so I may not get to it.

Have a safe week friends, I'll have a Hand Grenade in your memory.