WE'RE HOME

We got home on Sunday afternoon, Mar 16th. Great to be home -- but lots of work to do. Check back in mid-April -- we'll be on another trip!!

Last Week in Thibodaux, LA

We got Saturday and Sunday off from Habitat for Humanities. We were definitely ready for a break, however, Friday night we decided to try some Thibodaux cajun food and went to a local favorite called Big Al's. I got a 3 lb platter of crawfish and a cup of gumbo. It was great. The others with us weren't as brave and stuck to fried fish and shrimp. Jim got his usual chicken salad. Saturday we essentially had a down day and just got rested up, and some of us did some errands. Jim and I went and got new dishes for our new motorhome. Since it is gold and white inside our motorhome, I thought our 20 year old camping blue and white dishes had served its purpose and needed an update. We got some pretty white and gold dishes now. Saturday night we all tried another local favorite cajun restaurant called 1921. Again, I got the crawfish tray and it was awesome. Larry and Mem decided to give the crawfish a try and they got half crawfish and half shrimp, so I was pretty proud of them for trying the crawfish. This crawfish at this restaurant was even better than Big Al's. They looked like mini lobsters. I think I finally got my crawfish fill now. Sunday, we all went to New Orleans. Mem and Larry and Peggy and Jim had never been to New Orleans. We went to the French Market and bought some bargains, (Larry, Mem and Peggy in 1st pic above at the French Market). We took a horse and buggy ride through the French Quarters and really enjoyed the tour and history as told by the driver. We then had lunch at the famous Pat O'Brien's. (see 2nd pic above). Some of us were disappointed with our meals there. They brought the wrong dish for me and Larry and when we told the waitress, she really wasn't interested in correcting the problem. The food just wasn't as good as we were getting in Thibodaux. I don't think I would recommend Pat O'Brien's for lunch. It is still a must do if you want to get a drink in New Orleans. From there we took a walk down Bourbon Street. I don't think Mem and Larry and Peggy and Jim were quite up to the wild sights there. But I guess even if you are not a party-goer it is worth seeing at least once just to say you did it. From Bourbon Street we cut through Jackson Square and enjoyed the many artists displays; some were quite good and some looked like art my nieces and nephews could do with their eyes closed but it was fun to see all the different kinds of art. From there we walked across the street to what they call the Moon Walk. Its kind of a bridge where you can see the Mississippi from one side and St. Louis Cathedral from the other side. The 3rd pic above is Mem and Larry and Jim looking out at the Mississippi from the Moon Walk; I think Larry was a little frisky after his walk on Bourbon Street - Larry didn't want to admit he enjoyed the sights on Bourbon Street, however I think this picture proves otherwise!!! Next we went to the famous Cafe Du Monde and got lattes, hot chocolate and Beignets which is a must do when visiting New Orleans. Beignets are sugary pastries that are sooo good. We all agreed it was a great way to end our visit to New Orleans. We had to go through the French Market to get to our car so of course we gave it one more pass and we all found bargains we couldn't live without. When we were trying to leave the French Quarters we got caught in traffic for at least an hour and it turns out we got caught in the aftermath of parade traffic. It was very congested and a little tense but once we got out of the city it was smooth sailing back to the Habitat campground. Monday evening after work, we went to a cultural cajun music jam session at the cultural center in Tribodaux. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We learned a little about cajun music. Basically it is beautiful story telling in French and it all seems to have the same beat which we learned is because the cajuns danced a 3 step waltz to the music. We were told that call cajun music utilizes the same instruments that were used at this particular session. They used acoustic guitars, an electric guitars (which was played as a bass guitar), a fiddle (representing German influence), an accordian, and finally, a triangle). There weren't very many people attending the jam session so the band kind of singled us out and wanted to know where we were from. It seemed like between every song they would ask us about certain places they knew about in VA. It was such an enjoyable evening. They even tried to sing some of the songs in English so we could enjoy the beautiful verses. Jim and I only got to work 2 days last week and we actually got all the walls built for the house we were working on. We got all the walls (including the interior walls) up except the front wall of the house. Tuesday, we finished the front wall but didn't get to set it up before the days end. I was really hoping to see the last wall go up, but at least I got to contribute building it. We left on Wednesday to go to Gaffney, SC where Jim had an appointment to the get the motorhome worked on. Mem told me they got the front wall up on Wednesday, the front porch built on Thursday, and the major beam for the roof on Friday. I wish I could have seen that all come together, but we had the appointment with Freightliner on Friday which meant we had to leave by Wednesday. Overall, our time at Habitat was hard work, but very rewarding. Jim and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and we will definitely do it again. We got to Gaffney, SC on Thursday evening and Friday they took our motorhome in for work. There was a couple of recalls that had to be handled, a small problem with the trip computer and an oil change/grease job. We leave here on Saturday and will stop and visit my mother in Bracey, VA Saturday afternoon. We will be home in Fredericksburg on Sunday. Looking forward to seeing our family and friends in VA.

Thibodaux, LA

We arrived in Thibodaux, LA on Sunday, March 2nd, for our Habitat for Humanities volunteer work. There are 3 RV's from our Good Sam Club here; us, Jim and Peggy Settles and of course Larry & Mem Halstead. There are 3 other RVers here from other states. In addition to the RVers we were joined by 21 Boston College students who are spending their spring break supporting Habitat for Humanities. We were pleasantly surprised to find out we are working on the Angel Place community started by Oprah Winphrey and Bon Jovi, the rock star, in conjunction with Habitat for Humanities. It is going to be a community of 70 homes located on Bon Jovi Road. Bon Jovi Road is shaped like a horseshoe and we are working on the houses located in the middle of the road. After we got the RV settled, we sat outside to enjoy the beautiful day. Soon we were joined by several of the kids that already live here. We met a young man, Kurt, who is 12 years old. (He is the boy in the back in the above picture). Kurt has become our new best friend. He told us his story of his family surviving Katrina. They had to be rescued by the Coast Guard from their roof top. He said he was so scared (he was only 10 at the time). His family made their way to Thibodaux and they have been here ever since. He said the day they found out they were getting a home in Angel Place was the best day of his life. He said the families thought they were going to see a movie because they had a big screen set up in a field. Then Bon Jovi walked up to the front of the screen and everyone was screaming and shouting and then Oprah came on the big screen and told everyone they were standing in their new neighborhood and that they would be getting homes. He said people were screaming and rolling on the ground. His family actually got one of Oprah's Angel Network houses that was furnished by Nate from her show. Angle Network actually furnished 28 of the proposed 70 homes. Kurt said his house is the most beautiful house he has ever seen. He feels so thankful. He was so articulate in telling us his story I told him he needs to write a book about his experience. He told me he has already started writing it and it is titled My Journey From Katrina and that he has sent Oprah many letters to see if she wanted to read it but he hasn't heard from her yet. After listening to his story, I was really glad we came here to help. Kurt told me we would feel tired and exhausted after our first day. He was right about that. After our 1st day of work, I discovered muscles I didn't know I had -- I was so sore, tired and exhausted. I think we were all in bed by 8:30pm that night. Jim, Jim and Larry and some of the college kids were finishing the siding and trim on a house, some of the college girls primed and painted the inside of a house; and Mem, Peggy and myself got involved in building walls on a house. We were joined by several of the college kids and the other RVers. Even though the work is hard work, we really enjoyed ourselves. We have one Habitat supervisor who went from house to house giving guidance and instruction. Habitat provides coffee and donuts in the morning at 8:00am; then we get a break at 10:00am then lunch is provided at noon. So far they have fed us enormous lunches. Except one day the volunteer responsible for lunch that day had a mixup on the schedule so we were on our own for lunch. (Actually, we were glad for the break from the big lunches). I can't believe how fast one week went by. By the end of the week, we had 3 outside walls built and standing, and about half of the interior walls built and standing. We get the weekend off. The Halsteads, Settles and Jim and I are going to visit New Orleans on Sunday.