This morning we departed from our overnight parking in the Walmart Car Park in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with an easy 84-mile drive to New Orleans... so we thought. It was raining like cats & dogs, and I mean raining. I have never driven through such treacherous conditions in all my 71-years on this planet. Visibility on the Interstate Hwy was down to 50 metres, (Very, very scary with this big rig of a Motor Home).
When we finally arrived here at this beautiful Saint Bernard State Park camping ground in Braithwaite, Louisiana, as you can see by the photographs. On arrival, the Park Ranger informed us that we had just driven through 4” of torrential rain in the 2-hour drive from Baton Rouge.
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| My RV and my Toyota Echo tow car in the gorgeous Saint Bernard State Park camping ground in Braithwaite, Louisiana |
Now the fun part of the story begins... I pulled up outside the Park's reception office to register for a couple of days. When I went to engage the transmission into PARK in the RV, the park brake lever broke clean off in my right hand. Not impressed as you can imagine, because if I turned the engine off I would not be able to start the engine again because vehicles do not start unless you engage PARK. What’s more I could not engage reverse gear. It is not any fun without reverse as you can well imagine.
Anyway to cut to the chase, I had just happened to notice an auto repair shop along the road, for some unknown reason not very far from the St Bernard State Park. I told David to register and l will drive back to the repair shop to see if they could help me. I walked into the Wuertz Brothers Tire Services workshop and explained to the owner of the business what had happened.
I would need to remove what was left of the lever in the steering column so that we could weld the broken lever to that small piece still in the steering column. He was very helpful & told me that he has a MIG welder. So I pulled out the tool kit, and I removed the broken part & this guy welded up the broken lever and I would be on my way again. He charged me only $30.00.
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| Wuertz Brothers Tire Services workshop where they assisted me with my snapped transmission lever |
While I was waiting for him to weld the part I got a chat on with another gentleman that was also having his car serviced, he just happened to be a local Uber driver so he was just the person I should be talking to out the local area. I asked him many questions about distance from Bourbon Street & the French Quarter, (14 miles) he told me where to park the Toyota tow car only one block from the French Quarter cheaply ($12.00 for ten hours) which is only one block from where it all happens.
He also told me the best Jazz Bars & Restaurants to go to plus another couple of things to see while we are here. So tomorrow morning we are off to the Chalmette Battlefield not too far from here on the way into New Orleans.
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| My RV and my Toyota Echo tow car and to the right, David's 5th wheel rig parked next to me in the Saint Bernard State Park camping ground in Braithwaite, Louisiana |
This is the battlefield that Andrew Jackson who would later become the 7th President of the United States, stopped the British in the Battle of New Orleans on Jan 8th, 1815 killing many thousands of Poms with very few casualties on their side.
He also advised us to go to Frenchmen Street where all the night clubs are. In particular, he pointed out that ‘The Maison’ is a jazz club and bar where we will see local artists called ‘Shotgun Jazz Band’ for a few hours where we could enjoy listening to various jazz bands for the evening and indulge in some real Southern cuisine, especially the Pulled Pork sandwiches.
As you can see by the photographs here that I shot in the State Park this arvo the weather has cleared up nicely, so hopefully tomorrow will be a good day for our sightseeing. Nothing else to report right now, we will leave New Orleans on Friday morning and head on over to Mobile, Alabama, to see the Battleship USS Alabama & the Submarine USS Drum plus more than 25 aircraft.
This morning (US time) my thoughts were very much at home with you all because of the Anzac Day commemorations, usually a HUGE day to be remembered.
Cheers for now.
Warbo
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