RECOVERING FROM MARDI GRAS

Ash Wednesday everybody hooked up and left the Lakefront Arena Park. After a really spectacular front moved through with drenching rains and winds that rocked the Airstreams. No damage and the rain had stopped by the time we started getting ready to leave.

I drove back to Irish Bayou. I had been worried about getting the Airstream back into my parking space at Vince's. There is only about 4 feet extra width between some poles and pilings that I have to fit into. I'm fairly competent when it comes to backing, as long as I can go slow and get out frequently to look and see where I'm going. But at the Bayou I'm blocking the highway while I back in. And those Cajuns can be impatient sometimes. About 30 minutes out Vince called on the cell and said Bill Stallworth would be meeting me there so he could leave his truck and utility trailer for a couple of weeks.

Another in-between; Bill directed me and backing in was a piece of cake. I'm sure I'm supposed to have figured it out by now and just stop worrying. But old paranoid habits are hard to break.

A week of rest and rehabilitation, then it was off to Mimosa Landing Campground for the weekend with Lesly; Lonnie and Vince (1959 Tradewind); Stanley and Joyce (2004 Bambi); and another Vince and his wife Bobbi (30'er that I think was a 1996). So we had four Airstreams ranging from 17' to 34' and 1959 to 2004.

OF COURSE the food was fantastic, every morning and every night. Friday we did some antique shopping and chilled. Saturday we took a tour of the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum at Camp Shelby. Vince was a helicopter pilot in Viet Nam. He and I spent some time outdoors looking at the Huey, Sky Crane, OH-6 and Cobra. Lots of interesting stuff inside, too. Starting with the War of 1812, exhibits covered all American conflicts through Desert Storm. We spent the better part of the afternoon there.

Sunday everybody except Lesly and I packed up and headed home. Lesly had President's Day off so we stayed another day. The morning rain ended about 1:00pm and we went for a 2 1/2 hour ride on the Honda. I didn't know Mississippi even had crooked hilly roads, but we found one ! HERE it is !

Monday we said, "Good By" and I headed toward Houston, with plans to look up some cousins in the Cajun country around Crowley, LA on the way.

MARDI GRAS DAY

Lonnie outdid herself and really saved "the best for last". We got up Tuesday morning and had our standard breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, biscuits, and cheesy grits. Then we headed off to the corner of Napoleon and Freret, just a few blocks from the starting point.

We found great, close parking and set up to wait for the arrival of The Krewe of Rex. Rex was founded in 1872. It is not a "super Krewe" because it hasn't gone to the giant fiber optic decorated floats. It still uses the wooden wheeled wagons with traditional hand built floats, just like 100 years ago.

We rested a while along the side of the street. Even though we were a couple of hours early, there were no empty spaces along the curbs because people had blocked off their favorite sites days in advance with chairs and yellow tape. And one unlucky person who had to stay 24/7 or probably more like 24/3 or /4 to save the spot. If the space is unoccupied the police tear down the tape. All up and down the street, on the sides and in the neutral ground, there were families with tarps, barbeque grills, even private Porta-johns. Oh yeah, and the ladders with child seats built on top.

BUT since we had local guides, we knew to wait at the street corner so we could move into the middle of the cross street when the police came along and closed it. Thank you again, Lonnie and Vince.

Waiting patiently



The Arrival of REX



Greeting his loyal subjects



That "other band" that ends in " SU" - OK , OK, They really were good !




And since this parade was in the daylight, I got some photos of the beautiful floats









I've been tardy in getting this posted. But there is one advantage to that. It gave others time to post. So if this didn't satisfy your desire for pictures, click HERE for 400+ more Rex pictures.

Bonus - they have pictures from 2005, 2006 and 2007 for those of you who REALLY want to kill an afternoon !

What an incredible weekend ! Even the storms held off until after we'd seen all the parades. And stopped again before we had to hitch up and head out. I went back to Irish Bayou for a few days of rest. Lonnie and Vince headed to Texas for a Vintage Airstream Rally.

Life is Good.