Month: January 2013

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Good That the Mechanic Thinks I’m Crazy?

I got up early this morning to make sure I didn’t miss a potential call from the Ford shop. By 8:00 (they opened at 7:00), I decided that ‘sit and wait’ wasn’t going to work for me, so I called them. The lady who answered wasn’t too helpful, but a mechanic must have overheard and told her to pass him the phone.

He said that the truck started right up normally and he drove it into his shop. What kind of trouble did I have with it?

I think it took five minutes for him to understand me because of our accent differences. I kept on having to repeat myself. It’s not just him; I had issues with the tow driver yesterday, the mall security person, the tourist info person, and I’ve experienced this in Savannah, too. And the accent troubles go both ways as I have a hard time catching more than just the gist of what someone says unless I’m listening very carefully.

Anyway, he said he would look at it today as it is second in line for service, but if it needs part, I may have to wait till Monday.

I’m going to hang out at home a while longer to see if I get any good news. No sense keeping the rental car into tomorrow if I could return it today, although I’m pretty sure that by noon I’ll be into the next day anyway.

The mechanic called me back as I was writing this post to ask me what state Alberta is in and for my zip code. I replied Canada and gave him my postal code slowly, remembering to say ‘zee’ instead of ‘zed’. He got the information in one shot, but said, “Gee whiz!”

I now have to confess how relieved I am my truck is actually where it’s supposed to be. 🙂

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Truck Trouble

I went out this afternoon to run some errands. I pulled into a mall parking lot, parked, cut the engine, and got out only to notice that I really wasn’t parked far enough into the slot. I got back in and happened to notice that the gas pedal felt really loose. I tried to start the truck and it revved really hard like I had given it a ton of gas! I turned it off and tried to turn it on again, but the engine would not turn.

So, in a strange city, it’s getting dark, and it’s about to pour. I used the GPS to get a few repair place numbers and everyone was, “Sorry, we’re closing right about now and we couldn’t get anyone to you till Monday.”

Living out in the middle of nowhere right now, being on foot was not an option! I had a gut feeling that I had only about 45 minutes, to 6PM, to find a tow and get my butt to a rental car company. I was right.

I went into the mall to ask security about just leaving the truck in the lot over the weekend. Only till Monday, but they were concerned about vandalism or theft. So the awesome mall security lady called a tow company and then started calling around the rental car places. Enterprise promised not to close if I could get there by 6:00.

The tow truck came expediently and the driver was amazing. I had no idea where to take the truck of course and he gave me the name of a Ford dealership, saying he would drop it there and have them call me in the morning. But, first, he would drop me off at Enterprise. He got the truck loaded and we tore out of there like a bat out of hell. I’m not kidding. This guy ran every red light he could safely to get me to Enterprise for 5:58.

There, he wrote up my contract while I ran inside to secure a car. Their computers were down, so they got my info and started work on a handwritten contract while I finished up with the tow guy. Tow: $85, plus a $5 tip.

He left and I went back inside to learn that I was being upgraded to a fancy car for the price of their cheapest car. Mine not to question why, but this is an example of why I never rent from anyone but Enterprise.

The more I think about this, the more I think this breakdown occurred in the best way possible. Had it happened tomorrow, who knows where I would have been and my day would have been completely shot. At least, I can still take off and do something if I want to, although I am beginning to feel that tomorrow is going to be a home day as I am exhausted. Plus, I don’t want to spend too much money until I know how much the truck is going to cost me to fix. 🙁

Hey, at least this didn’t happen during the road trip yesterday…

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New Orleans!

I made it!!! And those exclamation point are because the bit on US-90 between I-10 and the park entrance were harrowing!!! OMG, the wind kept battering the rig and people were zipping in and out and slamming on their brakes and reducing my stopping distance to zero and tailgaters were honking at me like my smoking the brakes was my fault. It was just like Montreal! Why?! Because these drivers and I share the same ancestors! It must be in French Canadian blood to drive like a lunatic!

Um, now that I’ve got that out of my system, let’s go back to Mississippi. 🙂

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It was so good to see Biloxi open for business. That the region has managed to rebuild after the devastation wrought by Katrina is a testament to the notion of home as being a physical location. As the camphost here said, “What else could we do but rebuild because where else could we have gone?”

Louisiana welcomed me in French!

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I stopped at the welcome centre and got a ton of state tourist info IN FRENCH. I grabbed a pile of tourist brochures and the helpful lady at the front desk organized them by location so that I can plan an efficient itinerary. At the minimum I’d like to do the French Quarter one day, a bus tour of New Orleans another day, and then go out and do a swamp tour.

The lady thought it was cool that I’m from Alberta and I replied that I’m really French Canadian from Quebec and I wish my ancestors had been smart and gone south instead of staying in the frigid north. I’m not saying I would have wanted to be part of the Acadian Expulsion, but I come from a long line of explorers. Couldn’t they have looked south just a teeny bit? 🙂

You have to cross huge Lake Pontchartrain to get to the Big Easy:

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First glimpse of New Orleans:

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I am staying at Bayou Segnette State Park where $18 (off season rate!) a night gets you power (20, 30, or 50), water, and FREE laundry!

I continue to have the best timing in the world and have apparently landed at the start of Mardi Gras season (which I thought was at least a month later) so the campground is nearly full. I am stuck in a ‘double’ which means another rig could put in right next to me on the same pad. But I picked the best ‘double’ available so that I will never have a neighbour on my passenger side, and therefore a clear view from the office.

There is an extremely expensive RV park right in the French Quarter, but one night there is the same price as five nights here. I don’t plan to be out after dark, so this location is a good compromise. I can drive less than half an hour and catch a FREE pedestrian ferry right to the French Quarter!

There is concern that there will be no more availability past my checkout date of Wednesday, but I’ll cross that bridge when I have to. I have to stick around until my general delivery parcel arrives.

It’s pretty cool thanks to a nice breeze but quite muggy out. I thought it was going to storm, but now I’m not so sure. Anyway, I can run the AC no problem to bring the humidity down if I need to. Right now, I have all the windows, roof hatches, and front door open and it’s quite lovely and comfortable!

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Muggy Mississippi Morning

I am paused for a very early lunch at the second Mississippi rest area on I-10 westbound from Alabama.

It was a hot night in Atmore and I awoke to cloying mugginess. By 7:30, the sun was shining brightly. So much for the forecast!

I took it really slow this morning as I only had about 300KM to drive. I’d hooked up the night before, so I thought I would have an easy pull out. HA HA HA HA.

Signage and directions in the Wind Creek parking lots are poor and I wound up driving straight into a dead end unloading area with no place to turn around! Thankfully, I was able to pull into a quiet area in a straight enough line to unhook. A nice gentleman helped me back the motorhome out of there once the truck was out of the way. GAH. Anyway, unhooking without any pressure isn’t too bad.

If the next few days are anything like today, I will be glad to have shore power when I get to New Orleans! In fact, if I have the choice, I will get 30A rather than 15A.

Parked at Wind Creek Casino.

Parked at Wind Creek Casino.

What a decision!

What a decision!

Mississippi-bound!

Mississippi-bound!

Next major city: New Orleans!

Next major city: New Orleans!

Passing this exit, I got the urge to give up my life of RVing and become a shrimp boat captain.

Passing this exit, I got the urge to give up my life of RVing and become a shrimp boat captain.

Mississippi!

Mississippi!

Parked at the Mississippi welcome centre

Parked at the Mississippi welcome centre

This is what I imagined Mississippi would look like!

This is what I imagined Mississippi would look like!

Tabitha enjoying a bird concert.

Tabitha enjoying a bird concert.

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Soggy Alabama Night

I had thought to stay three nights here in Atmore, but I’m looking at nothing but grey sky for the foreseeable future with batteries at the low 80%. Since my next stop is just 3 hours away and has power, it just makes more sense to push on to New Orleans and drop anchor for a bit. I’ll likely be there a week, maybe a little longer, waiting for the DC charger for my laptop to arrive. I’m starting to doubt that I’ll be able to stay as long as I would have liked at my planned stop in Texas, what with the weather there being chilly, but I’ll make that decision when it’s time.

I went into the casino to grab dinner at the buffet. This being the South, most of the seafood offerings were deep fried, but the overall spread was nothing to sneeze at, featuring everything from sushi to pizza to Chinese food to steak and ham to a dizzying array of salads and desserts. Croft would have been in catfish heaven and I have to say this was probably the best fried catfish I have ever had!

I finished the night by putting some money in the slot machines, all of which I’m only saying to make it a matter of public record that I tried to pay these folks for their warm hospitality these last two nights. It’s not my fault they decided to pay me $150 for my efforts, is it?

So having formally been to Florida and added Alabama to my list of visited states, tomorrow I shall add Mississippi and Louisiana. That’ll leave me 10. And by the time I return to Canada, I could easily knock of another five. Add nine Canadian provinces and two Canadian territories and I think I can consider this continent seized, no?