Austin to New Orleans / Gulfport Trip log

Friday, November 11th  2005

We left Austin around 6:45 am.  Saw damage in the Beaumont, Orange, Lake Charles area from Hurricane Rita.  Stopped to eat lunch in Iowa in southeastern Louisiana and by 1:50 pm we were at the I-10 / I-12 split in Baton Rouge.  We made it to the Bourbon Orleans in the French Quarter at 3:15 pm, exactly 8.5 hours after leaving Austin.  We went walking around the Quarter and attempted to go to Pat O’Brien’s for a drink, but they didn’t open until later in the evening.  We ate dinner at K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen on Chartres St.  After dinner, we stopped by Pat O’s for a drink-only the lower patio was open, the upper patio and restaurant was closed.  They served all drinks in plastic only, no glass.  We visited some of the gay bars before retiring for the evening.

Saturday, November 12th 2005

We had breakfast at Cafe Du Monde.  They opened up for the first time after Katrina on October 19th.  We had our coffee and beignets and then left around 7:30 am for Gulfport.  Driving from the French Quarter and through New Orleans East was depressing.  There were hardly any people to be seen.  The water damage was evident everywhere.  We passed apartments, homes, businesses, hospitals, hotels, malls, and Six Flags... all empty. This part of the city still did not have electricity.  In Gulfport, we met Lyndon’s brother, Lee in the parking lot in front of Barnes & Nobles (which is also closed) and drove down I-10 and I-110 into Biloxi and the Imperial Palace Hotel’s parking garage.  The damage in this part of Biloxi was very extreme. The bridge between Biloxi and Ocean Springs is demolished.  We drove down Pass Road and took a side trip to Edgewater Mall and Edgewater Village on Highway 90.  Our next stop was one of our favorite places to eat, Lil’ Rays.  It was open only limited hours, lunch only.  We met a friend, Peyton there.  After lunch we drove around Bayou View and Peyton’s house.  The first floor is gutted and her family is leaving in a trailer that sits on the side of the house.  We next drove to downtown Gulfport, 2nd Street and Highway 90 West and East through most of the town of Gulfport.  We couldn’t believe all the destruction we saw.  Green Lawn, Marine Life, Gulfport Yacht Club and most of the houses were gone.  The Grand Casino in Gulfport was severely damaged.  Right before we dropped Lee off at his apartment, some teenager ran into (side-swiped) our rental car.  We made an attempt to exchange the car at the Gulfport-Biloxi airport, but they didn’t have any cars.  Instead we drove to New Orleans International Airport where we waited in line close to 1.5 hours to get our car exchanged.  The airport when we drove by had no airplanes at the gates even though it was early evening on a Saturday.  When we were driving into New Orleans from the east, all of New Orleans East up until we got to Metairie was pretty much dark with no electricity.  After a brief stop at the hotel we went to Boomtown casino on the westbank.  The line was way too long so we left and went back to the French Quarter.  We ate burgers at Clover Grill (around 9pm) for a late dinner and then went bar hopping to the gay bars in the area.

Sunday, November 13th, 2005

After eating breakfast at Clover Grill (bacon, scrambled eggs, grits and toast) we drove to Gulfport, MS again.  We visited with Lyndon’s step-mother, Blanche.  We drove to Biloxi to eat lunch at Mary Mahoney’s, but it was closed on Sundays.  We drove again down Pass Road through Gulfport and Biloxi and then Railroad Street through Gulfport and Long Beach.  After arriving back in the French Quarter, we went to the bar Napoleon’s Itch for some Abita beers.  We met a friend of Blanche’s who lives on Conti street for drinks and appetizers.  Then we stopped by for some sweet snacks at the Southern Candy Makers for pralines and taffy. Mark lives for the pralines there! We had an early dinner at Maspero’s where you can get some of the best sandwiches in town.  This time we opted for a fried seafood plate even though one of our favorite sandwiches is the Ham and Swiss cheese.  They really piled on the food.  After eating we went back to the Boomtown Casino on the westbank so that Mark could get in a few hours of gambling.  We then bar hopped to the Bourbon Pub & Parade, Good Friends and Napoleon’s Itch. We visited with the owner of Napoleon's Itch and he gave us some good perspecive on local city politics. It’s a good thing it wasn’t cold weather because we found out our hotel does not have heating back on line yet due to Katrina.

Monday, November 14th, 2005

We decided to have another breakfast at Café Du Monde.  We checked out of the hotel at 7:45 am to begin the long drive back.  We stopped at a chaotic gas station in Metairie to get gas.  The pump kept aborting after a few dollars of gas was put in.  We went inside to pay and the clerk said the pumps haven’t been normal since the flooding.  We made it to the Mississippi River Bridge at 9:15 am and the Lake Charles Bridge at 10:50 am.  We ate lunch at Burr's Country Store BBQ in the Vidor area.  They had lost electricity a few hours earlier, but ate there anyway and the BBQ was delicious.  We paid for our meal in cash and the total was figured out the old fashioned way – on a calculator. We arrived at our veterinarians office at 3:30 pm to pick up our cat who had been boarded (our poor baby was sick) while we were gone.  We arrived home around 4 pm. Otis, the cat, was very glad to be home too!

Personal comments on our trip. Although we knew better, most people were suprised to see the amount of devastation (still) in Gulport/Biloxi. People hear about this on the news and when it's no longer news-worthy many people, even friends of ours, believe that things are getting back to normal. The amount of devastation we saw firsthand tells us that it will be several years before things are back to 'normal'. Please give or help out in any way you can. Just because it's not front page news right now doesn't mean everything is 'ok'.