Places Visited:
Louisiana: Morgan City & Lafayette

Monday, December 2, 2002
We moved the motorhome from Houma to Morgan City, 35 miles today. Lake End RV-Park:
Morgan City. $18 with GS discount 50amps, W&S on Lake Palourde over
100 sites available some on the water and some pull-throughs.

We stopped in Morgan City to take in the "Mr. Charlie" oilrig tour.
"Mr. Charlie" is the name of the first "mobile" offshore oil-drilling
rig. Prior to 1952 and the arrival of "Mr. Charlie" oil drilling
platforms over water were like drilling structures on land, permanent.
A new drilling structure took months to construct and make ready to
drill. When drilling was complete the structure had to be dismantled
and moved to another drilling site. When "Mr. Charlie" arrived on the
scene drilling could begin within two days. Upon completion "Mr.
Charlie" would be floated and towed to another drill site and could be
drilling within a matter of days. "Mr. Charlie" revolutionized
offshore oil drilling but is now pulling double duty: first as a
training platform for new workers heading to the offshore oil
operations and secondly as a "museum". It provides the only place in
the world where the general public can walk aboard an authentic
offshore drilling rig. On the guided tour we learned about the
functions of the oilrig all the way from the galley, to the drilling
operation. Oil drilling platforms are like military ships. They have
separate crews responsible for household chores like cleaning, cooking
and laundry. Another crew handles "ships operation" responsible for
operating the generators, engines, airconditioning, sewage system,
etc., and finally the drilling crew. There are two crews for each
function working rotating 12-hour shifts unless someone gets sick then
they work 18-hour shifts. On the top deck of all offshore platforms
is a helicopter landing deck. The view from atop the landing deck,
100' above the water is awesome.

>From the helicopter pad atop "Mr. Charlie" we could observe harbor
traffic for miles around. We were located just South of the railroad
drawbridge crossing the Atchafalaya River. Just south of us was the
intersection of the Intracoastal Waterway and associated locking
systems. The RR drawbridge is normally in an up position allowing
barge traffic to pass. However, when a train is coming the barge
traffic must stop. It seems the RR has right of way! At least that
is what our docent told us.

The Coast Guard regulates river and Intracoastal Waterway traffic in
the vicinity of Morgan City because it is reputed to be the busiest
waterway in America. As the Intracoastal Waterway intersects the
Atchafalaya there is a locking system on both sides of the river. A
railroad drawbridge also crosses the Atchafalaya in Morgan City near
the intersection of the river and the Intracoastal Waterway. All of
this commercial traffic cannot be allowed to stack up in such a small
area so the Coast Guard coordinates the movement of all commercial
watercraft navigating through Morgan City like air traffic controllers
in the Atlanta airport. I had never heard of the Coast Guard
controlling traffic like this but it makes sense with the large number
of barges entering and exiting locks on both sides of the Atchafalaya
plus the railroad drawbridge being located near this intersection.

Morgan City is protected from flooding by a "Great Wall". The Great
Wall runs along the Atchafalaya River in Morgan City and the town of
Berwick. The "Great Wall" is a 21 feet tall concrete wall that runs
along the river in the business district. This "Great Wall" is a part
of a levee system that stretches from Morgan City north to the
Mississippi River near Baton Rouge. Even though it is called the
"Great Wall" in Morgan City other parts of the retaining system
consist of sheet pilings (thick metal driven deep into the earth) and
in other places regular levees. For those of you that are not up on
your geography the Atchafalaya is a distributary of the Mississippi.
Tributaries are rivers that flow into another river. Distributaries
are rivers that "distribute" the flow of the main river into another
outlet. One third of the flow of the Mississippi River reaches the
Gulf via the Atchafalaya River distributary. The Atchafalaya is a
deep river especially at its southern end. As it flows through Morgan
City it is over 65 feet deep and appears to be nearly as wide as the
Mississippi near New Orleans. Closer to its juncture with the
Mississippi River at the southwest corner of the State of Mississippi
near the Louisiana town of Simmesport the Atchafalaya Swamp is
extremely wide. In this area the river channel is deep but water
spills out of the main channel into the Atchafalaya basin a huge swamp
where a sheet of water slowly makes its way south. The swamp water is
only a few feet deep but it is very wide (while it averages 20 miles
in width it is 16-miles across where I-10 crosses) so it moves a lot
of water.

If it were not for the Corps of Engineers the Mississippi River would
be running through the Atchafalaya today. A big flood could result in
this actually happening even in our lifetime.

People who study such things say that the over 3,000 years ago the
main channel of the Mississippi River flowed down the Atchafalaya,
until it jumped its bank and formed the present channel that flows by
New Orleans.

Joyce and I ate lunch at Rita Mae's Kitchen on Federal Street in
Morgan City. It was recommended by a number of individuals and is
reportedly a favorite of the oilfield workers. It is NOT a five star
restaurant but the food is better than any 5-star place. I am not
going to tell you a lot about this place but it is a "Must Do" when
you pass through Morgan City. It is located on Federal Street a few
blocks south of highway-90.

Tuesday, December 3, 2002

We only made it 6 miles down highway 90 before we had problems with the motorhome.
We are boondocking at Service Chevrolet in Lafayette, Louisiana while
waiting for them to repair our motorhome.

Sometimes when you are having as much fun as we are it rains. Today
it rained both literally and figuratively. Six miles out of Morgan
City I lost brakes and power steering on the motorhome. As luck would
have it we were only a block from a super Wal-Mart. I got to the side
of the divided 4-lane and slowly made my way to the Wal-Mart parking
lot. I contacted my mechanic back in Pensacola and he said with both
the brakes and power steering out at the same time to check the
serpentine belt for tension or oil on it. Then check the power
steering fluid level since it provides boost power for the power
brakes. The belt was tensioned just fine but the fluid checked a bit
low so I added more, but this did not bring back either the brakes or
power steering. By this time I had done what I could do, so I called
my ERS (Emergency Road Service). They said that if the belt was OK
and there was plenty of fluid the problem must be with the power
steering pump and I would need to be towed to a repair facility. He
took our phone number and said he would locate a repair facility and a
tow truck and get back in touch with me to let us know the plan.

Forty-five minutes later the ERS called back to say to say they were
going to tow us to a Chevrolet dealer in Harvey, Louisiana. I choked
when he said that. Harvey is just outside New Orleans and 76-miles
away. We do not want to return to New Orleans, at least not now. I
question him about Lafayette, New Iberia, Houma or Morgan City. He
said that he had tried the Chevrolet dealer in Lafayette and they put
him on hold for 20-minutes then did not return his call. The other
Chevrolet dealers did not work on large trucks and motorhomes. I
asked him to make another effort to get us into Lafayette since it
would be closer (68-miles) and it would fit our plans better. He
agreed to try to get us into the Lafayette Chevrolet dealer. Thirty
or forty minutes later he called back to say that we were going to
Lafayette and that the big tow rig coming out of Lafayette would be
there in 2 to 3 hours as they were using the big truck on another job
at this time.

There was no need to get into a swivet so Joyce and I sat back, read
and got caught up on house cleaning. By and by this gigantic tow
truck arrives, connects us up and we head to Lafayette. As we near
Lafayette it starts pouring rain. That is why I said that it rained
on us both literally and figuratively today.

So far Joyce and I have been extremely fortunate with maintenance on
our motorhome. This is the first time we have been towed. Anytime
you venture out with a 33' house on wheels you have to realize that
"things" can happen. Not only can stuff happen it WILL happen. The
best thing to do when the inevitable happens is to "chill-out" and let
the experience be part of your daily adventure.

We arrived at the Chevrolet dealer in Lafayette just as they were
closing. The service manager said that it would be fine with them if
we stayed in the motorhome inside their locked compound tonight. All
we would need to do is let the guard know if we wanted to go out and
eat or something. It was raining cats and dogs (that's LA "Lower
Alabama" for raining real hard) so we decided to stay put for the
night.

Wednesday, December 4, 2002
We are staying in the motorhome at Service Chevrolet in Lafayette,
Louisiana while repairs are being made to the motorhome.

The weather reports say it is going to rain all day including severe
thunderstorms.

The service coordinator tells us to run along and have a good day.
They MAY be able to work us in today. She will call us when she knows
something. Otherwise go and have a good time.

We stopped by the Saturn dealer for some minor maintenance then headed
to "T" Coons for lunch. "T" Coons is only open for breakfast and
lunch. It is located across from the Courthouse and is a wildly
popular place for the "courthouse" crowd as well as every telephone
company/power company/cable company repair crew. "Good Old Boys" make
up 95% of "T" Coons business. This is my FAVORITE restaurant in
Lafayette. When you eat lunch here you do not think about food again
until around noon the next day. Joyce would probably choose another
place as her favorite_probably one that featured a band with dancing.

With the inclement weather Joyce decided that she was going to the
mall and do some Christmas shopping. She reminded me how she had
endured the "Mr. Charlie" oilrig tour the other day now it was my time
to suffer. It was my time to suffer. I spent the afternoon holding
down a bench in the mall while Joyce did her shopping thing.

They did not get to my motorhome today so we are boondocking in the
Chevrolet dealers lot again tonight.

I received 4 responses to the question of what is a mirliton, if you
will recall I ate a lunch special that consisted of mirliton & ground
meat. Most wrote to say it was not in their dictionaries either.
However, some actually had hands on experience with it while some went
to the internet and did some Google searches. It seems that mirliton
is a Southern Louisiana term for "Chayote Squash". It also seems that
mirliton can be spelled merliton, and merlaton. Since it is not in
the dictionary who is to say which is correct? Now that a mirliton
has been identified as a chayote squash I know what it is. My family
once had some growing in our back yard. Everyone who was familiar
with mirlitons (chayote squash) said that if you had a vine in your
yard you would have more fruit than you could give away. I remember
the vines in my parent's yard climbing to the top of and covering some
large pine trees. We in Wal-Mart the other day and stopped by the
produce section and looked at a large display of chayote squash. The
produce department sign identified them as chayote squash not
mirliton.

My thanks to all of you that responded, you have cleared up that deep
dark mystery. I suspect that many more readers will know what a
chayote squash is.

Thursday, December 5, 2002
We only moved the motorhome 7-miles from the Chevy dealer to Acadiana City Park
Acadiana City Park operated by the City of Lafayette (50-amps, water
and central dump station for $9.00)

During the night the torrential rain finally stopped. Lafayette got
more rain in the past two days than some western states get in a year.
Cold weather replaced the rain. This area of Louisiana is
semi-tropical and many workers were on the job in shorts and short
sleeve shirts. Big mistake! We thought our weather was miserable
until watching national news and saw what was happening in North
Carolina.

We spent last night at the Chevrolet dealer but not tonight. They
worked us into the schedule today and we were fixed and on our way by
3:30. Four hours of labor and a $55.00 pump and we were whole again.
I let them hold my visa card for a few minutes then they returned it
with a smile and we were on our way.

The shaft on my power steering pump had snapped. At that instant I
lost both steering and breaks. Terrifying, is the only way to
describe sitting behind the steering wheel of a 33' motorhome with no
power steering or brakes. The power steering pump supplies power to a
"brake boost". With no brake boost all that remains is just the small
amount of manual brakes.

By 4:00 we were checking into Acadiana City Park very near downtown
Lafayette. We have previously used Acadiana City Park and really like
it. We especially like the location, and $9.00 per-night for a paved
50-amp site.

When the sun went down my resident party animal (Joyce) wanted to go
to Randol's. Randol's is the local place where they have Cajun dance
music every night. It is were tour groups dine while they enjoy the
entertainment. A busload of partiers was there when we arrived. We
ate and danced a little but it was too cold. The place just did not
have adequate heat if any at all. We have enjoyed Randol's before and
will again but tonight was a disappointment.

Mike & Joyce Hendrix