Last Day in NOLA, Hello Pensacola

Saturday, and Day 65 of the National Retirement Tour. Last day in NOLA, and moving day. I got up early, packed the car, and wrote some more postcards. I sat in the lobby and downloaded photos until the others woke up. They got dressed and I went to the French Market. I bought a T-shirt for Autumn, one for Grant, and two for me. I found one more mask for Autumn, and another box of Aunt Sally’s pralines.

Went back to the hotel to pick up the girls for breakfast at Monty’s in the Pontalba Building on Jackson Square. I had the Jackson Square omelette with shrimp, crab, and crawfish. Numm. Mary said they have the best Bloody Mary she has ever tasted (they used pickled vodka). On the way back to the car, I stopped in the National Park Service office in the French Market to get my passport stamped, and get a stamp on a piece of paper for Trudie. I discovered that 3 of the National Park Rangers all play musical instruments, and they now give a history of jazz tour. Wish I knew that earlier in the week. We said our good-byes to Trudie, which was hard. I really wish she could continue on the trip with us.

Then we got on the road. First to Slidell – home of the rednecks – to pick up the camper, and then on to Pensacola. The only interesting thing we saw on the trip was that Mississippi and Alabama drivers don’t know how to merge on a highway. We also stopped at the Florida highway department welcome center for a highway map, and tourist ideas for Pensacola.

Got to Pensacola, then Gulf Breeze, and then Fort Pickens campground before 5 pm. I only had Martha Miller’s phone number on Facebook and no wi-fi at the campground. To shorten the story, we finally connected on Sunday.

Total trip mileage so far = 6,750 on Day 65 of the trip.