John and friends are soaking up life New Orleans.

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John's Journal

Day Nine

Mileage- nada

So, how about a link to The Weather Channel? It's funny, everyone else is disappointed that it isn't hot and sunny and I suppose I am a bit, too. However, I came prepared for the cold and rainy weather, so I am not minding it that much. They have canceled or at least postponed the Jazz Fest, though. That's a bummer. So much great music. I am sure that the weather will be perfect as soon as we leave!

I have been amazingly lucky, so far, in avoiding riding in all the nasty weather. I heard it rained in New Mexico and Texas just after I passed through. I know that I will hit some of the rain along the way somewhere, but not yet. I suppose that the list of gear I brought could have been interesting, then again, maybe not.

It's 11:30 am and no one is up yet, wait, here comes Kim and Mark. We had this big, huge storm. I had forgot how great it is to sleep during those storms. My friend Brad would call it B.T.S.W. (Big Time Sleeping Weather).

We finally shove off around 1:30 pm or so and go to this great brunch place (even though brunch is technically a Sunday meal) in the Quarter called Petunia's. They are supposed to close not soon after we arrive and one of the waiters looks at us coming in and mutters something derogatory our way. Oh, well, we were all hungry and had another fine waiter and some awesome food! Bloody Mary's all around (except Mark and I, that is, I still hate tomato juice).

Then we wander around the Quarter a while listening to some of the music coming out of the clubs. It's nice to not have all the drunks around (no, not US, all the other ones). Wendy, Matt and I get the group to run in this one club with a DJ spinning some fine funky tunes for a few minutes of dancin'. It is a great few moments and then we head back out.

We decided that we won't even bother to go to the Festival since it would be a mess. We did hear later on that they did still open for a while, though, and we missed Santana. We can hear him play often in the Bay Area, though.

Tonight it is off to dinner with a friend of Julie's at some crawfish place. We will see if I think my stomach is up for this or not. It all sounds and I know it is good, but I am trying to be somewhat good to my stomach. After dinner, it's off to a different part of town, uptown, I think, to go to some clubs where we can perhaps catch performers from the Festival. More later.

OK, it's later, 5:20am later. We had a great night, dinner with some friends of Julie's at a great, cheap restaurant just outside of town a bit. Great crawfish (Ever tried them? They are very tender, but small.). I actually ate food that the rest of the group was having! (as opposed to something bland and un-eventful)

We try to go to a place called Rock 'N Bowl for some good tunes, but there is a huge line outside the place. So, we go back into town and have a few drinks at a nice place, then go walk to the Quarter to find some tunes or just watch the crowd.

Long, boring story short. . . we had a great time with the group in various stages of beer and tequila just walking around having a good time (someone has a few pictures, too). Time seems to fly around here, though, and it became very late quickly. So, time for sleep, maybe a thunderstorm will come washing the evening away making for a sunny Sunday for the Jazz Fest!