Bright and early (ish) we headed off south. We had spoken to a guy in the Hard Rock Cafe in Nashville who had mentioned that there was a space museum and exhibition in Huntsville, Alabama. So as this was close to our route south to Pensacola we headed off for it, however due to our late start we were only able to get to Birmingham, Alabama before it became dark so we stayed here for the night before heading to the space centre the next morning.
The Huntsville space industry is the area that developed the engines for the space programme and the museum focus’s on this area of space development and exploration. It was a good and interesting day with plenty of shows and exhibits showing the early development all the way to the shuttle programme.
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Space suit...
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Third scale model of Saturn 5 rocket...
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Collection of development and US Forces rockets...
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A Saturn 5 Rocket....One of 5 used on each of the Lunar Space launches
We had only planned to spend half a day here but it was so interesting we left much later and drove only another 100 miles before stopping for the night.
The next day we planned to be in Pensacola and after driving most of the way so far my interstate we wanted to get back onto the smaller roads and see more of Alabama. The change back to the smaller roads made the riding much more enjoyable and when we stopped at the post office in Maryville To post a few items, they were shocked at seeing to Englishmen in their little town, that everyone who came through the door after us knew where we were from! So with some jovial eccentric English Tally ho’s from the locals we were on our way again.
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Cotton Field in Alabama...
We reached Pensacola just after dark and after phoning a few hotels we found on near to downtown and set up base for the weekend.
The next day was spent doing all the admin and washing but it was much more pleasurable than usual as the temperature was up in the high 70’s and the sun was shining.
As we hadn’t been out enjoying ourselves in the evening for a whole 5 days we headed, on recommendation, to the Irish pub, O’Mallies. The food was good but the entertainment was poor, so speaking to someone else in the bar who recommended Seville’s. A short walk and we were there. This was a large club with 6 different bars with different music in each and was much better! Several enjoyable hours were spent here, before the local Naval base and Marines turned up in full dress uniform. An interesting sight to see. It was like being in the Top Gun movie but rather than Tom Cruise and his buddies having flat top hair cut they all had jarheads. How the coiffeurs have progressed over the last 20 years!!
The atmosphere had changed since the arrival of the forces guys, so we decided to call time on the evening.
With the enjoyment of the previous night a late breakfast was the order of the day, followed by a relaxing afternoon around the arts fair that was currently in town.
One of the few items in our initial travel itinerary was to see New Orleans. However with Katrina devastating the area we were unsure if this would still be possible. After checking numerous websites the information we found was that the French Quarter was up and working but services were still coming in. Also business were looking for people to visit as they needed the income. All the trouble had now been contained and the city was safe, if not safer than normal. Given this we decided to go ahead and visit.
The journey to new Now Orleans was on the whole un-eventful however as we become closer to the city the signs of the hurricane were more and more visible.
The most obvious sights were the big piles of building debris beside the road. Huge clean ups could be seen in progress all over the place. As we finally approached new Orleans dusk was falling. The main bridge across to New Orleans was only open on one side as there was considerable structural damage to the other side that required most of the 3 lane highway to be replaced. All the lights on the bridge were not working.
Coming off the bridge the roads started appear as normal as if nothing had happened. We found our junction off the main highway and as we approaced the bottom of the exit ramp, the sight was a complete shock. The whole area that should have had houses and street lights was in complete darkness . There were houses with roofs missing or hanging off. The roads had sections dug out to make repairs but nothing had been filled back in. Just barriers sitting in the middle of the road all the street signs were missing, fortunately we had the GPS! There were very few cars about and definitely no people walking around. We got closer to our lodgings, the Banana Courtyard B & B in the French Quarter, there were a few street lights and more people were around. Fortunately the B&B had it’s own secure parking so the worries about the bikes being left out soon disappeared.
The hosts Mary and Hugh took us through the places that were open to eat and the ways to navigate the French Quarter. The lights on the main roads were active but the smaller roads were still dark and for our own safety they recommended us to keep to the main routes even if it was the long way round !
The first evening there we popped out to get something to eat. The place was eerily quite which made is seem an even more surreal environment. The first restaurant we went to only took cash and as a precautionary measure we only took a few dollars out with us! The next place we found took plastic and given the quiet atmosphere outside, inside was fairly lively with locals must of whom were celebrating the return of their friend in town. The food was slow coming as there seemed to be a problem with the gas. We called it an early night after eating ready to look at the town more in the day.
The next morning we had a good chat with the owners over breakfast over what happened and how the reconstruction was going. It appears that most of the old and expensive part of town faired pretty well. There was some damaged roofs, the associated water damage, damage to trees, phone and power lines etc but no flooding. The old town was apparently built on the land above sea water. The suburbs and the poorer part of town was built on filled in swamp land that was below sea level. This is the part of new Orleans that took the major impact.
The main recovery in the French quarter of new Orleans was getting the power, phones and gas working again. And repairing the drainage systems that had collapsed due to mainly old age. This seemed to be reasonably complete when we there but many businesses were still closed as they could not get enough staff to run the shops and restaurants etc as the main living district was so devastated by the storm. At the time of writing a good chef could almost name his price!
We left the B & B to look at the town ourselves. In day light it didn’t look anywhere as bad as at night. Most of the properties seemed to be lived in and repaired apart from the roofs that had the blue tarpaulin.
The only obvious sign, like the suburbs, was the damaged building rubble and trees waiting to be collected.
Walking along the sea front all seemed pretty much back to normal with the vast majority of shops and restaurants open. The old houses all looked OK and Bourbon Street seemed back in full swing apart from there were very few people about. I must admit it was quiet a disappointment walking along this infamous street. It is renouned for being earthy but it was a cross between Old Compton street in Soho and Southend. Strip joints and tacky souvenir shops. There were a few bars playing music but not as many as I expected.
The day was pretty much over and we both wanted to see a band in new Orleans so we headed back to get ready for the evening.
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A street in the French Quarter...
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Spanish style balconies of the French Quarter
After dark we headed back into the French quarter for something to eat then went looking for a decent bar with a band. There were no more bars playing music than earlier in the day but there were many more people out and it all felt a little more normal, although there were a lot of police and national guard patrolling the streets, which brought the thoughts back to where we were and what had happened. In the end we found a couple of good bands playing and had a fairly enjoyable evening.
What most of New Orleans French Quarter still looks like....
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Th next day we were leaving town and heading to Houston or next destination. We plugged the route into the GPS and headed off. We had chosen to take the non interstate roads as it is a lot more interesting if a little slower but it also gave us a chance to see what had happened to the suburbs on the way out. Seeing the suburbs even so many months after the event was quite shocking. There was still nothing. It looked like a bomb had gone off in the area. Buildings were destroyed, there was a boat washed up on petrol station forecourt! The only people around were the clean up crews removing ton after ton of debris.
The further we travelled away from New Orleans the less devastation we saw. Definitely a soboring time and it will take years to put back together again. Hopefully the local government there will be brave enough to invest in Levy’s (apparently this was raised the last time a hurricane hit and destroyed the town some 40 years ago!) and replacing the old infrastructure, so should another hurricane hit the area it will not devastate or ruin so many peoples lives again.
John
The Huntsville space industry is the area that developed the engines for the space programme and the museum focus’s on this area of space development and exploration. It was a good and interesting day with plenty of shows and exhibits showing the early development all the way to the shuttle programme.
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Space suit...
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Third scale model of Saturn 5 rocket...
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Collection of development and US Forces rockets...
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A Saturn 5 Rocket....One of 5 used on each of the Lunar Space launches
We had only planned to spend half a day here but it was so interesting we left much later and drove only another 100 miles before stopping for the night.
The next day we planned to be in Pensacola and after driving most of the way so far my interstate we wanted to get back onto the smaller roads and see more of Alabama. The change back to the smaller roads made the riding much more enjoyable and when we stopped at the post office in Maryville To post a few items, they were shocked at seeing to Englishmen in their little town, that everyone who came through the door after us knew where we were from! So with some jovial eccentric English Tally ho’s from the locals we were on our way again.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/8448420/124989768.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Cotton Field in Alabama...
We reached Pensacola just after dark and after phoning a few hotels we found on near to downtown and set up base for the weekend.
The next day was spent doing all the admin and washing but it was much more pleasurable than usual as the temperature was up in the high 70’s and the sun was shining.
As we hadn’t been out enjoying ourselves in the evening for a whole 5 days we headed, on recommendation, to the Irish pub, O’Mallies. The food was good but the entertainment was poor, so speaking to someone else in the bar who recommended Seville’s. A short walk and we were there. This was a large club with 6 different bars with different music in each and was much better! Several enjoyable hours were spent here, before the local Naval base and Marines turned up in full dress uniform. An interesting sight to see. It was like being in the Top Gun movie but rather than Tom Cruise and his buddies having flat top hair cut they all had jarheads. How the coiffeurs have progressed over the last 20 years!!
The atmosphere had changed since the arrival of the forces guys, so we decided to call time on the evening.
With the enjoyment of the previous night a late breakfast was the order of the day, followed by a relaxing afternoon around the arts fair that was currently in town.
One of the few items in our initial travel itinerary was to see New Orleans. However with Katrina devastating the area we were unsure if this would still be possible. After checking numerous websites the information we found was that the French Quarter was up and working but services were still coming in. Also business were looking for people to visit as they needed the income. All the trouble had now been contained and the city was safe, if not safer than normal. Given this we decided to go ahead and visit.
The journey to new Now Orleans was on the whole un-eventful however as we become closer to the city the signs of the hurricane were more and more visible.
The most obvious sights were the big piles of building debris beside the road. Huge clean ups could be seen in progress all over the place. As we finally approached new Orleans dusk was falling. The main bridge across to New Orleans was only open on one side as there was considerable structural damage to the other side that required most of the 3 lane highway to be replaced. All the lights on the bridge were not working.
Coming off the bridge the roads started appear as normal as if nothing had happened. We found our junction off the main highway and as we approaced the bottom of the exit ramp, the sight was a complete shock. The whole area that should have had houses and street lights was in complete darkness . There were houses with roofs missing or hanging off. The roads had sections dug out to make repairs but nothing had been filled back in. Just barriers sitting in the middle of the road all the street signs were missing, fortunately we had the GPS! There were very few cars about and definitely no people walking around. We got closer to our lodgings, the Banana Courtyard B & B in the French Quarter, there were a few street lights and more people were around. Fortunately the B&B had it’s own secure parking so the worries about the bikes being left out soon disappeared.
The hosts Mary and Hugh took us through the places that were open to eat and the ways to navigate the French Quarter. The lights on the main roads were active but the smaller roads were still dark and for our own safety they recommended us to keep to the main routes even if it was the long way round !
The first evening there we popped out to get something to eat. The place was eerily quite which made is seem an even more surreal environment. The first restaurant we went to only took cash and as a precautionary measure we only took a few dollars out with us! The next place we found took plastic and given the quiet atmosphere outside, inside was fairly lively with locals must of whom were celebrating the return of their friend in town. The food was slow coming as there seemed to be a problem with the gas. We called it an early night after eating ready to look at the town more in the day.
The next morning we had a good chat with the owners over breakfast over what happened and how the reconstruction was going. It appears that most of the old and expensive part of town faired pretty well. There was some damaged roofs, the associated water damage, damage to trees, phone and power lines etc but no flooding. The old town was apparently built on the land above sea water. The suburbs and the poorer part of town was built on filled in swamp land that was below sea level. This is the part of new Orleans that took the major impact.
The main recovery in the French quarter of new Orleans was getting the power, phones and gas working again. And repairing the drainage systems that had collapsed due to mainly old age. This seemed to be reasonably complete when we there but many businesses were still closed as they could not get enough staff to run the shops and restaurants etc as the main living district was so devastated by the storm. At the time of writing a good chef could almost name his price!
We left the B & B to look at the town ourselves. In day light it didn’t look anywhere as bad as at night. Most of the properties seemed to be lived in and repaired apart from the roofs that had the blue tarpaulin.
The only obvious sign, like the suburbs, was the damaged building rubble and trees waiting to be collected.
Walking along the sea front all seemed pretty much back to normal with the vast majority of shops and restaurants open. The old houses all looked OK and Bourbon Street seemed back in full swing apart from there were very few people about. I must admit it was quiet a disappointment walking along this infamous street. It is renouned for being earthy but it was a cross between Old Compton street in Soho and Southend. Strip joints and tacky souvenir shops. There were a few bars playing music but not as many as I expected.
The day was pretty much over and we both wanted to see a band in new Orleans so we headed back to get ready for the evening.
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A street in the French Quarter...
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Spanish style balconies of the French Quarter
After dark we headed back into the French quarter for something to eat then went looking for a decent bar with a band. There were no more bars playing music than earlier in the day but there were many more people out and it all felt a little more normal, although there were a lot of police and national guard patrolling the streets, which brought the thoughts back to where we were and what had happened. In the end we found a couple of good bands playing and had a fairly enjoyable evening.
What most of New Orleans French Quarter still looks like....
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Th next day we were leaving town and heading to Houston or next destination. We plugged the route into the GPS and headed off. We had chosen to take the non interstate roads as it is a lot more interesting if a little slower but it also gave us a chance to see what had happened to the suburbs on the way out. Seeing the suburbs even so many months after the event was quite shocking. There was still nothing. It looked like a bomb had gone off in the area. Buildings were destroyed, there was a boat washed up on petrol station forecourt! The only people around were the clean up crews removing ton after ton of debris.
The further we travelled away from New Orleans the less devastation we saw. Definitely a soboring time and it will take years to put back together again. Hopefully the local government there will be brave enough to invest in Levy’s (apparently this was raised the last time a hurricane hit and destroyed the town some 40 years ago!) and replacing the old infrastructure, so should another hurricane hit the area it will not devastate or ruin so many peoples lives again.
John
