Day 1: New Orleans, Louisiana

If today is any indication of how this vacation is going to be, we are in for a remarkable time! What a great place to start this trip. After picking up our bikes at the Harley Davidson dealership in Metairie, LA, we headed over to the French Quarter for the night and checked into our hotel, the Place d’ Armes. This hotel is on the historic registry (isn’t everything in New Orleans) and is both romantic and eclectic with its tropical courtyards and maze-like exterior. For parking, we ushered our bikes into a huge metal elevator and were then taken to the top floor of the building where we squeezed into a spot. Parking is at a premium in this city but we were given preference. We met our West Coast friends, Rick and John from the Ventura Chapter and Carolyn and Marty from Susanville for a fabulous dinner of fried oysters, seafood gumbo and andouille sausage jambalaya at the bar of the Acme Oyster Company and finished off our meal with Louisiana Bread Pudding smothered in rum sauce. Our guide at the Oyster Bar was named Hollywood and he has been shucking oysters for 30 years, 22 years at this location. We then strolled through the French Quarter (not a place for the timid or faint of heart) and caught a parade of sorts complete with performers on stilts, barely clothed dancing girls, and much more, before finding our way to Papa Joe’s to listen to some of the finest Cajun music we’ve heard since last year’s trip ended in Mamou, Louisiana, the heart of Cajun music. After a roaring good time there, we left our friends at Papa Joe’s and spent the next hour and a half meandering through the French Quarter up and down famous Royal, Bourbon and Chartres streets, window shopping, Mint Julep in hand, while trying to find our hotel. Tomorrow our adventures will include a breakfast of potato gallettes and strong coffee with our friends, followed by a ride along the Gulf Coast on our way to Mobile, Alabama for the official start of the Posse Ride.

Courtyard at the Place d’ Armes Hotel

Courtyard pool at the Place d’ Armes Hotel

Horse drawn carriage taking tourists down Bourbon street.

Beginning of Bourbon Street parade.

Here they come!

Wow! What did we do before digital cameras and camera phones.