I'm Back

I'm back from the Brawlin's in Nawlins. For those of my foreign readers who cannot find Nawlins on a map of the United States, the proper name is New Orleans, but Southerners call it Nawlins.

The drive down was uneventful. I didn't even speed all that much. I got to Nawlins around 3:00, but it took me another hour to get to the hotel. People drive in the French Quarter just like they drive in Paris and the streets in the French Quarter are as narrow as they are in Paris.

I found a parking place in front of the hotel which was located on Royal Street a few blocks away from Bourbon Street. After checking in, Tyrone, the helpful bellhop, hopped in my car and we drove up a few levels in the parking garage until we found a crip space in front of the elevator. I was on the 19th floor, so we had to take the elevator to the 18th flooor, get off and get on another elevator to the 19th floor. He got me to my room, I tipped him, and he left.

Christina said that she and Zonker were gonna be at Margaritaville at 5:00. I had checked out where it was and knew that it would be too far to walk so I called her cell to make sure she was really gonna be there. Got her farking voicemail. So I went down and got a cab.

I think the cab driver took me on a roundabout trip, but it was only $5 and I was on vacation. Fuck it!

I got to Margaritaville and walked in and looked around as if I was lost. This caused one of the ladies in front to ask if I was Denny. How could she tell? It turns out Sam had told the ladies to keep an eye out for a crippled dude who looked like he was lost. Everyone was up on the second floor, but there was an elevator and one of the nice ladies escorted me up to where everyone else was. Got a nice hug from Sam's wife Barbie. Also got hugs from Kelley, Key, and Christina.

Note to Pumpman who didn't come because he thought Christina would be too bossy: Dude, you missed a good time and Christina was not a bit bossy. And to Catfish: Susan was there.

I did not get a hug from V-Man and that is a good thing. I also got the pleasure of meeting Dash who also didn't hug me.

After a few drinks at Margaritaville some of us hopped a cab and went to a real nice restaurant that Christina "bossed" us into going to. The food was incredible! I'll take that kind of bossing any day. We went back to the hotel and Dash picked up my guitar from my room and we went to Sam and Barbie's room. I was the only picker there so I had to play solo. We called up Jim and gave him grief about not showing up and bringing his guitar down. He had some lame excuse about work or sumpin' like it.

We talked a little politics (we are bloggers, after all) and Barbie went to sleep only to wake up now and then and call bullshit on sumpin' I said. We stayed up until 2:00 AM drinking and partying. Anyone who thinks conservatives can't party never hung out with this crowd.

Next day we met at 10:00 for breakfast. I had pastry and coffee. We were sitting out on the patio at this cafe and V-Man started talking to a bum who decided to come in and try to hit us up for some cash. We left. I went back to the hotel. Kelley, Key, and Shoe went out partying. I caught up with them around 4:30 and they were really into it. We had another nice dinner and stopped in another bar to hear some live music. Everyone said the band they had on Friday was awesome and the guitar player was hitting on Kelley. We got there and it was a different band. No one in the band hit on Kelley. I went back to the hotel and Key was nice enough to walk me back.

Let me just say how much fun it was hanging out with these guys. I needed to cab a few places since I was not up to walking the distances and there was always someone to share a cab with me. These people really knew how to take care of a grouchy old cripple.

Got up around 8:00 this morning and after Tyrone took my luggage down to my car and I checked out, I was on my way. Of course, checkout was fun. The person in front of me was with two other people, so when it came time to pay, part of the bill had to be on one credit card, another was on a different card, and the third guy paid cash. Unfortunately, the other two guys were fucking with their luggage, so I had to wait while first one dipshit, and then the other made it to the front desk to pay his part of the bill. Thanks, assholes!

Drove back a different route, which was actually shorter. I also drove a little faster (lots of speeders and I kept up with a few of them at various times) and made it back in less than seven hours.

I had a great time and I'm hoping this becomes an annual event.

Disclaimer: Any pictures of me in compromising positions and situations that you may see on other blogs have all been Photoshopped.

Posted by denny at July 24, 2005 10:50 PM