En Route to New Orleans, & Dinner at Nubian’s

          Friday, 9 Dec 2022 – It had been over two-and-a-half years since our last cruise ended abruptly on 15 Mar 2020 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, due to the Covid-19 outbreak.  We finally decided to book a 5-Day Caribbean cruise to help Verna and Earl celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, along with several other family members and friends.  The outcome of this cruise would decide whether we would be booking more, longer cruises in the future!

By early afternoon, we were all packed to start our drive to Memphis.  However, it had snowed 8 inches during the night.  Even if we had managed to clear our driveway, the snow that covered our street was much too deep for our vehicle to negotiate.  So, we waited for the Homeowners Association’s contractors to clear the snow from our driveway and street.  They finally made it to our street and started clearing it around 3:00 PM or so.  Scott stopped by our house after work.  By then, the snow was mostly cleared from our driveway and street, but there was a snow berm remaining at the end of our driveway which prevented us from reaching the street.  Jesse and Scott managed to clear a path through the berm, wide enough for our vehicle to get through.  (Thanks Scott!)  We finally left home at 4:30 PM.  It had snowed only as far south as Sioux City, IA, so our route was clear after that.  Jesse wanted to get to the other side of Kansas City before stopping for the night.  After making it to Kansas City, we fooled around the last one-half hour looking for the Best Western where we had stayed previously.  There were several Best Westerns in the area, and our GPS was not much help.  We finally found it, actually located in Independence, MO.  We checked in at about at 11:11 PM.

Saturday, 10 Dec 2022 – After enjoying the delicious complimentary breakfast, we left motel at 10:40 AM.  It was cloudy all day; raining before we arrived in West Memphis.  After checking into the Quality Inn, we drove to Walmart to purchase wine and swim googles (which we forgot to pack).  For dinner, we purchased chicken sandwiches and Oreo milkshakes from Burger King.  Afterwards, we decided to drive to the Amtrak station in Memphis to check out the location, parking, etc.

Sunday, 11 Dec 2022 – Got up at 3:30 AM, and left the motel at about 4:30 AM for our drive to Verna’s.  We left our heavy winter coats and a suitcase containing our winter clothes at Verna’s.  Then we loaded most of Verna and Earl’s luggage into our vehicle.  Catherine, Mario, Karanie & Jay (Jesse’s nieces and nephews) soon arrived at Verna’s also.  They loaded Verna & Earl’s remaining luggage into their vehicle.  Then, Verna & Earl got into our vehicle and we drove to the Amtrak station.  There, we checked our luggage and boarded the train at about 7:00 AM.  Karanie took care of storing our vehicle.

All of our group of about 20 were seated in the same section.  We sat on second level in second seat on the right (behind Verna & Earl).  Jesse bought coffee and juice, and we ate the fruit that Sally had brought.  Later, we all enjoyed chicken salad and crackers for lunch, provided by one of Verna’s friends.  We arrived in New Orleans at about 2:40 PM.  Pre-arranged coach transportation soon arrived and drove us to the Maison Dupuy Hotel. 

We (Jesse & Sally) took a taxi to Nubian’s house, arriving at about 4:55 PM.  (We had tried unsuccessfully to book an Uber.)  Nubian had invited everyone to dinner at her house, and Jesse was making six lemon icebox pies, so he needed to get there early and Sally went with him.  Later, the rest of the family and friends arrived.  We all enjoyed a fine catered meal, lemon icebox pie, and drinks.  Afterwards, we returned to our hotel.