Click on a photo to enlarge it.
After sorting out insurance for Mexico, we drove to Tallahassee where we spent quite some time trying to find a
garage that could deal with the oil leak for us. Numerous U turns and three garages later, we found somewhere.
It cost us $60 but it could have been far worse! Then we spent a long time in a library, updating our website and
answering a few emails.
We went for an all you can eat pizza buffet and then drove north of Tallahassee, to a Camping World, hoping to
find a solution to our leaking toilet. None of the service technicians were there (already finished for the day)
so we spoke to a sales guy who told us that, 9 times out of 10, if a Thetford toilet leaks, it's the valve. So we
bought a new valve, knowing we could get a refund if it didn't work.
We drove to a nearby truck stop and then spent the next 6 hours (!!!!!) taking our toilet apart, getting the old
valve out and putting the new one in. Then we ran water through our system. And Bingo!! It still leaked!!!!! What
a waste of time and energy! Then we had to reverse the whole process, to put our old valve back in and take the
new one out so that we could get a refund. And we ended up with a small plastic oval ring, that was broken, and we
didn't know where on Earth it was supposed to fit into the toilet! Needless to say, we were severely pee'd off with
our toilet!
The truck stop wasn't too noisy, despite lorries keeping their engines running all night. Plus the continuous
electronic voice over the loud speakers saying "Shower number 927 is now ready; shower number 928 is now ready".
Believe it or not, but Kirsten actually asked Helen if they had that many showers!!! (No, it's a take a ticket and
wait your turn system)
We probably slept through it all because of the mammoth effort with the toilet. We are now toilet experts, or at
least for "Thetford" toilets! We drove back to Camping World to get a refund for the valve and walked in with our
toilet! They weren't really impressed! We managed to get a free consultation - we hadn't really given them a choice,
seeing as we had our toilet with us in the shop!
We had finally worked out what the problem was - the water reservoir was cracked. The part only cost $4 but we would
destroy the toilet mechanism trying to take out the old one! Plus, we would have to order the part. But at least we
found out where the small plastic oval ring should be fitted. It turned out to be an unnecessary part - but that's
another long story!
After all that effort, we still hadn't sorted out the problem. In fact we had made it even worse - water was leaking
even faster and we had run out of dry towels trying to keep the area dry. For the moment we couldn't do anything else
except buy a new toilet. But we wanted to compare prices as we were sure Camping World were expensive.
We drove through the panhandle of Florida to a place called Destin on the coast. It was very windy and the sea looked
very rough. We stayed at Wal-mart that night and Kirsten had to keep dashing off to the toilet - she had diarrhoea!
Not the best time to be ill when you have a severely leaking toilet!
On Wednesday, we got up at 8-15am which was really 7-15 am as we had gone through a time zone and hadn't realised it!
We drove through Alabama and then into Mississippi where we stopped at a visitor centre and got free drinks. Then we
drove through Mississippi and into Louisiana and stopped at a Wal-mart about 30 miles north of New Orleans. That
evening it was Helens turn to get diarrhoea and she was also sick.
Obviously, we had both eaten something that had upset our stomachs. But at least it was over fairly quickly. We
weren't having a very good time despite the fact that there were only 3 days to Christmas!
On Thursday, we drove to New Orleans and booked into a campground for 2 nights. It was bitterly cold, especially in
the wind and the temperature had gone down to about 4°C. It's normally 16°C around this time of year! We couldn't use
our water system because of the toilet and were having to use water out of bottles. But we braved the bitter cold and
went and did our laundry.
On Friday, Christmas Eve, the temperature was down to 0°c, or -5° if you took account of the wind chill! We got up at
7-30am, wrapped up like Michelin men and went to catch a bus into the French Quarter. We got one day passes for $5
each and caught the express bus into downtown.
New Orleans is not the safest of places, but as long as you keep to the tourist areas during the daytime (night time
is tabu), and be a bit cautious, then you should be alright. We went to the National Park visitor centre and got our
passes for a free 1.5 hour guided tour of the French Quarter. Then we went to a café next door for a spot of
breakfast.
When we started the tour it was hailing - something unknown in New Orleans. It was bitterly cold but the tour was
interesting and very good. We learned about all the Spanish, and French influences and the various architectural
styles. Afterwards, we took a tram (they are extremely slow) and went to the Garden District to do a self-guided tour
of all the old houses. We got the tram back and went into a café for spinach soup to try and get warm!
If the weather had been better we would have taken the ferry across the Mississippi River, but there was no timetable
at the ferry station and we had no idea how long it would take and what time we would get back. So we walked to
Harrahs Casino instead and Kirsten got lucky - we won $20. Then we wandered around the French Quarter a bit more and
managed to get a photo with a black Father Christmas.
We got the express bus back and got back to the campground just as it was getting dark. We looked at our plans for
the next few days as we knew we needed a campground for at least 2 nights - the cold spell was going to last that
long. But it was going to be 25°C next Friday! Unbelievable! We decided we would head further West rather than stay
in New Orleans for the two days. We knew we would need electricity as it was freezing inside Winnie even with the
heater on all night!
Merry Christmas from New Orleans. We even got a white Christmas. Just after we left the campground, sleet was starting
to fall. None of it was sticking though and we only wanted to drive 80 miles to get to a cheaper campground for two
nights. We had already rung up to check they were open.
So we set off at 11am after filling up our water bottles and tanks etc. We got onto highway 10 and drove about 20
miles before we hit a traffic jam. We could see flashing lights ahead and as we crawled along at a snails pace, we
saw an electronic board saying that the highway was closed ahead and we should get off at the next exit. It was
only half a mile further, but it took us an hour to get off!
Most of the other drivers gave up and drove across the grass divider to get onto the other side of the motorway.
The grass was quickly being turned into mud and because of the dip, there was no way we were going to try it. So
we had to sit it out. We listened to the radio the whole time but there was no news at all. No traffic reports or
weather reports for that matter. And definitely no clue as to why the highway had been closed where we were.
Eventually, we managed to get off and pulled into a petrol station. No one seemed to know what was going on, but
the staff believed that they were closing the bridges which ice up before the roads do. So a local woman gave us
and some other travellers, directions to get West without hitting any bridges, so that we could get as far as
Baton Rouge and then to our campground.
We left at 12-45 and followed the directions onto Airport Highway (which ran parallel to highway 10). After about
10 miles there were more flashing lights up ahead so we stopped at the Hilton Hotel to phone home. We set off again
and avoided the bridge that had been closed off by following the locals, across railway lines, under the bridge and
back out the other side!
We thought we'd beaten the problems only to get into another traffic jam not much further ahead. We couldn't
understand it, because the woman who had given us the directions said that there weren't any more bridges on
the way to Baton Rouge. There was still absolutely nothing on the radio.
So we tried our last hope - a road on our map that followed the river. We got about 3 miles and got stopped at
a road block. This time, Kirsten got out with our map and went to ask the police how we could get out. The answer
was "You can't!". The police had closed off every road! And we mean every single road!! We couldn't go forward and
we couldn't go back!! We had got stuck in the middle as they closed every single road down because they did not
have any grit or salt to put on the roads. They hadn't needed it since 1954!! So no wonder they didn't keep any in
stock!
We have to say that the road conditions were not that bad. There was a bit of sleet that was't sticking but that was
all. Nothing! But then you have to realise that the people here do not know how to drive in these conditions. Most
drivers were still trying to do 70 mph and weren't driving with any lights on!!! Ridiculous. That's probably why the
police just closed down every road - it was the only way to prevent accidents.
All this didn't help us. It was becoming a bit of a joke and we kept saying "Merry Christmas" to each other!! We were
stranded in a really small village and there was no point even trying to drive any further. So we pulled up outside
a small, local grocery store that had a coke machine outside. The coke machine is the clue - we were looking for a
plug so that we had power for our electric heater. We knew we wouldn't be able to survive without heat.
So we plugged in and decided to see if anyone turned up so that we could offer them money for the electricity. It
didn't take long. A place this small and everybody knows everything!! The owner turned up and wasn't very happy.
Helen went out in the sleet and explained our predicament and that we had got stranded. The owner was a very nice
elderly gentleman and he let us plug in for the night.
Obviously, word had got around that there were some stranded "foreigners" in their little village for Christmas,
because about one hour later a lady drove up to us. She turned out to be the manager for the shop where we were
parked. She told us that we were in New Sarpy and even invited us over to her house. But we felt a bit awkward about
intruding on their Christmas day. So then she brought us a load of food for Christmas!! A foil tray full of yummy
baked ham and pineapple that was still warm; a bucket load of tangerine oranges from her tree; a pack of bread rolls;
and some home-made cup cakes from her mother!! It was really touching and it really made our Christmas!
That is one thing you cannot fault the Americans for - their generosity and helpfulness. We've been helped out on a
number of occasions, throughout America. But the generosity of this little village made it one of the best
Christmasses we'd ever had. It was almost like getting a Red Cross food parcel.
We ate like Kings and were really warm and cosy inside Winnie. The next morning, we wrote a Christmas card for Mr
Migliore, the store owner, and went to his house to say thankyou. We found out that no one got out of or into New
Orleans yesterday and there must have been a lot of stranded people around! At least airport highway was open again.
We set off at 10-45 am and saw just how much of a problem the road closures had been. There were queues of traffic
travelling into New Orleans. The closures must have cut off a lot of people trying to get home for Christmas Day!
As we headed towards Baton Rouge, we finally saw that they'd reopened Highway 10 and got onto it.
We decided to head further west towards Texas rather than aim for the campground that we'd wanted to stay at last
night. We stopped at a campground about 30 miles east of the border with Texas for the night.
What a Christmas!!
