Our trip from St. Louis to New Orleans took us right thru Cape Girardeau, Missouri. I figured it had been probably ten years since I’d been back to the old town to which my family had moved back in 1974. I couldn’t resist a trip down memory lane so I directed Jorge thru town while I was busy taking pictures of everything. It’s funny how some things hadn’t changed while others looked exactly the same. Our old Lutheran church was sold years ago and is now a Methodist church. I’ll have to say they had made a lot of improvements to the property. The A&W drive-in where I had my first real job at $1.56 per hour had been torn down and replaced by a Taco Bell. Most of the old historic buildings were still standing and what had once been a fairly bustling downtown was full of mostly old antique stores. It’s amazing the things you forget until you drive thru a town you once lived in and a lot of memories come flooding back into your mind. I enjoyed the trip in spite of all the changes though. The old saying – ‘you can never go home’ – holds true.
We didn’t go down into New Orleans itself until it was time to load up the show so we didn’t see much of the city on this trip. It was a kind of ‘get in, get out’ kind of deal. Maybe next trip we’ll make our way to Bourbon St. and the French Quarter.
Just before we left New Orleans, we received a call from Jorge’s family that his mom had taken a turn for the worse. She had never fully regained her strength after her colon cancer surgery in November and had pretty much been on a downhill slide ever since. We left for our destination of Rochester, NY but made reservations for Jorge to fly back to south Texas first thing Wednesday morning. Sadly, we received the call Tuesday night that his mom had passed away before Jorge was able to make it back home. We decided I would stay and do our next trip from Toledo, OH to Durham, NC as a solo driver to allow Jorge extra time to do what is necessary in Mexico.
We didn’t go down into New Orleans itself until it was time to load up the show so we didn’t see much of the city on this trip. It was a kind of ‘get in, get out’ kind of deal. Maybe next trip we’ll make our way to Bourbon St. and the French Quarter.
Just before we left New Orleans, we received a call from Jorge’s family that his mom had taken a turn for the worse. She had never fully regained her strength after her colon cancer surgery in November and had pretty much been on a downhill slide ever since. We left for our destination of Rochester, NY but made reservations for Jorge to fly back to south Texas first thing Wednesday morning. Sadly, we received the call Tuesday night that his mom had passed away before Jorge was able to make it back home. We decided I would stay and do our next trip from Toledo, OH to Durham, NC as a solo driver to allow Jorge extra time to do what is necessary in Mexico.
The little 'hole in the wall' door just in front of our truck bumper led to an upstairs hall where we used to hold church services when we first arrived in Cape Girardeau. The other picture shows the court house that overlooks the downtown area.