Another road trip - half work/half fun...residual moodiness

Well, on Monday, a co-worker and I drove down to Baton Rouge to look at a computer system for work. Being that social for four hours (yep...FOUR HOURS...I was expecting maybe an hour at most) was hard enough, I was practically climbing the walls to get out of there, but we did learn a lot and I'm still reeling from all the information they bombarded us with! I REALLY hope we get lucky enough to be able to get the system I want. We left at my usual 1:30 am time period on Monday morning and, as per usual, my town was deader than a door nail:

It's not like I "want" heavy traffic at that time of the morning, but it would be nice not to be the only person on the road, or even awake! We made good time down to Baton Rouge, about 6 hours:

But I gotta say, as someone who is OBSESSED with interstate walls, Louisiana has some work to do!

At least my co-worker wasn't freaked out by my incessant picture-taking while driving like some people are! Once we FINALLY got out of that lab and got back on the road, we decided to take a side trip to MY neck of the woods to the gulf, but more on that in a minute. First, I decided to do something I'm NEVER comfortable with and drive through New Orleans. I figured, since I just spent four hours being social, I might as well be brave and fight the bad ju-ju of the city of the dead! We took I10 straight through (I won't stray off the interstate, but I will take it into town), and I FINALLY got at least ONE decent picture of St. Louis #2...I've tried to take one every single time I've driven through there to no avail (although, in my defense, I can count on one hand how many times that is). Granted, I shot on burst and only one came out, but that's OK! It's a small cemetery and the interstate is a bit high above it:

Besides, the "good" one that I would actually LOVE to visit is St. Louis #1 where Marie Laveau is buried, but that isn't accessible without a tour and isn't anywhere near the interstate, so I would actually have to drive into town...not happening! I always feel so sad driving by the Superdome, but it's a very easy picture target, so here you go:

Once we got to Bay St. Louis, I took the coast road, and I noticed the beaches all the way down were empty, which is weird considering it's July, but I just thought it was because it was so hot...apparently not! The water had a high bacterial level and there were warnings posted on every single beach entrance! Poor Gulfport, I stopped in my usual spot but, it was just so barren, I felt like it was November!

It was also the first time in a very long time (probably since Hurricane Andrew) since I noticed the smell of the Gulf...it's been very muted for years, but this time it was very pungent and the birds weren't swooping the water like they usually are. The gulls are usually all over the sand bar towards the Gulfport docks, but not a single one was around. It's a bit hard to see because the tide was up, but it's just before the swimming buoys:

I personally, didn't go in the water, even though I have the strongest immune system ever, but my co-worker, who gets sick if you look at him funny, was wading out there like it was nothing! I warned him not to, but he did it anyway. It is a stark reminder of global warming though...the increase of bacterial and algae blooms in summer seem to be getting worse every single year down there. That used to be a rare occurrence, now it's several times a year. It hadn't turned colors yet but, like I said, the smell was noticeable. I figure it will turn pink pretty soon.

I did find it odd though that, even though the beaches from Bay St. Louis down to Gulfport were closed, Biloxi was wide open and people where in the water like it was nothing (Ocean Breeze, the next town down, was also closed). You can't convince me that the ONE section of beach where Biloxi is was clear, while EVERY SINGLE bit of beach around it was infected! I ain't buying it! You could also tell that the only people actually in the water were tourists, apparently the locals knew better. I would like to think, even if I was a tourist (which I guess technically I am, although I'm down there enough I don't consider myself one), I would know that, if every section of beach all the way around me is closed on both sides and it's all the same water, it's a good bet that the several hundred feet of Biloxi beach is just as infected! DUH! It made me want to stop at a pool store just to get a PH kit to prove it to myself more than anything, but I let it go and moved on down the road! The tourists would just have to deal with the aftermath themselves.

But when we got down to Wentzel's, my absolute FAVORITE restaurant that I was just at two months ago, it was GONE, replaced by a crappy catfish place! I had even received a coupon for them just the week before we left! I have emailed them back just to see if maybe they moved or something (fingers are still crossed), but I haven't heard back yet. I was HEARTBROKEN! Plus, I had money from four other co-workers to bring them back to-go orders too! We ended up eating at another seafood restaurant, but it wasn't good. This was my meal, which was basically shrimp alfredo with fried shrimp on top, but it was so bland, I had to put hot sauce on top to even taste anything! Guess I won't be eating there again!

Granted, I have the recipe for my favorite dish from Wentzel's, Eggplant La Rosa, but it takes an act of god to make it, so I'm not sure it's something I'll be running out to get the ingredients for anytime soon. As a matter of fact, when I printed off the recipe for me and some of my co-workers, I made the joke that it would be easier (and cheaper) to drive the 14 hours down there and back, buy the four tanks of gas, and pay the $20 to buy the stupid meal, than to attempt to buy all the ingredients (assuming I could find most of them here in bumb-fudge Arkansas) and make it myself! Well, just damn.

Oh well, it was still a VERY nice drive and we had a good day overall, even with the increased social interaction, the lack of beach time, my favorite restaurant being closed...wait a minute...did we have a good time? Yeah, I'll stand by that statement, we did, despite all the bad. Give me a good long drive any day and I can overcome just about any hurtle during it. The aftermath is a different story.

Speaking of, because of the social interaction I had to deal with on Monday...Tuesday and Wednesday were rough on me at work. I ended up locked in my office both days, with such a massive headache on Wednesday, I actually got sent home early (I didn't argue). I kind of knew that would happen and warned everyone, but I also didn't expect the four hours, so it was WAY worse than I expected and I almost ended up in trouble at work because of my behavior (and I'm still not sure I'm not in trouble, I've avoided everyone today, but kept my door open...people are avoiding me today). Oh well, it's a side-effect of my disability, it's not like I can help it. I know I needed to go down there and check out that system, but I also don't do social interaction well. I did my duty, but there was a cost, and technically, I did try to control it by sequestering myself. If certain people tried to invade my space during that time (people who were warned to stay away), I personally think that's their fault, not mine, but I do see things one-sided (aka me-sided) most of the time. Besides, it's not like I don't stay in trouble anyway, how is this any different? I'm a moody person, what can I say?