There were 15,000 rubber duckies in the back of a dump truck parked at the edge of the bayou. When the truck released them several firemen with hoses attached to hydrants fired at the ducks to help them move a little faster (bayou is Native American word for slow-moving water). The finish line was 100 feet away. The winning duck won its patron a new car. My lucky duck number was 35431.
My duck didn't win but I was feeling auspicious anyway. I have a good job, a caring girlfriend, I live in a nice neighborhood with good people, I see live music and dance almost everyday, most often in the streets, and it is sunny more than 200 days a year. And now festival season had ended. It began with Mardi Gras, the most epic of all holidays, which is hard to write about because it cannot be related to anyone that hasn't been. I have tried many times to write about how I saw Jesus standing with a half-naked woman-rabbit on a truck or about the born-again Jew for Jesus who told my friends they would get "super-gonorrhea 3" and sang folk songs about my uncircumcised penis in the key of C while we drank on the levee on Lundi Gras, or the steel Trojan Horse that paraded the streets looking for battle, but none of it makes sense out of context, and there is little context to Mardi Gras except Mardi Gras itself. You'll just have to see it to know it.
Three months later, with the dumping of the ducks, it was the end of Bayou Boogaloo. This was important to me because it marked the anniversary of my arrival in New Orleans, and the first time in five years I had lived in a city for more than ten months without fleeing and taking all my things with me. I have found a home for now, and that is significant, because I am always rambling in my mind and spirit. So as the urge to flee struck me, I decided to take only a temporary leave instead. By Train. I fly to San Francisco today and then board my first train in Emeryville, CA on Friday night. I will travel approximately 5,000 miles from coast to coast to coast. Here are my stops in order below.
Emervyille - Portland
Portland - Seattle
Seattle - Vancouver
Vancouver - Seattle - West Glacier (Montana)
West Glacier - Minneapolis
Minneapolis - Chicago - Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh - New York City
New York City - New Orleans
Take a break then back on the train...
New Orleans - Chicago
Chicago - Richmond
Fly back home
I am not taking any ipod, iphone, ipad, apple product, or computer. Just my basic cell phone, clothes, notebooks, and books. I hope to read and write often and if I have the chance to post anything here I will.
Big Chief Mondreaux and Honey Bannister ending my festival season
Big Chief Mondreaux and Honey Bannister ending my festival season
