On to "The Big Easy"

Bayou Segnette State Park
7777 Westbank Expressway
Westwego, LA 70094
GPS: 29.88990^o, -090.16239^o

New Orleans, LA (NOLA) has a number of illustrative nicknames:

The Big Easy

is possibly a reference by musicians in the early 20th century to the relative ease of finding work there. It also may have originated in the Prohibition era, when the city was considered one big speak-easy due to the inability of the federal government to control alcohol sales in open violation of the 18th Amendment. But locals attribute the widespread use of the nickname The Big Easy to the late Betty Guillaud, a gossip columnist from the Times-Picayune. They say that Guillaud used the term first in the early 1970s to compare life in New York City—the Big Apple—to life in New Orleans—The Big Easy.

Crescent City

alludes to the course of the Lower Mississippi River around and through the city.

The City that Care Forgot

has been used since at least 1938, and refers to the outwardly easy-going, carefree nature of many of the residents.

Regardless of its nicknames or where they came from, New Orleans was our destination today, our fourth travel day.

Travel Day 4 -- Pensacola, FL to New Orleans, LA

Near the Mississippi / Louisiana border, we stopped at a Louisiana Welcome Center. Most of the brochures advertised sights (predominantly restaurants) in New Orleans, but we were able to gather some state-wide information. Sitting at a table, apart from the information counter, was a young man offering himself as a walking tour guide for the French Quarter. I admired his out of the ordinary marketing technique (we were still about fifty miles from NOLA) so I took his business card and resolved to give him our business while we are in the city.

These 215 miles would be our last westward travel. At New Orleans, we will turn north and begin our Great River Road adventure. A little less than seven hours had passed when we reached our campground – Bayou Segnette State Park in Westwego, LA – a suburb of New Orleans on the south side of the Mississippi River.

This is a nice park, situated so that it is hard to see or hear that you are in a big city. The last few miles of the drive were through the heart of New Orleans and there was no doubt that we were in the big city. For us, pulling the rig through downtown New Orleans was a white knuckle experience.

Setup was uneventful, hot, and humid. Uneventful I like. Hot and humid ... well, I better get used to it.

No grand dining adventure tonight. Hot dogs and hamburgers at the campsite did the job. Then a shower and call it a day.

###