Create Our World

Joseph is gray bearded in the middle, surrounded by his family.

 “A very small amount of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love.” – Henri B. Stendhal

Have you ever been to New Orleans?

From my experience, it seems people either love it or hate it.  I am in the Love category.  Today is about my hitch to New Orleans from Covington, which is about 60 miles.  It was Halloween then.

Meet Olya.

I leave my friends Julianne and Marianne to hitch to New Orleans on my own.  I am meeting up with Aymee whom I met through Couchsurfing, a website, whom was doing a road trip around the United States.  She has offered me a place with her friends.

I wait in Covington in the chain store, urban sprawl zone.  I have a New Orleans sign and stand in front of a gas station.  Lots of cars pass and think it is funny that I am hitchhiking.  I wait about an hour till Olya pulls up.

Joseph and Olya.

Olya pulls into the gas station.  She is going to New Orleans.  We get gas and take off.  Olya has been having a rough day.  I ask if she wants me to drive and she concedes.  Yes, it has been awhile!

A short clip going over the bridge to New Orleans (the second time) with Olya singing Russian folk songs in the background.

Over the bridge.

We have to drive over the bridge to get to New Orleans.  Olya shares a bit of her troubles.  She is from Russia.  Olya is recently divorced and not feeling like she has good friends.  She is also recently out of work and homeless.  Her stuff is piled in the back seats.  We drive and listen to music.  A friend of hers is a musician so we listen to the CD.  It is good.

Flamenco Dancer.

Olya is a flamenco dancer.  She loves to dance.  As we drive she shows me a bit of it, although I’m sure not the full deal, since she is in a car seat.  She also sings me some Russian hymns.  They are about loneliness.

Whoops!

She is meeting her friend, Joseph, in New Orleans so try to find it but miss.  I end up passing New Orleans and we have to turn around and go over another bridge to get back.  Eventually once in, we pull over at a Burger King and he comes to meet us.  He gets a ride as he can’t drive so then he piles in with us.  I drive us to his home with Joseph, Olya, and me all in the front seat of her car.

Joseph’s family.

Joseph invites me to hang with him and his family as they are in town from Georgia.  They are all watching the Florida versus Georgia college football game.  They get into it.  After every point scored they do pushups for how many points are scored in the game.  Most of Joseph’s family are Georgia fans, except for one.  He is a die hard Florida fan and is into every play.  “YES!!! GO MAN!!!”  or “WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!!!???” depending on the outcome of the play.

They are a hoot!!!

Meeting Aymee.

But as the game ends, I decide I must meet up with Aymee and get ready to explore New Orleans.  Olya writes me a poem before I go and writes it in my journal.

“There is freedom in loneliness

and sweetness in thinking alone.

I can put a raindrop or a snowflake in every poem.

I’m dying every night to resurrect the morning after.

Each new day is a dew drop from paradise.”

                                               – Olya

I am touched by the poem and happy to have met these people.  A great start to New Orleans.

Joseph and his brother drive me across town to 4320 Coliseum it is in Uptown New Orleans.  I think I will just be spending the night here and off west tommorrow, but fate has other ideas.  This is a blessed place.

Create Our World.

Ben

“All mankind love a lover.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Marianne and Julianne at the Three Rivers Sanctuary in Covington.

“A hug is like a bomerang – you get it back right away.” – Bil Keane

My day exploring Covington, Louisiana, staying at a yoga sanctuary on a swamp, and watching a movie being filmed.

Hayden and her beau stroll in Covington and pose for a picture. They are in Love!

Covington.

After a breakfast of eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns covered in cheese, jalapenos, onions, peppers, and hot sauce, I get some work done at the local coffeeshop.  I am not meeting Julianne till later tonight.

Covington is a small town.  It looks similar to New Orleans in the downtown.  Colorful houses with second floor balconies overlooking the street.  

Covington is the home of Dr. George Boudreaux, creator of Boudreaux’s Butt Paste and also, Lee Harvey Oswald went to school here.

I wander.  I grab a faucet and wash my hair and arm pits, behind a building.  Nap as it pours rain. Relaxing day.

The Desiderata. My home for the night.

Three Rivers Sanctuary.

I meet up with Julianne and Marianne later and we head out to the sanctuary.  

Marianne is a yoga instructor.  Check her site.

She lives and works in a beautiful and relaxing spot known as Three Rivers Sanctuary, outside of Covington.  Normally.  Now, it is the filming site for the new movie, The Mechanic.  It is actually a remake of a 1972 Charles Bronson film about a hitman and a young man whom wants to become one.

The new film stars Jason Statham, whom you might know from The Italian Job and a bunch of other action movies.  He is bald, angry, and English.  

Filming.

You would think filming an action movie would have huge explosions and fight scenes.  No.  There was none of this.  There was a lot of people and lots of equipment.  It was interesting to watch the crew do their work, but after an hour of them shooting the house.  Then, shooting Jason walking down a bridge, over and over.  It was a bit boring.  I will wait for the movie.

Beautiful spot though. Right on the river.  I got to crash in a boat on the river and it was good to see my friend, Julianne in a totally different part of the country.

Tommorrow, I decide to hitch into New Orleans.  I meet Ollya and watch a college football game, before meeting up with Aymee whom I had been in contact with through Couchsurfing on her road trip around the country.

Create Our World.

Ben

“A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge.” – Thomas Carlyle

Riding to Slidell.

“Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create that fact.” – William James

Today, I am up early in Long Beach, MS.  I am headed 68 miles to Covington, Louisiana.  I am meeting my friend, Julianne whom I met in North Carolina.  Julianne is here for Halloween in New Orleans as well and is staying with her sister, Marianne, on a yoga sanctuary where an action movie is being filmed.  They offered me a place to crash.  

Back of Trucks.

A couple is headed into New Orleans so can drop me most of the way near a small town called Slidell, Louisiana.  Slidell is where Katarina hit the USA in 2005.  Slidell is about 20 miles to Covington.  I ride in the back of their truck and watch the swamps pass.  They drop me off on the highway so they can continue to NOLA.  I walk into Slidell and sit at a gas station making my sign for Covington.

Meet Antonio.

As I make my sign, a man getting gas asks me where I am headed.  ”Covington”  He doesn’t know where that is, but he is headed west.  I say then he is going my way and he offers me a ride. 

Antonio is his name.  He is a state trooper, but he also owns an investigative claims business.  His nephew, Josh rides shotgun and I hop in the back of the cab of their shiny, black pick up.  

Entrepreneur.

Antonio as me what I want to be.  “An entreprenuer… I think.”  Antonio looks at Josh and says, “You see, you should do that…”  Josh nods his head and rubs his chin.  Antonio who has been a trooper for years decided to open his own business to make extra money.  He tells me his strategy, keep in mind I know little about investigative claims.  Antonio walks into a very prominent investigative claims business and asks for their toughest case.  If he does it well, then they can pay him what they want.  Well, they give him a call and sure enough, Antonio knocks it out of the park.  “They have been my client for 13 years.”

Covington High School.

 Louisiana.

“A free spirit, eh?”

Antonio is concerned about my love life.  He thinks I should stay somewhere if I meet a nice girl.  He says, “It’s not like you have anywhere to be.”  He gives me the name of an internet website, where I can meet women anywhere.  

Antonio is born and raised in Louisiana.  This state is like no other.  “People from here are like no where else; very friendly.”  

As he drops me off in Covington, he gives me his card and tells me if I ever have a problem with the law to give him a call.  Also, to call him if I am in Lake Charles, Louisiana and he will take me out for lunch.

Tommorrow, I’m down on the bayou at the yoga sanctuary and watching a action movie be filmed.

Create Our World.

Ben

“All the art of living lies in the fine mingling of letting go and holding on.” – Henry Ellis