We enjoyed our week in New Orleans at the Xscapers Halloween Convergence event, boondocking in the large Shrine on Airline parking lot with around 30 other people / 15 RVs. The Xscapers club is geared around working-age people, so they had activities planned for us each evening but left the daytime free for people to work. Well, Randy and I mostly played instead of working, but whatever!
The first night was spent just hanging around our RVs and playing some ice breaker games. On Halloween night, we took a charter bus to a private Costume Party in an upstairs room with a balcony looking down at Bourbon Street. They served a variety of finger foods (including Boudin Balls and Crawfish Grilled Cheese sandwiches) and cookies, plus had an open wine and beer bar. Randy and I dressed up as Hippies, mostly because I wanted a comfortable costume. One couple dressed as a “black tank” and “grey tank”, just wearing a black and grey t-shirts that had 1/3, 2/3, and full markings on them. Cute enough to win them Runner-up in the costume contest — at least at an RV event. There was a good size crowd walking the street, and I was surprised at how mellow they seemed to be. Many were in costumes, some were really cool. Randy and I walked a bit to get the full experience of being on Bourbon Street on Halloween. It was fine, but walking through pot smoke and extremely loud music isn’t my cup of tea. I preferred being in the upstairs room and getting to know other Xscapers.
Tuesday was a full day away from the RV. We started with a private tour of the Superdome. Our truck was too tall to fit in the parking garage, so our group had to wait on us while we and another couple parked in another lot further away and hiked back. One of the downsides of choosing the fifth wheel/truck over the Class A or C with a toad vehicle, but at least there was a way to manage it! The tour guide was very enthusiastic about all the renovations going on, since he is overseeing it all. Besides talking about the “normal” dome stuff, he took us behind the walls hiding major construction work and told us all about the future plans. Going down to the club area was pretty cool, too, seeing how swanky and close to the end zone it was.
After the tour, we drove down to the French Quarter and walked around Jackson Square, admiring art work, then walking up and down a few streets. We decided to find Preservation Hall, to decide if we felt it was safe enough to walk back to the car after the show later that night. It seemed fine, with it being such a tourist area, so we stayed parked all day and found things to entertain us while we waited for the show; such as eating at Cafe Pontalba, walking around the Riverwalk area and eating Beignets at Cafe Du Monde. As we were walking, I realized it was the SMELLS instead of the sights that were standing out the most to me — besides the smells of the shrimp boiling and beignets frying, more frequent were the smells of marijuana and urine. 🙁 Good ol’ N’awlins!
We met up with a few other Xscapers to listen to some Jazz at Preservation Hall — an old, tiny venue (“intimate”) where some of the best jazz musicians get together to play each night. The audience sat on old wooden benches, plus there were a couple of rows in the back where people just stood. The show was only 45 minutes long and flew by. We talked to a couple of the musicians afterwards and learned that they pretty much just ad lib the entire set. The trombone player had tons of energy and was really fun to watch. They all had incredible skills. So cool. Two thumbs up from both me and Randy.
One night, all the Xscapers got on a shuttle bus and did a Haunted History Tour. We visited a few cemeteries, an abandoned hospital, and a city park. The hospital did not evacuate for Katrina in time and its first two floors were flooded. They moved patients up to higher levels, but with no electricity, many patients died. So sad. The guide gave a good bit of history on the cemeteries’ tombs and how so many bodies are able to be buried within the same space. I’ll spare you the details, but it was pretty interesting. They created a Katrina Memorial where the unclaimed bodies were finally buried, after waiting a year or two for someone to claim them.
The next night, we took turns opening up our RVs for others to walk through. I’ve always enjoyed open houses and Parade of Homes, so this was really fun for me. There was a wide range of sizes and styles, and a few people stood out as super creative in decorating and customizing their rigs. (We were not one of them!)
On our last day, Randy and I drove about an hour to tour the Oak Alley Plantation and the Laura Plantation. They both had guided tours and were different enough that it was interesting to tour both of them. Besides explaining the history of plantation and processing sugarcane, they told stories about the owners and the slaves.
That evening, we had a delicious Shrimp & Crab Boil where I totally ate too much! We also line danced and played Catch Phrase before calling it a night.
It was a fun week and we enjoyed getting to know the others. Many of them go to other Xscapers events, so we hope to do another one next year and see some of our new friends again!
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