All that Jazz...

In New Orleans of course. That is where Lauren and I went to visit my Mom and Bob a couple of weeks ago. They were in NO for an Ace convention so we thought it would be worthwhile to make the 7 hour drive down to see them. The night we got into town we went to a benefit dinner/concert thing, it was great. The dinner was being held at the Mardi Gras museum. Picture this: every Mardi Gras float including many larger than life figures crafted out of something, plaster? All you can eat food and beer was good too, and the live music was great. After some dinner and a few beers we headed back to the hotel and then we all ventured on down to Bourbon Street (it looked just like that). We traveled to a couple of different places, saw some very interesting people, and ended up chilling and listening to some Jazz at a less crazy bar before heading on back to the hotel.

On Saturday Lauren, Mom, and I walked down to Jackson Square and the French Market. I got a sweet hat, we had some delicious food, and we got a little sun. It was quite a bit of walking around especially on the legs after running stairs but it was good to see more of New Orleans. Saturday night we all went to the convention center to help pack up some things to help Bob out. Pretty busy evening and the feet were still tired. Had a bunch of beef jerky and combos, mmmm. Then we headed back to the hotel, not a very eventful evening as everyone was pretty exhausted. We did get to see a guy get busted for falling asleep in the bar/restaurant at the hotel though. Sweet. When we got back to our hotel and were falling asleep the stupid people on our floor were being super loud and stupid, that went on for a little while and apparently I wasn't the only one annoyed because all of the sudden I heard 'N-O-P-D Open up!' I slept soundly for the rest of the night.

Sunday morning we met at a little cafe for breakfast and then headed up Royal Street to check out some shops. Apparently there was a road food festival going on with some pretty dang delicious looking food, too bad we had already eaten breakfast. Then we headed back to the hotel and Lauren and I headed back towards Houston.

It was a great trip and a nice weekend away from Houston. I will post some sweet pictures soon.

On a side note: The next door lady causes a stir in the neighborhood by having a little fire in her back yard. All I heard was "!! Are you back there? The neighbors are all out here and we all think your house is on fire!!" Then Lauren and I noticed like 8 cop cars and fire truck out front. Interesting.

The fork problem

Well I guess I just got a plagued fork on my mountain bike. The first time I went night riding with Kyle and the third time I was on the bike I blew the seals out of my fork and I had to take it in to get it replaced or rebuilt under warranty. After that, I rode for a while until last weekend when I went down to Rocky Hill with Dave. 45 miles later I was dead and finally done. It's amazing what those energy gels actually do for you when you are riding a long time. Anyways, I got done and then it came to my realization that my fork was leaking oil so now I have to take it back in and have them rewarranty the fork. It could be worse, I guess I am getting a new fork out of the deal. I hope the new one is good to go.

On a side note: When Dave and I got done riding we noticed a very large cloud of smoke to the east of where we were and wondered what was burning down. Well apparently it was a large portion of Bastrop and the surrounding area. It was pretty crazy and impressive to see. While on the phone with Lauren this conversation took place while trying to explain that Hwy 71 was closed and I couldn't go to the barn with her.

Me: Yeah there's a huge fire and the highway is closed. I bet you can see the smoke.
Lauren: Well I can't really see anything but a big cloud.
Me: You mean the long streaky one coming out of the ground?
Lauren: Yeah
Me: That's smoke from the fire Lauren...
Lauren: Oh, well I guess I can see it then.

That might not be the exact words but they are pretty close.

Well I need to take that bike in to the shop.