Maybe I should have just stayed home!
As I mentioned in prior posts, this trip was delayed a few days so I could see a neurosurgeon concerning ongoing back and leg pain and weakness. It’s never a good thing when the doctor looks at my MRI and simply says “This is bad!”. I was immediately scheduled for surgery in early March.
Meanwhile, I still planned to take my third trip across the southern states. I figured I had tolerated the pain so far and I looked forward to the trip.
That was probably a mistake. Perhaps the long rides in the car aggravated the already-bad situation, or it was simply getting worse “naturally” each day, but at each stop, I found it harder and harder just to get out of the car to visit the site. I did make it through the first five sites successfully, as they involved little walking. Even so, I did not fully enjoy most of those sites as even the short walks were painful.
That does not mean I didn’t enjoy them. As I am finding with every stop on every trip, there is something special about each park unit and something new to learn, and this has been the case on this trip. I’ve seen antebellum plantations, several thousand-year-old Indian mounds, and even older mammoth fossils, along with a very unique ecosystem in eastern Texas.
Unfortunately, the next stop was New Orleans for the New Orleans Jazz and the Jean Lafitte National Historical Parks. I stayed near Canal Street and not too many blocks from the Visitor Center for both parks. But in the morning, I was hurting enough that I figured out how to get to the center using public transit. The walk to the trolley – only a block – was painful, so I was glad to ride.
I foolishly decided to walk back, stopping halfway for lunch and a long break. In the afternoon, I drove out to the site of the Battle of New Orleans, which had a driving tour that worked for me.
That night, I couldn’t even walk to a decent restaurant for dinner and decided to head home, skipping the last three sites I originally planned to see. They were moved to future groups. I also plan to come back to New Orleans and actually enjoy some New Orleans Jazz, along with visiting other units of Jean Lafitte.
Though I cut this trip short, I still had fun. The things I learned and the places I did see are what this grand tour is all about, and my interest in seeing and learning never waned despite the discomfort I experienced.
My next trip will probably be delayed by several weeks as I recover from the surgery in March. My hope is when I head out on Trip 4, it will be without any pain or weakness.
Steve
