Down the Mississippi #11

Seven and half weeks after we stepped into the headwaters in Minnesota, our Mississippi River drive has ended. We spent Monday afternoon among sport fishermen in Venice, LA, where the River flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Then we found a B&B in Buras, LA for the night. Our hosts were Nicole and Red Maurer. When we arrived, Red was out fishing. He has chronic physical and brain injuries from his work helping to clean up the BP oil spill … for which BP has not paid victims a cent. While we waited for him to return, Nicole baked a crabmeat-stuffed flounder for supper.

The place, the food, and the company created a storybook ending to a perfect drive. It set the stage for the real work: writing about and making sense of this unbelievable adventure.

From the headwaters to the Gulf, we’ve seen thriving towns, beautiful vistas, ghost towns, poverty, racism, the economy, enlightenment, the river (over and over and over again), history, architecture, artists, nut cases, chefs, and musicians. Every single day has been an adventure.

I am thrilled by the prospect of making sense of this sensory onslaught, but it will not happen overnight.

Stick with us. All of the stories that did not have time or focus to get written can now start coming into play. We are excited to start the process of reliving it.

After a few days in New Orleans, we head to ….. damn …. we don’t really know. We haven’t thought that far ahead. We’ll keep you posted as time allows.

HOPE YOU ALL HAD A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

© 2017 Kenneth Mirvis