We have returned from the National Trucking Competition in New Orleans. John competed in the tanker division, and he placed 11th out of 47 drivers in this category. He would have rather been the "top dog" but he still ended up in the top third. There were a total of 385 drivers competing in different divisions.
It was an interesting week. Neither one of us has ever been in New Orleans, so we took every opportunity to also investigate the city. We were able to fit in a river boat cruise, tour Mardi Gras World, tour a historic house, walk through the state museum, and walk around Jackson Square. As long as we stayed close to the river, everything was nice. When we walked inland a ways, it got more littered with garbage and we saw people sleeping in the streets. We walked to Bourbon Street, but went just a few blocks and turned around....it was just terrible. The beginning of Bourbon Street by our hotel was very nice with expensive restaurants, but the further you went down the street the worse it got.
The highlight of our week (besides the competition) was meeting Mike Griffioen and daughters Susan and Malissa. They drove from Mississippi to see us one evening. It was so much fun seeing them again after 10 years! We weren't able to meet Wendy, because she recently had knee surgery. At the end of the week, Mike called us at our hotel room, and he had had a pop-up job interview that morning and was free for lunch. It happened to be that John was all done with his stuff for the day, so we met him again. We really ended up having some quality time with Mike. He invited us to come & stay at his house sometime when it's all fixed up (yup, he's still working on the damages from Katrina).....we might have to think about that!
Here are some pictures from our trip.
-Chris
View of area where we stayed.
We met up with Mike and his girls at Margaritaville.
Notice the "halo" over John's head! Ha!
Malissa, Mike & Susan
John is WAY in the back...right in the middle.
For all you Food Network fans! We ate at THE Emeril's Restaurant. BAM! :)
Us goofing around at Mardi Gras World!
This gives you an idea of how HUGE these floats are!
1 comments:
Mom, I can help you with the pictures on Thursday evening. :) I have Bible study tomorrow after work. Love ya! Janna
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