Sunday 20th, October.

We woke to sunshine coming in through the bedroom portholes, this morning. Isn't it amazing how our attitude changes when we see sunshine? :)
With the car in our possession still, we decided to go across the causeway that crosses Lake Ponchartrain to what is known as 'The North Shore'.  Our friends Al and Kaye were moored north of the causeway at Marina Del Ray, Madisonville, where the Wooden Boat festival was, but we did not get to go south down Hwy 190 that day.
So, today we crossed the causeway on our own! :) and before getting to the beginning of the causeway we found a hige shopping center...upmarket...that we might return to tomorrow (being monday).
The causeway is so long ...25 miles...that it is easy to feel that you might fall asleep on the way. It is dead boring..flat, except for the occassional bump where boats can go through underneath, and there is literally nothing but water to see almost the whole way...until you get to the far side, of course.
What a difference 25 miles out of New Orleans makes. The vegetation was different for a start. Large pines, Cypress and other tall trees along with the usual jungle. We wondered what kind of wildlife there might be in the area, after Deer, or course. Bears?? could well be. We know they have Armadillo, because they are the main road kill we see.

We turned right (south) when we hit the end of the cause way and went looking for a West Marine store which Waz said was close by. This was to find a seal for the outside showerm which is leaking. They didnt have what we were looking for, so we have decided to order a complete new shower unit...the one we have is 14 yrs old!
As luck would have it, and just as we were saying "I wonder if there is a Starbucks closeby?" there it was, directly across the road. Well, you would have thought Waz and I had been bush for 10 yrs, so happy were we to see this  place. It was very busy with drive-through, being a sunday morning, and we happily went inside to order our Latte. We sat in the sun...yes...how funny to be saying that. We axctually sought the sun this morning, as it was only 65F when we got up. Lovely to actually put some long pants on for the first time since leaving NZ.
The Starbucks was on the edge of a larger shopping center, so we went tiki-touring to see what else we could find. We ventured into a K-mart to see if we could find a plastic finger protector, but drew a blank on that one.

Turning back onto the highway, we were amazed at the high end stores and though we couldnt see most of the homes along the highway, there were enough fancy wrought iron gates to let us know this was a well-to-do neighborhood.
We were hungry by this time, so turned into one of these shopping areas and found ourselves at a restaurant called 'Zea'. It looked busy, so a good indication and not fast food.

We were seated at the bar, and decided to stay there as we would get our food faster. The place filled up fast, and still they came.
It was a Rotisserie and Grill, which was a bit different. The decor was nice, the staff friendly and efficient, and it was high tech. All the staff had mini computers hanging off them:)
We got the bar server to make us a lemon Lime and Bitters, which she did well, with a little tweaking from us:) and we ordered...
Waz ordered Honey Chicken Sandwich with fries. I ordered a spinach/bluecheese/pecan/sun dried tomato and olive salad and Tokyo Crab Cakes. Delish!
I have photos on my phone, so will post those tomorrow!

The meal was excellent for very little money and we left very happy.
Continuing along Hwy 190 until we got to Interstate 11, where the type of shop, house etc had changed for the worse. This area called Slidell (sly dell) is not high end! lots of apartments, some subdivisions with moderate type homes etc. Not very pretty. We continued along I 11 which took us over another bridge back across the Lake towards home.
We arrived back around 3pm..in time for a cuppa:)
As i was driving, there were no opportunities to take photos, and besides that, the places we went were not photogenic...we didnt actually WANT to take pics.
Its  now time for showers and bed ...again. It comes around with regular monotony, doesnt it?

We have had some lengthy discussion tonight about the next leg of our journey which will be quite challenging. Some legs will be 12 hr days, and this presents a few challenges as the daylight hours draw closed. More on that another time.
Ciao for now...sleep well:)