Forging the Great Mississippi…and back.

On my list of things to do in this life, I’ll admit, crossing the Mississippi River never ranked very high. (Ok, maybe it wasn’t really on this list at all…). But with the interwebs not working correctly at 2216 Royal, I needed a solution – I needed a wireless aircard, something more dependable than the broadband at home but the nearest Verizon store was in Algiers, across the river. Across the river! Across the Mississippi River! I called out to Jamie. Of course we’d have to go there.

After a happy Monday working for the day from The Orange Couch, Jamie and I packed our bags for the Canal Street Ferry. Gone are the days of floating wagons and oxen on barges – hello free passenger ferry! It took maybe all of 4 minutes to float across to the other side, but it was magnificent just realizing that I was riding on the very river that changed generations, that flowed both destruction and life to the surrounding flatlands, but most of all, just to ride on the river of Twain’s Huckleberry Fin.

Boarding with the bright lights and busy streets of New Orleans to our backs, it was a bit of a shock to disembark on a dark street, where friendly passengers disappeared into the alleys of Algiers. The only light is at a little wine cellar, so we bust in on a private wine tasting to ask for directions. All are eager to help – directions to Verizon, directions to the nearest good food, and just general overwhelmingly kindness I can’t explain. We grab dinner, a beer, and more kindness as the waitress mothers us as if we were her own wandering children and makes us promise to tell the cabbie to wait for us -- cabs are rare this time of night and ya'll don't have any business being out there at that Gretna store, she says. The cab arrives and more kindness. We talk 'bout nothing and everything with Manuel (4th generation Manuel) to the Verizon store, where he's waits patiently for our errand to conclude (meter off) to take us back to home, navigating his way safely through the dark streets of a rough & tumble neighborhood. We stop off at the little grocery store for a bottle of wine, where the store clerk gives us free candy, and then we happily ramble our way home, down Royal Street.


I'm starting to believe it is these simple kindnesses, repeated over and over, every minute of everyday, that keeps this world spinning 'round.