Belle Chasse... Babalu!!

18 August 2006

Well, I’ve finally made it to the Westbank of the Crescent City. I’m in Belle Chasse, LA at the corner of the Belle Chasse Highway and Woodland Highway. For the first time I have finally come to a couple of ‘forks’ in the road and had to make directional decisions.

I passed by the Alvin Callender Airfield. It was relatively quiet. There was more noise from the traffic on the Belle Chasse Highway than from the aircraft. A gas station attendant told me that the airfield was first cleared in the late 1920s for a nationwide tour by Charles Lindberg and was used extensively by rescue helicopters in the aftermath of the flooding by Hurricane Katrina.

After passing by the airfield I had to decide whether to cross the railroad tracks and continue my journey along Rd 407 following as close to the river as possible or continue my walk by a more direct route to New Orleans by staying on the Belle Chasse Highway. The decision was made for me at the junction where a little boy told me, “you can walk ‘long the Main Street, but’cha wont get to New Awlins quicker that way. The Coast Guard got a reservation down there and it’s a long walk round the river wit nuthin to see. Shoots, if I was you I’d head straight for the quarter. Babalu’s playing at the House of Blues and they a jammin good band”.

So I now find myself heading north on Woodland Highway. I should be in Gretna by tomorrow where I’ll take a ferry across the river to the French Quarter and make my way to the House of Blues… hopefully in time for Babalu’s first set.

Brian