Oh those suburbs...

Mississippi update first:
Yes, water is high still but levees holding. thanks for asking. farmers and fishers not fans of Corps right now. Memphis is still wet. Vicksburg still wet. Arkansas very wet.So, we're holding up. But more storms (and unfortunately destructive tornados for our northern neighbors) means more water in the river so we ain't done yet.. Ironically, this goes on while New Orleans and the Lake Pontchartrain watershed (see blog header picture to see the watershed perimeters) remains under drought conditions.

That was your Mississippi River flooding/drought update brought to you by...no one. Because corporations and their advertising only associate with disasters through government funding.

back to our thriving conversation.

Spent the morning at Airline and Labarre. My mom asked me to do her a small favor by going to the car repair place (so they could do me a bigger favor by giving me my stepfather's older truck.) I went and was puzzled by the lack of communication and straight answers until I remembered that this was a chain.
After they gave us a estimate (90 minutes later), I decided to take my bike out of the back of the truck and ride leisurely back to the city, out of the suburbs.
To give complete disclosure, many of my mother's family live in the suburbs around New Orleans. Although I don't know any of them. I see them at funerals once in a while. They seem nice.
And I spent my early formative years in the suburbs of Cleveland. Lakewood Ohio, green, walkable and with 2 Main Streets of commercial activity. Older suburb obviously.
So, I have no right to use a holier-than-thou attitude about the suburbs. So i don't. But boy, some of these houses are too much. and others are nice, but honestly, never saw a person at all (except workmen) on the whole ride.

Huge
3 stories.



picket fence life
really cool place at tracks
17th Street Canal; why so much water in here?



and got back to Canal Street and stopped at that nice little health product/head shop/cafe at the head of Canal Street (forgive me John Boutte and Paul Sanchez).


and then to Bud's for a #9:





So not entirely bad, except no bike routes, no people and houses out of scale to their neighbors.
And I'm still waiting for the car repair chain place to call back.