Hanging out in Morgan City for the day
We took advantage of the rainy day today by catching up on a little rest, finishing some engine work and ran (walked) errands while docked in Morgan City. Here’s how we spent it:
- Slept in till 8:00 a.m.!
- Made a mega Migas breakfast
- Visited with our new friend, Hank the shrimper (incredibly nice guy who went out of his way to help us)
- Took a sloshy tour around Morgan City to hunt down some Wi-Fi, starting at the library but was a no-go with stationary computers that were too slow and no Wi-Fi. A local library goer turned Morgan City tour guide offered to walk us about two miles to the nearest McDonald’s to try theirs. After meandering the miles in the rain, James, though his friends call him Jimmy, was ready to camp it out with us at Micky D’s (and aboard Kaleo had we let him) so we bought our new friend, Jimmy, a soda and tried to get going on catching up on all things digital. Wha wahhhhh. Faulty internet at Ronald’s house. We gave in and pulled out our Hilton Honors card and walked next door to relax in the less greasy aromas of the Hampton Inn lobby to quietly tap into Wi-Fi (all that work travel is starting to pay off).
- Worked out the kinks in our onboard internet service and are back up and running. Whew!
- Got a call from our former marina neighbor, Steve, who happened to be passing through Morgan City for work. He stopped by the boat to visit, sign the guest book and let us know about a little treasure of a Cuban restaurant just a few blocks away. We planned to go there for dinner but the restaurant didn’t answer their phone to confirm they were open and it was dropping buckets at dinner time. We opted to stay dry and made dinner at home while watching a LifeChurch.tv service.
- Received a call from the mechanic we had been working with remotely at about 8 p.m. (surprising as it was after work hours). He was responding to a message left earlier in the day about working the kinks out of our oil pressure issue. Matt stayed up a few hours completing his suggestion, talking with one of his dad’s friends and ended up with a list for the parts store in the morning.
A visit from our former marina neighbor, Steve of s/v Ebb Tide
Tuesday morning came, still cold but without the rain, and Matt began his trek to the parts store. The only one within walking distance didn’t have what he needed and after talking with Hank, it was decided that his wife would drive Matt to the store across town. A short while later Matt was back with the parts, the engine was put back together and the high oil pressure we experienced coming into Morgan City was resolved. Whoo hoooo!
We were back on course to our next destination of Houma (pronounced Home-uh), Louisiana. It turned out to be a gorgeous day with 10-15 knots of wind from a direction our sails could use. We rolled out the jib sail and clocked 6.5 – 7 knots for most of the day. Morgan City to Houma is the most scenic section on the Louisiana GIWW. Majestic cypress trees line the banks, their knee-like roots protruding from the water surface to breathe, and the Spanish moss romantically hangs from tree branches.
Cypress trees dripping with Spanish moss along Wallace Bayou, east of Morgan City, LA
Enjoying the gorgeous day. In my flippie-floppies.
Matt assembling our new shower bench that he and his dad made
We arrived to a wonderfully quaint dock just off the ICW in Houma, tied up and walked to the laundromat (sailors have to wash clothes too).
Docked at the Houma Downtown Marina
After laundry was put away, we set out for a date night on the town. Some local joggers led us to discover Café Milano in historic downtown Houma. To say the least, we had a FEAST. (Started with lobster & shrimp bisque and jumbo lump crabmeat in a creamy herb dressing atop fresh avocado garnished with cherry tomatoes and sherry balsamic reduction. Next up were Stuffed Filet, Filet filled with shrimp & crabmeat mornay stuffing, topped with sautéed mushrooms, served with oven-roasted potatoes & sautéed vegetables. Matt had the Pork Chop Belanger – All natural pan-seared Bone-in Pork Loin Chops finished with blackberry demiglace served with a pork confit and sweet potato mousse (BEST EVER), accompanied by sautéed vegetables. Ah, and the bottle of Ausi Pinot Noir and Chocolate Terrine, Frozen chocolate mousse glazed with chocolate ganache, with raspberry, chocolate, white chocolate and passion fruit sauces for dessert). Wow! We might have gone a little overboard (pun intended).
Part of this adventure for us is about new experiences. And at the dinner table, we each committed to a specific promise that would expand our perspectives. We’ve coined them, “Café Milano’s promises” and are holding each other to them as we continue forward. We’ll reveal them as they’re kept. As you can see, we had plenty of time to pontificate through the dinner courses.
We enjoyed (and needed) the brisk walk back to our floating home, took showers (loving the hot water heater!) and fell asleep with a full and restful day behind us. It’s back on the waterway tomorrow to Lake Salvador for the night and then on to New Orleans and beyond.
N 29° 34.88/ W 90° 43.03
Sounds like an awesome dinner! There’s always good food in Louisiana!
I had a McRib the other night… it was pretty good.
Great to hear from ya Josh! You better get in as many of those McRibs as you can before their limited time ends ;o). Hope you and Keely have a great Thanksgiving!