Quicky Real-time Update:

I'm at the Houston Greyhound Station - I've hit plane, train, and automobile status!

I had a ticket for a train from New Olreans to Austin, but I would've had to leave yesterday at Noon, which would've given me only 15 hours in the Crescent City - boo.

So, I canceled my Amtrak reservation for a full refund (supposedly - I've yet to see it pop up) and bought a bus ticket.

I spent 3 hours getting to Wll and Vdn's place in the Garden District from The Country Club in Bywater. The first half was just spent hanging out with Ambr and Mtch - walking with them back to their bikes on Decatur and Esplanade just inside the French Quarter.

I'm getting ahead of myself!

I got into New Orleans on Tuesday evening, and after getting settled and oriented (with a quick goodbye to Mtch and Ambr - we exchanged info), I struck out and met Wll and Vdn at the Rue de la Course coffeehouse on Magazine.

I got there a few minutes before them.

Rue was essentially a sea of websurfing laptop folks.

I headed inside toward the community board to see if there were any cool shows going on. My first time in New Orleans, also visiting Wll and Vdn last August, I picked up a flyer for a house show where Paul Baribeau was playing.

I knew nothing about Baribeau (Google him!), but the flyer mentioned Plan-It X Records. Plan-It X Records is a small, indie punk label and one of the guys who runs it is in a band by the name of Ghost Mice. They're pretty sweet, but they also happen to be brohams with AJJ and they had (then) recently put out a split CD.

Wll, Vdn, and I trekked over to the Garden District (they lived in Bywater at the time) to some random address that was on the flyer.

We came to the address and it was a house.

We popped in and we were easily the oldest folks there.

We were only about 5-1o years older than everyone else there, but I think we awkwardly stuck out a little bit.

We made our contribution and found that taco-making time was over. The show was advertised on the flyer as a pot luck. We had stopped by the store to pick up some random snacks. We opened them up and started passing them around.

There were a couple of other performers on that night's bill and they were wonderful, but I just don't remember who they were.

I remember Paul Baribeau.

Best classified as a folk punk (I guess) singer-songwriter, he's also a really compelling performer.

Wll had come along somewhat reluctantly - he's not a fan of live music, is what he said. Baribeau's performance, though, effectively brought his earnest, honest, and personal songs to life, and I definitely saw Wll being moved by that. He even picked up one of Baribeau's CDs after his performance.

We hung out for a bit there, even talking to a guy that Vdn and I had met earlier that afternoon at the Plan B bike co-op. Plan B is housed in the same place as the Iron Rail, a volunteer-run community / indie book & record store in Bywater. The Iron Rail is where I initially picked up the flyer for the show.

Wow - now, I'm getting behind myself!

As I started browsing the community board at Rue de la Course, I heard a voice behind me peep up, "Js!"

It was Wll and Vdn!

It was great to see Wll, but Vdn was most striking. She had on a big floppy green sunhat, an adorable yellow dress, and green shiny rubber galoshes that matched her sunhat.

We hugged and then started to figure out where to settle down or whether to bounce for food and/or drink.

We ultimately decided to head to a bar and sandwich place just down the street. I don't remember its name, but we headed to their balcony patio and enjoyed their happy hour.

Rather than making it a big night, we opted to head home and get settled (I still had my stuff on me, including my gigantic, ever-growing bag).

Before turning in, I mentioned that I was technically supposed to leave at midday the next day, but that I thought I could just "miss" my train (again) and catch the next day's train at the same time.