I got inside the station, the first stop on the trip where I had no real plans. I called two hostels I had found online with cheap private rooms. One was full, the other had been closed “for several years” (Katrina time frame?). There was one listed on the ad board, but they didn’t take calls between noon and 5:00p. I didn’t care to wait till 5, so I called the Holiday Inn down the street from the station and got a place there.

Prior to getting the room just down the street, I had preemptivly checked my baggage for the following day’s trip.  Not the best idea, but I didn’t care to try to go “uncheck it”, and I wanted to walk to the hotel anyway.  I got quite sweaty walking eight blocks in characteristically warm New Orleans.

I bathed, watched a little TV, and decided my slight scratchy throat was enough to keep me in from an adventurous night. I ate downstairs. The seafood gumbo was fabulous, the shrimp creole was mediocre.

I was in bed by 10:00p, hoping to wake early for a walk, but being awake from 2:30a – 5:00a, likely from my sporatic napping, nixed that idea. I did finally rise by 9:00a. Without a change of clothes and only two hours to kill I didn’t want to hike about town getting sweatty.

I checked out and cabbed the short distance to the station. He made sure to charge me the minimum of $10 for people with luggage even though he didn’t need to carry my small bags.

If I hadn’t been to New Orleans over a dozen times, I would have felt bad for not venturing out. But it was just a weigh station to me this time. Soon I was back on the train.