Wherein my sister Marsha, her hus­band Dave (both around 50) and their report­edly under­achiev­ing off­spring Bruce (age 15?) leave South­ern Calif­ornia (in July 2004) for the summer hell­hole of NEW ORLEANS, LOUIS­IANA for 1.5 weeks, vaca­tioning & sweat­ for all they're worth. And upon their return, they vacate their River­side-area house and move to TUCSON! —Ric

Mira Loma CA, 23 July 2004

From: "Marsha Carter" <dzuki@pe.net>
To: "Barbi Hunter" <bandbsun@aol.com>
Cc: "Ric Carter" <ric@sonic.net>
Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2004 9:53 PM
Subject: life update

hello, my siblings

We spent our 10 days in New Orleans and it was hot and humid, whew.

We spent all 10 nights at a B&B, in the Faubourg Marigny, the neighborhood just downriver from the French Quarter. We walked all the streets in the French Quarter and rode the street cars all the way to the end of the line. The D-Day museum is great, A-1. We walked and drove around the Garden District and saw Anne Rice's house.The streets are all so small and close and crowded.

6 miles south of town is Chalmette, where Andrew Jackson and the Americans beat the British in 1815, at the Battle of New Orleans. The museum there was very informative, showed a great video, then we toured the battlefield.

We went to Avery Island and toured the McIlhenny Tabasco plant, then drove up to Opelousas. Bruce has been playing online with a 16 year old that lives there, and he told Bruce to call him and visit, so we did. He was quite surprised. His mom was very nice, served us coffee and desert while the boys played on the computer. We visited for about 3 hours, and she was very friendly to strangers from California.

Drove up to Baton Rouge and went to the state capital, the tallest state capital building, very art deco. You can see the bullet holes in the marble columns, from when Huey Long was assassinated in 1935. Just north of Baton Rouge is Port Hudson, where the Confederates tried to keep the Union army from capturing, the Mississippi River but after Vicksburg fell, they had to surrender. The siege lasted for 48 days, during June and July and the smell of the dead must have been horrible.

We toured 5 plantation houses- the best one was "Laura- A Creole Plantation". Our tour guide just happened to be the owner, Norman Marmillion, a local Creole man whose family owned other properties along the river. He purchased and restored the home specifically for tours. The Brer Rabbit tales were told and written down in the slave cabins on the property, so there was that additional historical significance. Fats Domino was also born in one of the cabins on the property. After Norman had bought the property he did lots of detective work and found the papers and journals of Laura Lacoul Gore, which told the story of her family on the plantation. He and his wife published the book, and since we were lucky enough for him to be our guide he signed my copy of the book.

Took an airboat tour of the Des Allemandes bayou, that was great. Saw lots of birds and plants and some alligators. Then we went to Biloxi Ms one day and toured the last home that Confederate President Jefferson Davis lived in.

Ate lots of delicious food. The best place was Cafe Atchafalaya, on the edge of the Garden District. It is a little, tacky looking diner, but the food is great. Cajun, Creole, southern food, fried green tomatoes, stuffed pork chops, boiled shrimp, amberjack and catfish. We went there the last 2 nights.

Houses in our neighborhood are selling for the high $400K's,so we are cleaning it up and going to list it. We can net enough to pay cash for a house in Tucson, so have decided to move now instead of waiting for retirement. On Wednesday I told my boss what our plans are and she is going to see what's available with the different companies that are affiliated with us. It would be great if I can transfer, but if I have to go to another company, I will.

Dave is really motivated to help me clean out stuff, Bruce and Jeff are another matter. They are both hoarder/collectors and hate to part with things. Jeff is also very conflicted about us moving. He is still in school until January, and doesn't know if he can find a job with the degree he will have earned, and doesn't want to leave his friends. Bruce is more positive.

Well, I guess I better get back to painting and cleaning, and filling up the trash cans.

Rick, did you have a yard sale before you listed the house,or after you had an offer- or more than 1 yard sale?

Love

Marsha

For those readers who don't know the Millards, be aware that my lovely and intelligent (but skinny) sister Marsha has long been a title officer and is one of the few people working in the field of Realty that I don't want to slaughter. Her admirable husband Dave is a hard-working commercial printer whose off-hours are spent in aerial combat via the InterNet and in driving off-road vehicles across the landscape. Their son Bruce is also madly absobed in kill-or-be-killed computer games. Is there a genetic link? —Ric