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A New Year, 2012 With sales of Don’s book -- Shooting From The Lip, The Life of The jazz clubs seemed better than ever. Many of the places themselves are total dumps, but the music is fantastic jazz. Don brought his trumpet and would have like to play a tune with groups like this one at the Spotted Cat, but they’re just too g We stayed in a beautiful home in the Garden District -- on a home swap. That family will take up residence in our Expedition HQ sometime later this year. Overall, in one month we stayed in the homes of four different families. It’s a matter of trust. We took very good care of their homes, and trust they will do the same with ours. So far, so good. At the southern tip of Louisiana we saw signs of hurric A new elevated road had been built across a long section of the areas immediately adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico. Some folks apparently had trouble with the old road! Surprisingly, several of the nights were quite chilly. Twice while we were there the temperature dropped below freezing in New Orleans, with a hard freeze nearby. The oyster b Some of them were the largest we have ever seen. This one is bigger than can slide down in one bite -- almost! The overall economy is better than we anticipated, even though many years have passed since the massively destructive hurricane Katrina. We toured areas that were compl Buy much rebuilding has occurred since, and recovery is well on the way. We wouldn’t say that everything is okay yet, since New Orleans is the “murder capitol” of America. The last person to be shot in 2011 died two hours before the end of the year, and on the night of January 1, eleven people were shot. Our next exchang In all, we drove 5,450 miles in 28 days and visited or passed through eleven U.S. states. It was great fun. January 19, 2012: Now we are preparing for several major events in promotion of Don’s book. After smaller events across Wyoming, the first big one will be conducted at a hotel in Washington, DC. The next will be in Los Angeles. AND, we have a very special invitation. When it has been worked out, we’ll post the details. February 9, 2012: Some 160 people On February 27, we’ll have a big event at the Autry Center in Griffith Park (public welcome). On March 13, the mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, will host a reception in honor of the book. We can’t wait! The Senator and Ann Simpson were on hand as some of America’s highest ranking representatives of government, industry and the media celebrated Simpson’s life and our book about it. In this photo, Don is speaking to a group that includes a justice of the United States Supreme Court Temp end |
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Senator Al Simpson -- going very well late in 2011, we fired up the gypsy wagon and headed for New Orleans, Louisiana and spent nearly two weeks in the famous French Quarter.
ood.
ane damage, and lots of support facilities for the offshore oil rigs. 
usiness is booking. Raw oysters aren’t for everyone, but we love them, and tried to eat ever oyster in Louisiana. 
etely destroyed -- not so much by wind, but by water when low areas flooded. In one section alone 1,300 people died in the storm. The magnitude of that is hard to comprehend. 
e was on St. George Island, Florida. We had a great time trying to eat all their oysters too. The economy here is soft too. The point was driven home when we were shown condos on the beach that four years ago sold for about $1.4 million. One of the recently sold for about $350,000.
are scheduled to attend an invitation-only event to celebrate the book, and Al Simpson’s life, at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington, DC on February 16.