[Flyin_Freddie]

Whoooooweeeeeee......! Finally taking some time to catch up on emails and saw several posts about our trip to New Orleans this past weekend for Snake Rattle and Roll with the Reed Krewe.
Let me add my report.....

Thursday's drive down was uneventful. My new Navigator with the moving map navigational system allowed me to drive directly to Casino Magic in Bay St. Louis, MS, without making a wrong turn. This damn thing is neat! Several of the usual suspects had already arrived...and I was down there before 1:00 PM! I found Doug and proceeded to set up the smoker and grill to smoke over 40 pounds of ribs for dinner that night. Terry Lee, fellow SPF owner from Hypoluxo, FL, made some foccacia bread with grilled vegetables and this WONDERFUL sauce to go on it....it was great. Don Barnes from Irving, TX...owner of a Panoz Racing School franchise...set up right across from Doug's Rolling Zip Code with his 40x40 canopy...yep, you read it right...40x40! It was huge! Great food, great people, and a great time was had by all. Received several compliments on my smoked ribs...it's always nice to know when someone enjoys your cooking!

Friday dawned a little cool and damp, but the sun soon came out and we set off to N'awlins....! Some of us in Mardi Gras beads and jester hats, just for fun...must have been weird to see us all on the road dressed like we just came from Mardi Gras....hell, who cares! The route took us through the Louisiana countryside, past lotsa of homes on stilts to avoid the storm surges from the occasional passing hurricane...the storms, not the drinks...there was time for THOSE later! We also tried to parade through the French Quarter, Veaux Carre, but that proved to be too much for most of us. We just spread out to far and traffic was way too heavy. Doug said that won't be repeated next time...! Lunch at the Dock right on the Gulf was great....NOW was time for daiquiris! Hey...when in N'awlins...! After the lunch, we drove to a point jutting out in the bay where we were able to arrange all the cars in a semi-circle around the perimeter of the parking lot. It was great...ran all the other tourists off, too!

Friday night found us all at the RV park connected to the casino parking lot again for Doug's Krewe to cook some jambalya....rice, shrimp, crawfish, and sausage...again, good eats. Don Barnes this time came up with a frozen daiquiri machine,..strawberry frozen daiquiris....Mmmmmm, boy. I seemed to have been ever so slightly overserved - yet, once again. Nevertheless, several of us wound up in the casino at the blackjack tables. I was up $160 for a while, but they changed dealers and the new guy was bad juju for us all...maybe that's why they changed dealers!

Saturday AM was even more damp...some fog and very heavy dew. But, at 0900, we were off for Biloxi, MS, for the start of a poker run. We had to gamble a little at the Grand Casino, buy a cheap, tacky souvenir, drink a few more daiquiris, have some lunch, and finally make it back to the hotel. GREAT WEATHER....great drive...and some really great people.

Saturday PM found us all at the Bridges Golf Club for our banquet. More good food, more drinks.......hell, do I need to go on? Don't tell anyone, but those Reed's and the guys in his krewe sure married some good lookin' wimmen! And don't forget about the wives that attended the event, too. Man...you guys did goooood!

Lotsa of awards for the Best Poker hand, Furthest Drive, Oldest Car, Newest Car, Most Miles, Least Miles, and so on. Lotsa door prizes, too.

But, as already mentioned, this event was mostly conceived and planned by Ronnie Reed, Doug's brother and business partner. We lost Ronnie a couple of months ago, as most of you know. It is a fitting tribute to Ronnie's memory that the Reed family decided to continue with the event in spite of Ronnie's untimely death. I can't begin to tell you how much we all felt Ronnie's presence there Saturday night.

When all the awards had been given, Doug said he had one more award to give. And then he proceeded to say the recipient of the award was one of Ronnie's most liked guys, how he was the epitome of Southern Hospitality, how if you asked him what time it was, he'd tell you how to build a watch, how he talked so fast he needed special lip balm to keep his lips from burning up. But, most of all, he spoke of how much Ronnie thought of this person. Doug then said, "The recipient of the Ronnie Reed Memorial "Mr. Personality" award is Flyin' Freddie Rice!"

(Loooooong pause here for you all to try and imagine how I felt when I heard Doug say my name.)

I couldn't hardly contain my tears as I approached the podium. Tears were steaming down my face, as they were down Doug's, Don's, Donald's, all the wives, their children, and probably everyone else in the room....I don't know, I couldn't see through my own tears. I really can't remember what I said, but I think I said something about how much this meant to me and how much I enjoyed my time with Ronnie. But, I knew that Ronnie was there with us, and asked everyone to toast to Ronnie...and then asked my Dad to help Ronnie watch over us all. Hugs all around...LOTS of tears...way too many to recall....but LOTS of tears. There was never a finer man on this earth than Ronnie Reed.

Truly, words cannot express how much this award means to me. I am humbled beyond belief that the Reed family thought enough of me to recognize me in this manner. I am not worthy of this, but I accept it in Ronnie's memory. It is now very proudly displayed in my den for all to see...and if you ask, I'll tell you all about Ronnie and how I came to be given this award. And how fortunate I am to have been able to call Ronnie Reed a friend.

I sincerely hope Doug does another Snake, Rattle and Roll next year. We had a great time, the weather cooperated very nicely, and it was fun to see everyone again. If you missed it, I'll have some pictures to post in a day or so, depending on my workload.

Thanks for reading this far...it's long, I know, but I had a lot to say!