Still no downdrafts, very little rain, but there are more giants on my course, and I'm determined not to play dice with the weather. Suddenly I see a runway below. Slidell! Nobody on the CTAF... whatever. I'll just turn around the base of that cloud, descend towards the pattern, and check the wind down there... But what's this?! How about that! As I round the cloud, I have a clear view of the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, the bridges, and beyond it, I can just barely see the Big Easy skyline beckoning! I've got a huge hole here, and I aim to use it. I check the KNEW ATIS, call Approach, and make a beeline for the Triple Bridges at 2000 feet. Home stretch!
"Follow the bridges, turn right maintain 1,500, report the hatchery", the tower controller tells me. I see on the New Orleans sectional that pilots should "be prepared for loss of horizontal reference at low altitudes over the lake in hazy conditions and at night". I wonder about this, until I look to the West, and see- gray. In the haze, there's simply no boundary between lake and sky. Creepy, and much worse in RL than seen here...I turn my attention back to the bridge below me and the shoreline at the edge of the city, make my turn, descend, and report abeam the fish hatchery near the airport."3KK,clear to land 36L"
A very nice landing on 18L, a bit long so I can roll out and stop at just the right taxiway. As I stumble out of the plane on the ramp, I am assaulted by thousands of mating "love bugs". They apparently like to land on white objects during their annual frenzy, and they love 3KK as well as they love each other... they're everywhere!! It's odd, standing here in the sudden silence with all these crazy bugs everywhere. I pull out my cellphone and call my buddy Steve, who is going to give me a lift to his place in Algiers where I'll be staying that week. "Dude", I tell him, "I'm covered with love bugs!" He laughs. " Welcome to New Orleans! Guess you made it alright, huh?"
I get 3KK gassed, parked, and covered, give her a thorough postflight and an affectionate pat on the nose, then wander out towards the road to wait for Steve. As I stand on the grass by the curb, a horde of angry ants swarms up one leg, biting the hell out of me. Ahhh, New Orleans; Land of Bugs. Their termites are also legendary...
Just to the south, the storm's main forces announce their arrival with tremendous booms of thunder. Eventually Steve arrives, and the moment I get in the car and close the door, the sky opens up with a violent waterfall of rain, and lightning rips the sky apart. "You got any beer in the house?" I ask. "'Course I do", he says.
It was quite a trip: 13 hours' tach time over two days;by the time I fly back next week, that'll be 24 hours in one week- more than I've flown over the past year!! And a few valuable lessons learned...
Hope y'all enjoyed this little exercise in self-indulgence; I doubt I'll refly my return trip in FS9, so no screenies of that (you wanna see it? You fly it!!), but I will most likely post a few photos from my stay in New Orleans as well as a couple of snaps from the trip home... in the "Photos" section, this time.
Loved the story and at times it was hard to beleive that this actualy happened to you! Awsome job!! 
