This adventure began with a broken seat on 2/24/2011, the Thursday before the first big weekend of Carnival Parades in New Orleans, leading up to the big day, Mardi Gras. I called Tony with my crisis. I think it took him a few minutes to realize it was a crisis. He suggested seeing if I could get someone to fix it. My brother, Bobby, came to the rescue. He had a piece of pipe, a flange, and the equipment to make it work. He was able to cut the pipe, file it because it was a little big, tread it so he could put it into the flange and then bolt that to the aluminum plate under the seat.
Thank goodness. I use my scooter daily as a teacher of high school students with autism. We take them in community to learn how to make purchases and explore potential jobs. The scooter allows me to go everywhere.
Since Bobby got my temporary (now backup) seat to work, I was able to e-mail Tony, order a new seat and have it shipped. It would come in the Friday before the next big weekend of parades. This was important because I needed to be able to put the seat back on. With Bobby’s rig, the seat didn’t snap into place. I needed to be able to put a flag on the seat back so that people could see me better when I was riding in the street. New Orleans sidewalks are terrible, courtesy of all of the large live oak trees. In the street I might have to dodge pot holes but didn’t have all the breaks as in the side walk.
The weather was beautiful today and we didn’t need to bring the ice chest. You can see I was loaded down. We were a comical site with me in the lead, Anne following, and then Diane bringing up the rear. Anne is a resident of Poydras Home which is on the parade route. They have a BBQ for the residents and their families on Sunday. I brought my friend Sandy to push Anne’s chair, Diane and her mother Carole came along too. Anne knew all of these people and enjoyed sharing her “home” with us. We were just glad of the most precious commodity at parades, a BATHROOM! We also enjoyed spending time with Anne.
I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Peggy
Posts
I certainly enjoyed the pictures and wish I could join you. What a lovely resource to have carnival parades. BTW, thank you for all you do for others.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what a flange is? did you take pictures of Bobby's fix? Never can tell when someone might need quick fix before a replacement arrives.
Yeah Bobby! I am so glad you had someone to help you. My seat broke once and Elizabeth saved me (she rules!) by over nighting me an extra seat she had.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the pictures and news about the Carnival Parades.