Westward Bound! Tallahassee Auto Museum and New Orleans, Louisiana

We only stayed a few nights in Tallahassee and New Orleans, but we were still able to get a lot of activities in. We made these stays shorter because we are anxious to get out west and start hiking and enjoying the great outdoors.

While in Tallahassee, we visited a most unusual museum. The Tallahassee Automobile Museum has much more than autos, and it is one man's personal collection of nearly everything.  DeVoe Moore's collection started as a kid with his first pocket knife. Now in his 60's he still collects very expensive, inexpensive, rare, and odd things. A successful businessman and Florida State University alumnus, Mr. Moore has gifted over 30 million dollars to FSU, and still enjoys adding extravagant autos and other things to his museum, as a hobby. Our photos in this blog are primarily from the museum because it was quite an impressive collection. If you're ever in the area, it's definitely worth the stop!

When we arrived at our RV Park in New Orleans, we realized we might not have picked, well…the very best place, to put it kindly. The park itself was okay, but the location was out on the fringes of, we don't even know. We might have been in a shipyard. We were in an industrial area with waterways, boats, and railroad tracks. At dinner time, we called Uber. The driver picked us up and said, "I ain't never been out here before." That was when it was daylight. The Uber diver that took us home asked, "Y’all aren't bringing me out here to kill me, are you?" We thought that was so funny, but we also understood from the looks of the area. As always, the food and music in New Orleans did not disappoint. The next afternoon, we took our bikes into town and rode through some old neighborhood streets where we found a treasure called the Spotted Cat. It was a great local place with old-school jazz. We rode our bikes through Louis Armstrong Park and made sure to get a beignet at Café de Monde before we headed back to the shipyard. That evening on the news, we heard there were 13 cases of COVID-19 in New Orleans, and they were shutting down schools. We were so sorry to hear about the spread of the virus.  

Our next several stops will be in the great state of Texas. Yee-Haw!

Below are pictures from March 7-11, 2020:

Many of our campsites in Florida were very cramped due to the Snowbird season. We thoroughly enjoyed having more space in this nice quiet Tallahassee park.

The Tallassee Auto Museum displayed over 190 autos from Devoe Moore’s collection. This one is his most prized. He doesn’t tell exactly how much he paid for it, but antique collectors know he traded 10 other cars for it, valuing approximately one million dollars. This is the 2nd motor car EVER made. It’s an 1894 Duryea, made by brothers Charles and Frank Duryea.

The Duryea Brothers, who made the car in the previous picture were not great businessmen and didn't get along very well with each other. Charles Duryea lamented before he died in 1938, that "Children will grow up and think Henry Ford invented the automobile!" And that is pretty much what happened.

The Model T Ford was known as “The car that put America on wheels”. This was the first affordable car for the average American. The Model T was manufactured from 1908-1927. It seems Mr. Moore may have one from every year!

Henry Ford had this car custom-built for his youngest grandson, William Clay Ford’s 15th birthday. It is the only one like it in the world. It was on display at the Ford Museum in Detroit until Mr. Moore purchased it and brought it to Tallahassee a few years ago.

We tried to drive one home, but they stopped us at the door.

The museum states that every car here has been fully restored and will run, including the 1894 Duryea in the first picture.

Cars from every decade.

A quirky and humorous feature at this museum is the random mannequins positioned throughout the on the various collections. Notice the legs under the car on the right

The isles go on and on but have interesting tidbits and history about each era.

This Trans Am has only 10 actual miles on it. The interior is in perfect condition.

A new Steinway piano can cost between $70K-190K. The 500,000th commemorative Steinway piano has been valued at $1.2 million, but Steinway & Sons sold to Mr. Moore for much less. It was the first time Steinway has sold one of its commemorative pianos to a private collector, but did so because he would give it a proper home--on display where others could enjoy. I didn't take a picture of that piano but opted for this more colorful Steinway in Mr. Moore's collection.

Mr. Moore also collects dolls.

Lots of dolls.

…and guns and isles and isles of knives. He collects musical instruments, golf clubs, baseball cards, toys, clothes pins, Batman cars from the original movies, and much more.

He collects cash registers…

…lots of cash registers…and antique adding machines, typewriters, and telephones of all ages!

Part of the radio collection.

The child’s peddle-car collection.

As you might imagine, this is the largest boat motor collection in the world. 😲

One of the batman cars.

On the way to New Orleans, we had our first lunch and fuel fill-up at a truck stop with the camper. Up until now, we stayed on the highway when we had the camper hitched to the truck. Craig titled this picture, “Just one of the boys.” 😊

Dinner at Mambo’s on Bourbon Street in New Orleans was delicious. No matter what time of day, there’s always a photo opportunity on Bourbon Street.

A man outside the Krystal on Bourbon Street asked Craig to buy him something to eat. Craig said he would, but later said he had to “cut him off” because he was ordering two of everything on the menu. 😃

New Orleans has had its share of trouble lately. In October 2019, a partially collapsed construction project left 2 dead and several injured.. Today the building is still too unstable to recover the remains of the two men that died. A yellow tarp hangs to conceal from view one of the deceased. In December 2019 NOLA declared a State of Emergency because of a cyber attack on the city’s computer system.

Always a New Orleans Tradition, coffee and beignets.

An Oh, Clay! Moment: Clay seems to have adjusted well to the travel schedule and he continually entertains us. While walking to the RV shipyard's restaurant for dinner, we suppose Clay decided he would have dinner out as well. As we approached the restaurant, a park employee reprimanded us that all dogs must be on a leash. Confused, we said okay. He continued to stare at us to see what we were going to do next and then repeated his statement. We looked around and saw another guest nearby with their dog beside their car. We said that isn't our dog. He seemed more impatient than before and said THAT isn't your dog?? He was pointing behind us. We both turned around and saw Clay about 8 feet behind us, happily trotting, and seeing we had stopped, he stopped in his tracks. We had not closed the camper door completely, and Clay decided this was his invitation. However, we are sure he knew he shouldn't have been out because he usually runs ahead of us, but this evening he walked the entire distance to the restaurant far enough behind us that we wouldn't notice him. 🐕‍🦺

Went to Frenchmen Street in New Orleans to hear Jazz away from the crowds and craziness.