Hurricane Isaias Changes Our New Orleans RV Plans — But the Show Goes On!
October 8–11, 2026 | New Orleans, Louisiana
Sometimes, no matter how carefully you plan a trip, Mother Nature has other ideas. That's exactly what happened with our planned October getaway to New Orleans.
We had reservations at New Orleans RV Resort and Marina for October 8–11, 2026. We were looking forward to spending a few days in the Big Easy, enjoying the area, and attending a concert we had on our calendar.
But as our departure date approached, a hurricane brewing in the Gulf of Mexico had us rethinking those plans.
A Hurricane Changes Our Plans
By Tuesday afternoon, October 6, I had made the decision to cancel our reservation at New Orleans RV Resort and Marina.
Hurricane Isaias was developing into a serious threat to the northern Gulf Coast, and we weren't interested in taking chances with the Airstream. Traveling with an RV is wonderful, but when a hurricane enters the picture, sometimes the smartest decision is to leave everything parked at home.
Fortunately, the folks at New Orleans RV Resort and Marina were very understanding. They worked with us on the cancellation and gave us the opportunity to reschedule our stay anytime within the next year.
We certainly appreciated their flexibility. We still want to visit the resort, and it's nice knowing we can plan another trip when the weather is a little more cooperative.
Hurricane Isaias Makes History
As it turned out, our concerns about the weather were well-founded.
Hurricane Isaias became the first Atlantic hurricane of the 2026 season, bringing an unusually quiet hurricane season to an abrupt end.
The storm strengthened into a Category 3 major hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico before approaching the northern Gulf Coast.
On Friday evening, October 9, Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, as a strong Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 105 mph.
The storm brought damaging winds, dangerous storm surge, heavy rainfall, and flooding to portions of the Florida Panhandle and surrounding Gulf Coast communities.
Isaias was also historically unusual because the Atlantic hurricane season had gone so long without producing its first hurricane.
Watching everything unfold certainly reinforced our decision not to take the Airstream on this trip.
Of course, we were thinking about everyone along the Gulf Coast who was dealing with much more than canceled travel plans.
But We Still Had Concert Tickets!
Even though our RV getaway was canceled, we weren't quite ready to give up on New Orleans altogether.
After all, we had tickets to One Vision of Queen, scheduled for Friday evening, October 9, at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center in Metairie, Louisiana.
And we really wanted to see that show!
With the storm approaching the Florida Panhandle, we kept an eye on the weather conditions around New Orleans. Fortunately, the weather in the New Orleans area turned out to be much better than we had originally feared.
So, while the Airstream stayed home, we went ahead with our plans to attend the concert.
One Vision of Queen — What a Great Show!
The concert began at 8:00 p.m. at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center, and we had a wonderful evening.
One Vision of Queen was a great concert!
There's something special about hearing the music of Queen performed live. The powerful vocals, familiar songs, and energy of the performance made for a very enjoyable night.
Even though the hurricane had changed our original weekend plans, we were glad we decided to make the trip.
And the weather? It really wasn't bad at all where we were. We experienced some light winds and almost no rain.
Considering the hurricane making landfall farther east along the Gulf Coast that same evening, we felt fortunate that conditions around New Orleans were relatively calm.
Sometimes You Just Have to Change the Plan
One thing we've learned in our travels with Big Blue and Frances is that plans don't always work out exactly the way we expect.
Sometimes a campground reservation changes. Sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate. And sometimes a hurricane decides to show up the same weekend you've planned a getaway.
This was one of those trips!
Although we were disappointed that we couldn't spend the weekend at New Orleans RV Resort and Marina, everything worked out reasonably well.
The resort was gracious enough to let us reschedule, we didn't have to worry about the Airstream during the storm, and we still got to enjoy a great evening of music.
We'll be looking forward to another opportunity to visit New Orleans RV Resort and Marina and enjoy the RV getaway we originally had planned.
Until then, we'll keep making memories, enjoying the journey, and Living Riveted!
— Jack & Diane
JacknDiane.net • Living Riveted