Saturday, April 23, 2011

Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Louisiana revisited...

Well, we finally made it to New Orleans!  But first, let's catch up on the past couple of days...

After a lovely stay in Hot Springs at the Alpine Inn, we set out for Natchez, Mississippi on a cold and rainy day.  We said our goodbyes to Erich and Leslie and reluctantly left.  What started out as a dreary day ultimately gave way to sunshine and, after a change of socks and shoes, Ty and I both were in much better spirits.  Typical of our trip so far, we pulled into Natchez right after dark.  We stopped at Fat Mama's Tamales which had the best taco salad I have ever had in my life, not to mention delicious frozen margaritas.  I'm sure both the food and margaritas are only going to get better from here.  Over a margarita and a coke for Ty, we finally decided that we didn't want to set up camp in the dark.  I had seen a couple of cheap motels a few blocks back so we set out in that direction.  As we pulled into the parking lot of two competing motels, an Iranian man ran out of one hotel and an Indian man ran out of the other.  Both gave compelling arguments, but we decided that we would stay at the Indian man's Travel Inn.

We woke up the next morning ready to make the last leg of the trip to New Orleans.  The weather was beautiful, although we didn't realize how windy it was until we were out on the highway.  Still, a nice change from the rain.  Our first stop was at a gas station in a small town in Louisiana.  A girl about my age was running the regisiter.  As I paid for our drinks, she asked "Is that your bike out there?  Because if it is, you are [expletive] awesome!"  I really love Louisiana and the people that live here...straightforward kindness.  As we continued to drive down the road, we saw a sign that said "'Rosemont Plantation, Home of President Jefferson Davis."  I racked my brain trying to recall this president, but to no avail.  We immediately had to turn around and take a picture for Ty's brother Jack, knowing that he would find the sign amusing.  We pulled into Baton Rouge after only a couple of hours, and stopped at the Capitol City Grill for lunch.  After running through a giant water fountain to cool off, we met up with Jonathan, a really nice guy who had a bike similar to ours.  We chatted about our bikes and the trip for awhile before saying goodbye.  We hopped back on the bike and headed for New Orleans.

I have so much to say about arriving in NOLA, but not enough time to do it justice.  More on that later...

2 comments:

  1. Look away, look away, look away, Dixieland.

    Seriously, look away as there is clearly some crazy stuff there.

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  2. Jill.... We love reading your blog and following on the trip..... Happy Easter to you and Ty.... Love you, Dad, René, Nana and the family!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete