Where South Meets West

Wow, where to start...

Where did we leave off? I think we had landed in Mobile, AL. That seems like forever ago, but the calendar says it was 3 nites ago. Neat.

So Alabama.



So we get up sharpish again, and head back the way into Mobile, so we can see it in the daylight. Good decision because Mobile is great. I mean, it is actually great, but it seems far better in comparison with the rest of Gulf Coast Alabama. (Which looked backwards as sin.) It has a few classy looking tall buildings...



The USS Alabama is docked there and looks like...



Therefore it's obviously on the water. It's lovely.



Downtown Mobile was really lovely too, the main drag thru the town was called Government Blvd., the houses along it were amazo. By the way the photos here are just a sample, we just invested in a Flickr Pro account, so when we get to Austin i'll leave the laptop running and upload all 467 photos that we've taken so far. We get a little carried away...

Anyway. From Mobile we were heading to New Orleans. It was July 4. There were flags everywhere. Apparently New Orleans is the place to be for Independence Day. Excitement was rising. But we left early, and it was only 250 miles or something away, so instead of getting back on the I-10, we decided to follow the highway along the Gulf Coast. Wise choice. First up was Mississippi.



The road took us to Biloxi and hugged the coast the whole way.



This was great because Biloxi/Gulf Port has the longest most amazing beach ever.



The rest of Gulf Coast Mississippi was slightly more backward than Gulf Coast Alabama. I'd give it a B-.

Before we knew it, Louisiana was upon us. 5 states in 5 days!



The road to New Orleans was mostly over swamp and water and things of that nature. It included a bridge which was something stupid like 8 miles long.



Things got a little manic, but with Calm Neil at the helm, the roads of New Orleans were a piece of cake. It was a pretty impressive drive, and we saw the Superdome. Ace.



The camera battery was close to death, so we turned her off when we got to the hostel. The hostel was fine, very... functional. We got a disposable camera so when we get the photos back from there, you can see New Orleans from our point of view. It was absolutely bizarre, honestly totally mental and far less romantic than I imagined, but that probably had something to do with it being July 4. It was fantastic though. We walked a few blocks to St Charles where we jumped on a slow, packed streetcar, which had no air. Not a good start. It must have been about 100 degrees. We got off at Canal Street and walked straight down Bourbon Street. Bourbon Street was essentially three million black people, 9 white people, and us. The beer and the Hurricanes were flowing. The live music from the bars was so loud that it was actually too loud in the bars across the street. We felt like we were getting a little old. But it was so, so hot that the only solution was to drink a lot of Bud Lite. After too much Bud Lite for 3PM, we decided to head to the river to figure out where the fireworks would be. On the way, we got barbeque from a street vendor. Scottish Steve's Seal of Approval was dished out not only to the pork, but to the beans and the potato salad that came as sides. Best food of the trip so far. We make it to the river, it looks nice, we go back to Bourbon Street, we drink, we watch the worst karaoke ever, we join three million white people and nine black people at the river and watch a fantastic fireworks display off two barges on the Mississippi. Surreal experience. By this point it's nearly ten and it's still hotter than hell. We walk back up Bourbon Street, which is now mainly people vomming on the roadside and lots of cops shaking their heads, and take a nice long sweaty as hell walk back to the hostel. We're totally shattered and we get some sleep.

Day Whatever
We were woken a little early by some hostel patrons who stayed out and made a proper nite of things in New Orleans. True to form, straight back on the road. We stop at Shoneys and eat breakfast. Mainly pancakes and syrup. Neil eats some fruit, but it doesn't count because it's all dripping in syrup. I felt like I nearly died a little. A good experience. The target is Texarkana, named after three states. Can you guess which?

On the way we leave the road and nip into Baton Rouge to see the LSU Campus.





That is the football stadium. For college football. Can you believe it? Very cool. It gets better. Across the road, there's a zoo like enclosure. With a sign.



Yup, on closer inspection, there is a real live team mascot. It's a tiger. A real Bengal Tiger. Called Mike. Mike looked hot and grouchy. No wonder. If I can read roman numerals, I think this may be the 18th Mike. What a great country.



Back on the road. Up north through Louisiana, and Lousiana again improves the backwards rating. Really funny stuff, as long as you're not getting out of the car.



I'm giving Louisiana a backwards grade of B. By the time we get close to the Arkansas border, a guy passes us on the interstate and indicates to Steve that something is wrong with our wheel. Steve makes good use of his extensive sign language knowledge. We pull over. Nothing seems to be wrong with the tyres or wheels. Car experts that we are, we assume that putting air into the tyres is a smart move. We read the car manual. It says how much air should be in there. 26psi maybe? I've forgotten already. Problem is, the air pumps up here have no gauges on them. We buy one. It is officially useless. Much like us. So we guess. The tyres are yet to blowout. Touch wood.

We arrive to Texarkana a little later than expected.



Texarkana is infact two cities, joined right down the middle by a road called State Line Road. On one side is Texas. On the other, Arkansas. Thankfully, we're staying on the Texas side. This is good because Arkansas takes a sudden lead in the Hicksville Grading Scheme. A solid B+! They have running water, some electricity... that seems to be about it. Sadly however, this is our first camping stop of the trip. Don't get me wrong, the campsite was lovely. Really nice. And of the four tent pitches, we were the only guys there. I wonder why... We hit Walmart for beef franks, buns, charcoal, and Sweet Baby Rays Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce. Steve gets to work...





We go to bed. I don't wanna talk about this too much... it was like 120 degrees in that tent. Steve lost about a stone by the time he woke up. I genuinely was panicking that I was going to suffocate, I woke up and felt like there was no oxygen in the air, hyperventilating, the works... We get up at 6AM. Time to shower. Oh, and time to realise that the tent has a flysheet so we could have opened the doors a little. Like I said, I don't wanna talk about it. The campsite sure was nice though.





Back on the road! End game today was Dallas-Ft. Worth. Not that far away, so plenty of time for detours. First stop, Paris, TX. Via Detroit. This made for a good sign.



We had breakfast in Paris. Sadly, we chose the US equivalent of a Lidl. This, was Breakfast in Paris for Glen



The orange soda was great. I don't wanna talk about the rest, i'm still regretting it. From here we head north, and before we know it are entering Oklahoma. We missed the road sign. I'm blaming Neil for this. 1.8 seconds is not enough of a heads up to turn the camera on, focus, and click. But we got some photos of other stuff.





Durant was pretty nice, looked like we were in the West for the first time. It felt good. We headed south from Durant and were back into Texas, in a far more impressive fashion this time.









70 miles or something later it's time for the Dallas/Ft. Worth region. Most intense driving experience of my life, and Suze the Sat Nav was very little help, god bless her.



But it was still exciting.



We took a little detour so Steve could bask in the parking lot of the now empty Texas Stadium, which has been replaced and how has no use. I think I heard a bit of the Philly Fight Song under his breath. The stadium was incredible, would have loved to have got in, but the outside was impressive enough.





We couldn't really figure out how to get close to the new Cowboys Stadium, but we saw it from a distance, and it looks like the greatest man made structure on the Planet Earth.

Out of photos for now, but the day continued with a mega feast at KFC (or KGC these days!) and dessert at Wendys. Too much food. We went to a mall and generally acted American. Neil and I exerted ourselves a little too much with laughing in Hot Topic. Just the best shop. Apparently young American goths are nuts for Twilight and Harry Potter.

We were all knackered at this point, so hit Taco Bell for a MD Baha Blast, and relaxed with a movie and Baseball Tonite.

Today, we're heading to Austin. This is an exciting time. Barbeque. Longhorn Football. It's on.