New Orleans is Sweet

Day 4

Miles today: 312 Total miles: 1,084

I'm finding it very difficult to leave this place. New Orleans is a pretty amazing city. I came here for a few days in 2006 to do hurricane cleanup, but it really feels like the mood of the city is better now. When I was here last, I went out on Bourbon Street, but it felt a little more muted than what I saw last night. The ride in last night was awesome - there are Louisiana Oaks overhanging every street and there is just such an energy to this city. I saw lots of houses that had colored flood lights outside - yellow and green and purple, which would look really tacky in any other city, but somehow looks perfect here. We went to see Drive By Truckers last night at Tipitina's and had a really great time. Mike lives really close to the bar and it's pretty crazy that one of the more famous music clubs in the city is just a neighborhood bar for him. One of the crazy/really cool things about this city is that if you go out to any bar on any night, you'll find people in their 50's, 60's and even 70's sometimes who are keeping pace with the 20 year olds. I'm going to start today off by just riding around the city for a little while to see more of what it looks like. If I don't get to Houston today, it's because I'm still in New Orleans.

I took US-90 pretty much the whole way from Pensacola, FL to here, except for one part when I had to get on I-10 coming into NO because Katrina knocked out the bridge I was going to take, and it was too dark to read my map and figure out another way.

A couple of notes from the road:

Last year at work, I was applying to renew the state registrations for our products in Florida, and I noticed that the commissioner of their agricultural regulatory authority was named Charles Bronson, he of the "Death Wish I-V" series fame. So I had visions of Charles Bronson mowing down farmers in an effort to restore compliance to Florida's agricultural industry. Well, apparently he also regulates "consumer services" which includes gas stations, where I saw his name again. So now I had even cooler visions of him blowing up gas tankers all along the Florida coast, all in the name of regulatory justice. Once again, it's the little things that keep me entertained.

Riding across the Mobile Bay into Mobile, AL was really cool. There are parts of US-90 that run right along the water, and there is only a foot or two of difference in elevation between the road and the water, so it feels like you could just turn right and keep right on riding over the water. The USS Alabama is also docked there and it is HUGE. So I swung in to go take a look at that and then headed on to Mississippi.

I may have mentioned this in my previous post, but did you know you can gamble in Mississippi? I really had fun playing the penny slots and winning big. That's probably the last time in my life that I'll walk out of a casino having won money and kept it.

Alright, time to pack up and get back on the road. I'm trying to get to Houston today, but I'm not sure if I'll make it. Stay tuned!