By: Ethan Levine
7/2/03 – 7/5/03
Hi y’all. When I last left off we were driving to Memphis. Memphis seemed to be a pretty cool city from recommendations and guide books, so we figured we’d allow for an extra bit of time there and spend our night on its outskirts. On our way in, we got a room for the evening at a nearby Red Roof Inn for a sweet price.
We looked up a cool looking place in Let’s Go and set out to find it in the city. I had obtained a huge map of Memphis figuring it would be helpful in our navigation. I was almost pitching a tent in the car. Well, let’s just say the roads into, out of and around Memphis make the least sense possible. We followed an interstate into Memphis with signs towards Little Rock and after continuing on it, the interstate just ended.  No signs at all…we just came up to a traffic light that made us turn left or right. After asking some people for directions we eventually found our way to the downtown. Then we experienced the wonderful road quality driving along trolley tracked roads that appeared to be blown up in certain areas. Later on, there would be entrances to interstates in one direction and not the other. Additionally, exits would just appear and disappear without signs or acknowledgement. It was quite exciting and let’s just say we used that road map a TON.
We eventually found the hole in the wall restaurant that Let’s Go suggested, P & H Café where the P stands for poor and the H for hungry. The service there seemed to be typical of the type of people in the South that we had been encountering, nice, polite and proper. They didn’t treat us as overgrown children, but rather as adults (although we prolly should be treated as the former). The food was actually quite good and although I was unable to indulge myself in the grilled meat, I was content with the quality of the food and the service. You can always count on Let’s Go, so key.
Afterwards, we drove towards Beale Street and parked our car. This place was extremely cool. There were a ton of live music bars that you could hear just walking down the street, to-go beer and drink vendors and lots of flashing lights. It’s what I imagined New Orleans as, except a little bit more low-key (maybe it was because it was a Wednesday night) (see Picture #1). It also seemed as if the idea of alcohol was a bit different than elsewhere with people walking around with open containers through the streets. I also came across a sign that struck me as funny that kind of summed up the moment (see Picture #2).  There were tons of police officers walking around, but all the good they seemed to be doing to stop the 10 year old we saw drinking a daiquiri was taking pictures (which we asked of them). We also walked into the police museum. Seemed a bit of a waste of time, but at least I got a funny picture out of it (see Picture #3).
We took a walk down to see the Mississippi River which seemed like a pretty big milestone accomplishment for us in our cross-country trip. It was just a big river and not much could be seen at dark though.
Back to the room we went were I spent an hour trying to send the first update via the web program. Then I just gave up, went against Marc’s orders (he was asleep), downloaded Blitzmail and sent it in a few minutes.
The following morning we poured cold water over Megan in the shower only to find out that she was taking a cold shower, making our actions irrelevant and pretty dumb in the end (random aside).
After purchasing breakfast/lunch, we went down to Graceland! Now, Graceland is about as tacky as a tourist attraction can get. Plus, it cost us $13 to get an audio tour of the mansion (and that was with the AAA discount). I realized why it cost so much, they have so many workers there! I felt that in order to turn left, I needed to have permission by another lady in a white shirt. Everyone that worked there  was a lady except Ronea from Romania (I may have made up that name). Anyways, we forked up the big bucks and took the tour; we opted against taking the tour of his airplanes and automobiles for an extra $10. I must admit, they pretty much have the thing down to a science, but I guess one would imagine so with all those tourists there everyday.
The mansion itself was extremely cool with its mirrored ceilings, walls and corridors (see Picture #4). It also had some really tacky but interesting furniture and rooms (see Picture #5). The picture’s a bit blurry because they disallowed flash and my camera doesn’t work so well without flash. Don’t tell anyone, but Marc took a couple by accident with the flash. Actually I’m surprised one of their 3,564 workers didn’t catch him.
Graceland Mansion was neat, but I got kinda bored going through the museum and seeing every single one of Elvis’s 5,000 golden records. It was a fun stop, but we  were ready to head out of Memphis after Marc’s untimely ice cream cone.
Our next destination for the evening was Baton Rouge via Vicksburg. We opted to take the slower, and more ‘scenic’ road through the Mississippi Delta (I got the spelling, right?), Route 61. I’m telling you, I’ve never seen a road where the speed limit was 65, just like an interstate with traffic lights (unless you count Memphis that is). It was pretty bizarre, but made the driving a bit quicker. Looking for a place for lunch, we passed through a town called Clarksdale which appeared to be quite sketchy to us. Let’s just say, when you see the local gas station called Mom’s, you pass on through. We were hungry and needed to stop. So, we stopped at a local motor home park just outside Clarksdale and parked out on the grass and picnicked for lunch. It was pretty funny on the highway like that (see Picture #6).
Our next stop was Vicksburg, the historical civil war town where the Confederate Army held out the terrible Union army for 47 days and 47 nights. Well, at least that’s how they tell it down there. At Vicksburg, we went to the National Military  Park there (see Picture #7). It was cool to do the 16 mile drive through, viewing the actual battlefield and seeing where the two sides approached from. It was quite funny though driving through the Union side versus driving through the Confederate side. On the Union side, the road was smoothly paved and made for a nice drive. Oddly enough, when we got to the Confederate Side, the roads were uneven, not well paved and dangerous. I guess that’s what happens when you lose.
After visiting the military park, we took a visit to one of Vicksburg’s Mississippi Casinos. Despite rubbing the lamp (see Picture #8), I didn’t win anything (maybe, it’s because I didn’t really put any money down). Nonetheless we got free drinks there, gotta love the casinos like that. Marc ended up losing a big $7.
 Afterwards, we grabbed dinner at Wendy’s and set off to Baton Rouge, LA where my friend Matt lives. Most of the trip occurred at night and when Marc got tired and gave me the wheel I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. This road that we were on was very poorly lit and only two lanes so I feared for my life when huge trucks would barrel down the other side blinding me with their headlights. Fortunately, I was able to navigate my way through the backwoods of Louisiana and made it to my friend Matt’s house. Now, Matt was subletting this house from some very successful individuals. For those that know Baton Rouge (I sure didn’t), he lives on Steele Boulevard, on the south side. Yea, you have to go between these huge stone pillars to enter his neighborhood. His house is clearly dwarfed by the other ones around him, but very nice indeed (see Picture #9).
Matt showed us around Baton Rouge that night, driving us on a scenic tour. We saw both the old and new state capitol buildings and both the old and new governor’s mansion. I’ll tell you, for all the crap people give those from Louisiana for being from hicksville, they have some beautiful buildings. We also went to a local bar called Café Reggae. The closest thing there though to making it seem like we were in Jamaica was the small 8 X 10 Jamaican flag hanging from the  ceiling.
The following morning we set out for New Orleans. Matt’s roommate Stacy, being from new Orleans, was going to show us how to get to the French Quarter. She was first picking up her friend Kenneth from Kenya to go over to the city with her to see a museum exposition. Apparently, Kenneth won the Harmonica Playing State Championship fairly recently (does every state have this?). He was recording a new album and showed us one of his tracks. Seemed quite cool. He told us to check out his website at www.kennygilmore.com (apparently, they gave him the middle name Gilmore, personally, I think Kenny from Kenya is quite catchy).
We then headed out towards New Orleans. The drive down was quite interesting with the very unstable weather in the area. It would be calm and then up ahead you could see a curtain of rain and sure enough you’d soon be stuck in a downpour. Fortunately, we made it unharmed and after searching out a couple of cheap hotels (with no vacancies), we figured we’d park the car, hang out and figure out the hotel later….hahaha….more to come on that. So, we began walking around the French district. Wow, New Orleans was like no other city I had been to before. The architecture was extremely unique making me feel as if I were in a different country. We walked down Bourbon Street (see Picture #10) and  it was pretty amazing. Tons of people walking down with drinks in hand, music pouring out of buildings, strip clubs galore, and “drinks-to-go” all over. It was like an extra huge bachelor’s party. I also found a sign pretty funny. Usually, in economics I learned that as the quantity of a product increases, usually the unit price decreases. Clearly, laws of economics cease to exist on Bourbon Street (see Picture #11). Vendors realize that people just want large quantities of alcohol and don’t care what they are paying.
After walking down Bourbon Street, we explored some other ones, walking into shops  and then headed to the Southern section of the quarter to check out the Mississippi. We also stopped at Café du Mond, the famous New Orleans coffee shop and ordered beignets or French doughnuts. They’re pretty much just fried dough (so good), but I felt like I was really experiencing New Orleans. We then took a walk in Jackson Square, watched some fool try to do a balancing act for tips and saw him mess up a couple of times.
Afterwards, Megan and I began participating in the festivities by grabbing a beer to go on the street and walked to drop our stuff off at the car (see Picture #12). Marc was apparently very tired and didn’t really want to go out that night with Megan and me, so he volunteered to find a cheap hotel, rest and pick us up later. Haha. There were literally no hotels at all to be found in the area. We should have figured such being July 4th and all. So while Marc was searching, Megan and I grabbed a quick bite to eat for dinner and then got two Hurricanes to go. As these extremely potent drinks began taking their toll on us as we walked down Bourbon Street, we almost felt as if we were in another reality.
Eventually Marc, found us and we went down to the Mississippi to watch the really beautiful fireworks display. They shot the fireworks off various boats anchored on the river. It  was quite cool and made New Orleans a great stop for July 4th. After the fireworks, we stopped in the Clover Grill to allow Marc to get a bite to eat.
We went into the Clover Grill just hearing that it had good burgers. Apparently it was situated next to a gay bar and thus attracted a certain clientele. Megan kept claiming that it was not necessarily a gay restaurant, but I thought it became pretty obvious after realizing Megan was the only girl, the waiter called Marc cute and the hot dog on the menu was termed a ¼ pound of pleasure beef. I cannot attest to the burger, but the fries were pretty damn good.
After grabbing a bite, we headed back towards Baton Rouge (we never found a decently priced hotel) to stay with Matt again. In order to keep Marc up, I began singing and dancing in the passenger’s seat. Needless to say, Marc stayed up. I quickly passed out upon arrival.
The following morning, Megan and I woke up on the early side to go with Matt to the local Baton Rouge Farmer’s Market. There, we each had a sweet potato pie. Now, I strongly dislike  sweet potatoes, but Matt kinda bought them and placed it in my hand without really asking if I wanted one. I guess he realized that everyone would like one as I quickly finished mine. It was really good. Megan and I purchased some peaches and a cantaloupe as Matt bought his weekly fruit groceries. I’m psyched to try one of those peaches when they ripen.
Thereafter, we rolled the cantaloupe into Marc’s head to wake him up off the air mattress, packed the car up and set off for Texas. Along the way in the Louisiana bayous, we stopped at a rest stop for lunch. We eventually reached Houston where we pulled off the interstate to look into a cheap place for dinner. As I pulled out the map, two interesting things occurred. First, an SUV limo pulled up and about 15 kids, yes, kids got out of the limo dressed as if they were going to a wedding. Megan felt it might be a sweet 16, it seemed pretty intense and a pretty random place to pull over; although there was a nice view of the Houston downtown (see Picture #13). We pulled out the map to gain our bearings and this couple with a baby asked if we were lost. Responding that we were looking for a cheap place for dinner, they steered us in the right direction as we ate at La Mexicana, a cheap Mexican restaurant with good food. Figuring we still had some daylight, we decided to continue on towards San Antonio and find a  hotel along the way for the night.
We successfully made it through the Deep South and into Texas without any “Deliverance-type” encounters. I must say that Memphis is a pretty fun city, Mississippi proved to be pretty boring minus their civil war history, Louisiana was much more impressive than I had imagined, and New Orleans is a must revisit. Now, we’re in Texas for the next few days, gonna hit San Antonio, Austin and Dallas en route to New Mexico. We’re gonna watch out for those ‘cowboys’ in the pick up trucks on the road and make sure we don’t piss too many people off and get shot on site.
Hope all is well with everyone.
Oh yea, if you want a postcard, lemme know from where you want it from and the address you want it sent to.
Adios,
Ethan
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