New Orleans and Mississippi

The road trip continued this week with visits to Atlanta (Georgia), Montgomery (Alabama), New Orleans (Lousiana) and Jackson (Mississippi).

The road has been mainly highways, 2 to 5 lanes wide. There are lots of trucks and RVs on the road and food stops about every 2 miles. We tried a great country food chain restaurant called Cracker Barrell (that we pronounce like you ol’ grandma would say it in a high pitch voice). We enjoyed a lovely roast chicken, mac and cheese, stuffing and sides meal followed by peach cobbler and apple pie. Pretty cheap feed too given it was the special of the day.

The southern accent strengthened as we drove south and naturally they struggled with our Aussie lingo.

Atlanta is the capital of Georgia and while I updated my blog from Atlanta last week, the next day we toured the global CNN headquarters. It was quite interesting as we saw the control room in action, live morning shows and the huge room where the journalists work 24/7. It was the day after the 2^nd election debate so it was full of debate news and naturally focused on Trump being a dickhead with his ‘locker room’ banter (caught on video) of him wanting to grab a woman. REVOLTING !! 

After the tour we visited the Center for Civil Rights. The southern states are full of history on civil rights. We read lots of information about prominent activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK), Rosa Parks the bus seat lady, the walk on Washington Mall to the Lincoln Memorial protesting about working rights, the freedom bus riders and lots of dreadful events where people were discriminated, beaten and killed.  I will never understand how this treatment was ever considered appropriate yet it still continues today around the world for people of different colour, creed and religion.  Atlanta is also the birth place and resting place of MLK. At the end of the museum is a huge section dedicated to human rights and how the world still has a long way to go to provide this basic right to many people in countries.

 

Next stop was Montgomery in Alabama. This was an overnight stop but we walked around the riverfront and city restaurant area. It was a Monday night and a public holiday so not much action about. We saw the spot where Rosa Parks was arrested on a bus for not giving up her seat to a white person. They have named a library after her. I remember seeing the actual bus in Detroit in the Henry Ford Museum so it was great to go back to the actual spot. Rosa’s actions sparked a boycott for 381 days of the bus system by black residents. Dozens of public buses stood idle for months, severely damaging the bus transit company's finances, until the city repealed its law requiring segregation on public buses following the US Supreme Court ruling that it was unconstitutional.

And then we headed to New Orleans, where it is to be pronounced Nawlins. To be honest, it was a shock when we arrived. Our apartment was the street behind the infamous Bourbon Street and our first walk around was up this street. It was dirty, seedy and full of dive bars. It was daytime and it was just awful. We wandered around the French Quarter streets and it was much more pleasant with art shops and eating places. Top of the food list was the famous beignets (pronounced ben-yays). These are hot donut-like treats coated in icing sugar. I think they would be nicer if filled with jam but they were yummy just the same.

We took an exciting airboat swamp ride and saw alligators and lots of birdlife. Being in the swamp itself was an experience in itself.  I’ve never been amongst that part of nature and thank god they were alligators and not crocodiles as I would have been shitting myself out there. The alligators were about 5-6 feet but were very cute to watch swim up to the boat and get a pat from the driver.

 

We took an afternoon bike tour around the city and it was really great to see more of Nawlins. The tour guide lady was a hoot. She was Nawlins raised girl and knew everybody we passed. There is a lot of history in Nawlins and it’s French and Spanish heritage makes it a melting pot of cultures which is clear to see even today. The people are friendly, say hello to you everywhere you go and are definitely protective of their relaxed and fun lifestyle.

Our trip would not be complete without a paddle steamer ride up the Mississippi River. This was another great tour with a good history overview of Nawlins and Louisiana and the important Battle of New Orleans back in 1815. While the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 and the British gave the US it’s independence, the British lingered in the US for the next 30 years. So the war of 1812 was the final fight from the US to kick the British out. The Battle of New Orleans was the final battle. The Mississippi River was a strategic port and the British wanted it for control of the shipping lanes to and from Europe. But, in an very courageous effort by the people of New Orleans and surrounding states, the locals, militia and free coloured people joined arms to defeat the professional British soldiers. New Orleans found it’s strength and the people felt American for the first time, regardless of the heritage. The battle was under the leadership of General Andrew Jackson who went on to become President.

 

 A side story…as we boarded the paddle steamer, a guy in costume of the day was greeting people on board. He was yelling to have your bags ready for inspection and that no weapons were allowed. Our friend was smiling. In what seemed his costume voice, he said what are you laughing at? Our friend said that we were not used to being told to not have weapons. He then proceeded to rant about how proud Americans were of there 2^nd Amendment and guns etc. and then fired back at us how many terrorist attacks have we had in Australia? (As if that was some reason to bear arms?) The guy behind us asked him if he was Captain Trump – he didn’t like that at all. Shit, I thought we were not going to survive this cruise. We had a stack of responses to give back but thought it better to stay quiet. I wanted to ask him why we couldn’t bring weapons aboard if guns were such a great thing to have??  Or possibly a bit more inappropriate would have been…so 9-11 and Sandy Hook, how’s those great life saving guns working out for you? But, we just boarded the boat and thanked our stars that we lived in a great country, Australia.  Later on, the guy came up to us and apologized for his words. he said he was rattled by a lady on the bus that morning who challenged him about guns etc. Anyway, I accepted his apology and I think he was a decent guy underneath his redneck coat.

While everyone talks about Bourbon Street, it is really for party drinking people and not our scene. We found Frenchmen Street to be more civilised and full of music and jazz bands. We wandered down one night and cruised the street, finally settling on a bar to listen to the jazz band. It was really good. I like most music and live music is usually great in any form.

The trip to Jackson was quick but I ran over a piece of freeway junk and it ripped a massive hole in the rear tyre. Thankfully we were only 15 minutes out of Jackson. We were stuck in a section of freeway roadworks so there was no sideline to stop. I limped the car a few minutes and finally a break came where I could cross the ditch off the road. We changed the tyre and got to Jackson safely. So this is third flat tyre we’ve had in this car since being in the US. Hopefully this is the last given they say things happen in three’s.

Jackson is the capital of Mississippi and arriving on a Friday afternoon is a bit of an anticlimax. We visited the State Capitol building and wandering around the house of reps and senate rooms. It was so quiet. The most exciting thing in town is the State Fair which everyone seems to point us to when asking for things to see/do.

Next stop is Memphis. The final pics below are from the Mississippi State Capitol building and grounds.