Pictures from New Orleans and the Alamo

New Orleans and home

I left Kerrville Thursday morning and headed towards New Orleans. I did make one pit stop, however, to see the Alamo in San Antonio. Apparently there's a bike that someone stole from Pee Wee Herman in the basement, and I wanted to check it out. Ok, ok, probably no one remembers the movie "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" but me, but that's funny. Anyhow, so I went to downtown San Antonio and toured the monument to Texas independence, the Alamo. I also walked down the Riverwalk a good ways, which was lined with numerous shops and restuarants. It was a too early for lunch, but I imagine that it's a good place to eat some tasty Mexican food. I think I'd like to go back and visit San Antonio and Austin at some point when I can spend more time. Good food and good music are two things I appreciate in cities, and I think they have both.

I continued my drive east through Houston and into Louisianna. The bayou, yes lawd. Just west of Baton Rouge I-10 crosses the Atchafalaya river, which is accompanied by 18 miles of swamp land. I dunno, maybe I'm a dork, but I thought it was cool driving over that much swamp bayou gator crawfish cajun backwoods funk. I think that, as far as habitats go, swamps are the most intriguing - they're just so dirty and hidden. I imagine myself retiring in either of two types of places - on a huge ranch surrounded by mountains (as in Wyoming), or in some bungalow on the bayou, a la "The Waterboy".

Anyhow, I got to New Orleans and met my parents around 8:00, and we checked into the Hotel St. Marie in the French Quarter. Friday and Saturday were spent eating beignets, jambalaya, po boys and steak, and walking around the quarter. In the quarter and dowtown things seemed to be getting back to normal - most shops and restuarants were open, and while the streets weren't terribly crowded there was a decent number of tourists. And of course there was plenty of live music at all hours of the day and night. My parents and I took advantage of the local drinks as well as I switched from bourbon and cokes to hurricanes. Mom even drank here fair share of hurricanes too, yes lawd! We also enjoyed checking out the local gift shops that had some great novelty t-shirts. Many of them poked fun at the city's situation after Katrina, like "I survived Katrina and all I got was this lousy t-shirt...and a cadillac...and a plasma TV". Or "FEMA - Find Every Mexican Available". I bought Sabo a shirt that had a picture of mayor Ralph Nagin caricatured as Willie Wonka that said "Willy Nagin and the Chocolate City". Good stuff.

After enjoying the food and alcohol of New Orleans for two days I left on Sunday towards good ol' North Carolina. On my way out of town, though, I drove through the east side of New Orleans and saw the devastation from Katrina and the flooding first hand. It's indescribable. Miles and miles of houses that have been condemned, shopping malls that have been shut down, empty parking lots - a ghost town with a few FEMA trailers. Looking closely at some of the houses I could see the water line from the flood above the front door. It was just sad. After seeing the damage, it's hard for me to believe that even half of the people who lived in the Big Easy before the storm will ever return. Things will just have to start over new, and I just hope that the unique culture of the city will remain somewhat intact.

I also got off of I-10 in Biloxi to see the damage there as well. As some of you know, I actually spent a number of weeks in Biloxi last summer with Bain, so I had a good idea of Biloxi "before". Biloxi "after" is nearly gone. Whereas in New Orleans the houses were still standing, in Biloxi they're just not there. Nearly everything within a mile of the coast has either been torn down and removed, or is still there existing only as a pile of rubble. It was unreal to me how many buildings, stores, etc that I remembered from last summer had just disappeared. Even the Biloxi civic center/colisseum had been demolished and replaced with a green lawn.

After my somber tour of Biloxi I got back on I-10 and drove. I kept driving for another ten hours until I got to I-40 exit 263 just outside of Hillsborough. I was home. Good lawd. It was a great trip - over 10,000 miles and 25 states. Hahaha, first thing I did yesterday was change the oil in my car, it needed it. Anyhow, I'll post some pictures from New Orleans when I get the chance. Hope everyone is enjoying their 4th!

More desert.

Sorry for the delay in updating this blog - I know all three of you who look at this have been waiting anxiously! Anyhow, the last two days have been nothing but driving. I got back to Phoenix Tuesday evening and took off on I-10 towards New Mexico. Along the way I stopped at Saguaro NP, a park dedicated to large Saguaro cacti. I got to the park just before dusk, and I was fortunate enough to be there as thunderstorms approached. I mean, how often does one get to go through a thunderstorm in the desert? Shoot, for all I know, it may be common during the summer, but either way the storm clouds provided some great backdrops for pictures. I spent about an hour in the park then got back on the road.

Once back on the road I got to drive through a few huge storms. I was pleased about this, though, as it cooled the temperature about 30 degrees. I mentioned earlier the problems with my car's cooling system, so I was glad to not have to drive it through 105 degree heat for 4 more hours. By the way, that coolant leak is pretty minor (either that or my silicon sealant/hose clamp fix worked wonders) so I should be able to make it back to NC without getting stranded anywhere. Word up! Anyhow, after I went through the rainstorms I got some gas and decided to get a car wash when I filled up - and by doing so I proved the old "it rains as soon as you get your car washed" murphy's law works even in the desert. Yup, a few hours down the road I got rained on again. Whatever though, I'm over trying to make my car look nice at this point.

I spent last night in Lordsburg, NM and woke this morning to hit the road and head through Texas. I think that, unless you've driven through Texas, most people don't realize how big a freaking state it is. On I-10, it's nearly 900 miles to cross the state from El Paso to Louisiana. 900 miles will also get you from Atlanta to New York City. But since Texas is a reasonable state, and they know you don't want to take a week to drive through their state, they set the speed limit at 80 mph. Yes lawd. So I left Lordsburg this morning, got through El Paso, and jetted across west Texas to Kerrville, TX, where I am tonight. Kerrville is just outside of San Antonio. Tomorrow I've got another long drive to get to New Orleans, where I'll be meeting my parents for a few days in the Big Easy.

One thing I did to pass time today was call in to the Sirius radio rap station. And I got on the air, oh yeah. Yes lawd, the nationwide audience definitely heard from "Spooner, from North Carolina" this afternoon. Hahaha, I know that's some corny shit, but I got to chat with DJ Rude Jude. Hey, all y'all were at work being productive, who else was I gonna talk to?

miles so far: 9300

shot glasses: 13

Free Bird's: 29

Red rocks, Joshua trees, and canyonland.

I remember driving to the beach with my sister Lydia one time when I was highschool, and she had a Meat Loaf tape that we listened to. She reasoned that it was good driving music because the songs were so long - by the time one was finished you were at the next town. Well, Lydia and Blake got me satellite radio for graduation, and coincidentally they've been playing a lot of Meat Loaf this week. And honestly, I think "Bat Out of Hell" might be my favorite driving song. 'Cause I be drivin' across the desert like a bat of hell...oh yeah, Lydia, I'm listening to Meat Loaf. What the hell.

By the time I get to Phoenix...

Alright alright alright. The last few days have been full of driving, parks, car troubles and heat. The great American southwest. Oh yeah. Lots to see, lots of miles to see it. I left Ventura, CA Wedensday morning and headed to LA. I was just going to do a driveby in LA, as I was spending the night in Vegas. But I had to roll through Beverly Hills at least, so I did just that. It was hazy, there was lots of traffic, and that was about all I got to experience with LA. I think I'll come back at some point in the next year and spend a weekend or something, I actually think I'd really like it. Word up.

After my quick drive through LA I went to Joshua Tree NP. Joshua Trees are these cacti that look like little trees, and this park was full of them. I was hoping that Bono would be kicking it in the park, but unfortunately he wasn't there. Actually, no one was there; it was really the most desolate park I've ever been to. There were maybe a total of 8 cars in the entire park. But I enjoyed the desolation and the landscape, and yes I took lots of pictures. When I left the park I headed north to Vegas, where I was spending the night with a Wharton classmate, Matt Knipp. I was ready to get crunk.

On the way to Vegas I crossed over the Hoover Dam. Hahaha, I wanted to go on the dam tour and see the dam inside, but the damn dam was closed as it was late by this time. After I crossed over the Hoover Dam the road took me up a hill - and after I crested this hill all I saw was lights. It was actually almost unreal, complete darkness and then a sea of bright lights. Vegas baby! Once in town I went straight to Matt's aparmment. It's not really his apartment, as he's staying at a hotel all summer. Kinda nice, he gets his bed made and clean towels every day. Anyhow, we had a drink and then went out to the Tangerine Lounge, or something like that. Another Wharton '07, Bobby Amerine, met us out there as well. I dunno, I hadn't been to Vegas as an adult, and I figured since I was in Vegas I'd get tore back. So basically that was the night - Matt and I getting tore back. Bobby is a responsible adult, so he was taking it easy. I don't remember much, but I do remember playing video poker at 3:00AM and winning $25. I took my $25 ticket to the redemption booth and told the lady "Yes, I'm a big winner, 25 whole dollars!!!!" I then put the 20 and 5 dollar bills on my forehead. Matt got a good picture of this, but I accidentally erased it. As I said, I was drunk. Oh yeah, I almost forgot - Alan Thicke was at Tangerine Wednesday night. I wanted to go ask Mr. Seaver how he was doing, but I'm sure he gets Growing Pains lines all the time.

Thursday morning I woke up with the worst hangover I've had in years. Matt somehow made it to work, and I left his hotel room at 10:30 and headed towards Bryce Canyon/Zion national parks in Utah. I dunno, I was pretty beat and really just wanted to head to my hotel in Page, AZ, but I felt guilty and decided to go to the parks anyway. And actually, by the time I got to Zion I was feeling decently better. Zion was great, but you have to take a shuttle to certain parts of the park, and I wasn't feeling up to getting on a shuttle. Instead I just did the scenic drive part which was cool. Lots of red rocks, trees, and desert, and I took pictures. When I got out of Zion I headed north to Bryce Canyon. Yes lawd.

Well, once I got Bryce I checked my car and realized I was leaking engine coolant. Fuck. I mean, this whole trip is dependent on that good ol' cloudy audi carrying my ass around. A quick inspection showed me that the leak wasn't that serious, but I was pretty damn low. So I jetted out of the park and was fortunate enough to find a store that had some coolant at the park entrance. Whew, I was relieved. I added some coolant and oil and went back in the park to check out the canyon. Wow, it was amazing. I was glad I made the trip out of the way to the park, it was well worth it. After checking out a couple of vantage points I left the park and headed to Page, and it was about 7:30 at this time.

So here's where it gets fun. According to my atlas there's a road that cuts south just outside of Bryce Canyon that would get me to Page. I started down this road and ended up running into a state park. I asked the guide how to get to Hwy89, and he told me there were two ways - 1) a 42 mile dirt road, or 2) go back to the other side of the park on paved roads, 120 miles. I decided that hell, I'd take the dirt road. Big mistake, Spooner. I started down this road and it was rough as hell, but I rembered when I was 14 and my family was going to Chaco Canyon over a dirt road - when we drove slow, it was rough. When we sped up, it was fine. You just float over the holes. So I sped the fuck up to about 40 and was cruising...cruising until I came upon a hill with a 90 degree right turn just on the other side of it. Oh shit, I slammed on the brakes, cut as hard as I could, and was able to keep 10% of my car on the road and my face out of the windshield. Of course, 90% of my car ran the hell off the road and over some rocks and dirt. I slid through the curve, ran over some sagebrush, and stopped the car. Fortunately, no amazingly, my car was ok. I didn't break any hoses or tear up my wheels. I did have dirt all up my hood above my headlights, but that was minor. The first thing that went through my mind was that scene in National Lampoons Family Vacation when Chevy Chase gets the family lost and stranded in the desert. That could've been me. So I said to hell with the rest of the dirt road and turned around to drive the 120 miles of paved road. I ended up checking into my hotel just before midnight and passed out. What a long ass day.