Day 5: Tuscaloosa to New Orleans

Low-key morning.
After Dan's bbq the previous night, I slept in. I'm not sure if it's my age or just the general tiredness of travelling so much, but I was not inclined to go back out to drink. It's a sign of maturity, I suppose. My graying-hair self.

Dan wanted to check out the shooting range. At this point, I expressed my surprise that he had bought a gun. It's not that I dislike guns, but these destructive weapons put me at ill-ease, especially because they are not toys, though people may think that they are. "I'm from Texas," Dan said jokingly. "Yeah, I guess there are certain cultures that just like their toys," I said. I was thinking specifically of parts of Virginia where I knew that the first day of hunting season resulted in schools closing since most kids took off the day.

So, instead of shooting a gun, we decided to play some racquetball and have a restful gym-day. I'm terrible at the game, but Dan gave me a few pointers that I think will help my game in the future.

Counties to Parishes I left Dan and headed South on I-59. When I hit Louisiana, I noticed the roads changed a bit in quality. According to Dan, when Congress attached a string to its federal highway funds, requiring states to raise their drinking ages to 21 from 18, Louisiana held out as long as it could, and the roads deteriorated. So much for state sovereignty. The power of the purse speaks louder in the end, I guess.

The profuse number of swamps was perhaps the most interesting aspect of the drive down. But at one point, I saw the infamous FEMA trailers that had been purchased but now lay waiting in huge open fields miles from New Orleans.





I got plenty of traffic on I-10 and got into the city late. When I got in, I was surprised at how much the city had changed. There was now traffic and the city seemed more alive. It made me happy to see that the city was recovering. After dropping off my stuff at the hotel, we went out immediately. We did our usual shenanigans in the French Quarter, and Frenchman Street. IT's amazing how there's such good music on a Tuesday night. It was good to hang out with Frank, Emily, Carol and others. The neatest thing of the night was probably the random country-music themed club on Iberville and Bourbon at the end of the night. See the cowboys ride.