a one-day driving tour of the south

driving from New Orleans to Cleveland, Tennessee, with a very bad hang over is not something I would recommend. we traveled through Mississippi, Alabama, and a sliver of Georgia stopping only at the Welcome Center at each state line and gas stations before arriving in Cleveland, TN, on the outskirts of the Great Smoky Mountains. our first choice in hotels at 1am that Tuesday morning was not the best and we had to leave. the preponderance of very bad odors and strung out hotel residents necessitated a quick getaway. we learned a valuable lesson about hotels advertising $25/night rooms.

New Orleans

we arrived in New Orleans late Saturday night after a day-long drive from Austin. we ate and then passed out. our stay was short and sweet. Sunday we walked around the garden district and shopped on Magazine St. during the day (sweating balls the whole time), cooled off in the hotel pool, and then ventured into the French quarter for the night. a short trip down Bourbon St. quickly showed us that we would have much more fun going to see a band play than doing any of the traditional New Orleans night-life activities. we found One-Eyed Jacks, where the band Vietnam was playing and proceeded to make friends with some locals, get very drunk, see the band play and then stumble back to our hotel. our new friends told us funny stories about the weeks after Hurricane Katrina and then shook their heads at how they could look back on that time so fondly.

which side of the river does your tube float on?

we stayed in Austin for a long time because suzy and andrea kept thinking of cool things for us to do (and we liked it there and they were good hostesses).

some cool things we got to do in Austin: ride in a fire engine, watch tens of thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats fly out from under a bridge at dusk, get drunk on texas martinis and eat too much tex-mex food, watch a hot drag queen sing a song about menopause, sweat a lot, AND go toobin' on the Comal River.

as we were floating down the river, enjoying our cocktails - a guy yells out to lindsey from a huge group of rednecks "hey, my cousin thinks you're hot!.....by the way my cousin is a girl....i don't know if your tube floats on that side of the river, but..."

goats and peaches

the drive from Las Cruces, NM, to Austin, TX, was surprisingly pleasant with lots of greenery, well-spaced rest stops, an 80 mph speed limit, and a nearly empty freeway. a couple hours west of Austin the rolling hills were covered with oak woodlands, under which herds of goats frollicked in the grass. we stopped and bought some lovely peaches from a roadside stand.

we arrived the same day as electrelane and accompanied suzy and andrea to the show. it was amazing. tender forever opened. she wore lindsey's glasses for part of her show. lindsey bought one of her shirts. it was real cute.

day 3: Chaco Canyon

a little biking, a little hiking, a lot of sunburn. i love this place. the campground is lovely, but the lack of shade makes it difficult to stay for longer than a day when you forget to use sunscreen and get burned to a crisp.

we packed up under yet another threatening thunder storm and began the long drive to Austin.

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badasslands

this is me in the badlands of petrified forest national park.

we drove through under a threatening thunder storm on our way to the land of enchantment.

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starting odometer: 223,391

we started driving friday night, heading to sedona for an easy start. a day of gumption fest and hiking.

spent saturday night in flagstaff with good friends. we tried to party but fell asleep at nine o'clock.

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