Around the USA in 80 motels and 123 days - Alabama, Louisiana and into Texas

[AndyGB]

A reminder that this post is taken from a journal written by my DW (Laura) but entered here by me (Andy), hence the slightly tortured grammar !

Written 9:00am Sun 26th April - The Village Inn - Destin

When we left Memphis on Friday we detoured north slightly over the Mississippi river so that we could drive ito Arkansas, we then returned south.

Andy did all the driving as my ankle was still swollen. We stopped off at a Cracker Barrel restaurant for lunch where I had a roast beef sandwich (yummy) and Andy had pecan coated catfish (Not so yummy). We drove down through the state of Mississippi and on to Selma where we crossed the famous Edmund Pettus bridge and arrived in our motel in Montgomery about 5pm and head a dominoes take out pizza in the room for tea.

Saturday morning we went to Walmart to buy a sticker book and toy for Annabelle and James (children of the friends we would be visiting) we then went to Starbucks and saw a Supercuts so Andy had his hair cut whilst I read in the car. We had a pleasant drive down to Destin, booked in to the motel around 3pm and then went to Rich and Danielle's house. We were boisterously greeted by their dog, Shandy, Rich and 7 month old James were there and Danielle and 2 1/2 year old Annabelle joined us a few minutes later. We had a chat, some beer and then a 'hobo' dinner (sausage, corn and vegetables wrapped in foil and grilled) and later a home made ice cream cake. We left about 8:30pm for an early night. Today they are picking us up at 12pm and we have tickets for a nearby wine festival.

Written 8:00am Tue 28th April - Super 8 - Mobile

Sunday morning we walked along to a cafe called The Donut Hole for breakfast , it was very busy with a queue out of the door waiting for a table and we just got back to the motel in time to be picked up. We got to the wine festival just after 1pm and were given a glass, a guide, a pen, a bottle of water and a bag. There were over 800 different wines available to taste plus champagnes, spirits and some foods. It was a very pleasant afternoon, getting a little bit tipsy but not overdoing it. We went back to their house about 4:45pm, had pulled pork sandwiches for tea, went for a little walk whilst some laundry was in their machine and then Danielle dropped us back to our motel around 8:30pm.

Monday morning we stopped off at the Donut Hole again but bought some donuts to take with us instead of stopping for breakfast. Andy got glazed and a Bavarian (custard), I got Blueberry and a Peanut Butter. As we headed back towards Alabama the weather worsened and while we had a coffee in Starbucks in became a full on thunderstorm. This now scares me a little since seeing a programme on the weather channel last week that stated whilst other cars offer some protection against lightning strikes - convertibles do not !

We carried on to visit the battleship USS Alabama. Most of the tour was below decks but when we went on deck and up to the gun turrets etc we got absolutely drenched. The main guns where absolutely enourmous and there is nothing like climbing metal ladders, in the rain and wind, in insubstantial slip-on shoes, with a swollen ankle !

After the ship we went to the aircraft pavilion and then along to a submarine (USS Drum). By then the rain had almost died down but it was so windy we almost got blown away. We were going to have lunch there but it was 3:15 and the cafe had closed so we drove on to our motel, checked in and then walked (no sidewalk but it was very close so we risked it) to a nearby Hardees, a burger place where we both had chilli dogs. Today we have a 3 hour drive to New Orleans.

Written 3:00pm Wed 29th April - Maison St Charles hotel - New Orleans

We arrived here about 24 hours ago. The front of the building looks like a traditional hotel whilst the back is more like a motel, but the room is very nice and we are parked just across the street. We walked the 30 minutes or so into the city centre and found Bourbon St where the nightlife is centred. We went to a restaurant where Andy had fried alligator, a po-boy (sandwich) and a hurricane cocktail. I had shrimp creole which was a spicy shrimp stew on a chicken jambalaya.

We wandered along Bourbon St which was very lively and found a lovely courtyard bar that had live music . We stayed there a couple of hours, Andy had 3 mojitos and I had 2 margaritas and 3 bourbon milk punches. Poor Andy has been a bit hungover today (I am not much of a drinker so was very much the worse for wear

This morning we had breakfast in the motel which included sausage and egg (like the inside of a McMuffin) . We then went back in to town and followed a walking tour I had found online of the French Quarter which is very picturesque. We then walked back along the waterfront (The Mississippi), where we saw a paddle steamer and some naval ships (there had been a NATO exercise a few weeks before so there were a number of different nations there, including the RN and they were all noticeable in town the night before :-)) We had an early lunch in a cafe called The Ruby Slipper, both having omelettes and fruit before returning to the hotel.

Written 8:15am Fri 1st May - Days Inn - Lake Charles

Wednesday evening we decided to eat close to the hotel rather than walk back in to town and went a block in the opposite direction to a local 'dive' bar called the St Charles tavern. I had a muffuletta which is a local cheese and olive sandwich and Andy had a mushroom burger with baked potato. Thursday morning we left New Orleans and set off for Lake Charles. I drove on the interstate for the first time today which I didn’t like much - too busy and too fast, but Andy did have a bit of a nap so he can't be too scared by my driving. Last night we ate at Steamboat Bills seafood restaurant, which was a two-minute walk from the motel. It was a bit odd as you were given a menu whilst queuing, then sent to a counter to order and pay, given a number to display and then sent to a table. The food was very nice, Andy had a 'small' platter which included crab, catfish, stuffed shrimp and more, I had a shrimp salad. It was a very busy and popular place.

Written 5:30pm Sat 2nd May - Super 8 - Houston

We got to Houston quite early again having travelled a little on the interstate (although Andy did all the driving Friday) so went straight to nearby Greenspoint mall for a look. It was very quiet and many of the stores were empty. Andy had a slice of Pizza in the food court and then we made our way to the motel. After settling in we made a quick trip out for Andy to get a latte (he'd only had a rather disgusting one at McDonalds earlier where they had added caramel syrup or something) and to Walmart for wine, snacks and a cardigan. Later that evening we went to a German gastro-pub called Zum Barrel, where they had some nice beer and cider. We ate bratwurst for dinner and then as desert Andy had the cheese platter (it was listed as an appetiser) but he thoroughly enjoyed having proper cheese ! It was the NFL draft season and the waitress tried to explain what was going on as it was on all the TVs in the bar area, but we really couldn't understand why so much was being made of it.

This morning we went to the National Museum of Funeral History, which was a lot more interesting than it sounds and were there almost two hours (you can see in one of the pics that you can indeed take it all, or at least some of it, with you). We then went to the Woodlands mall, which was much better than Greenspoint. We stopped off for another Starbucks, looked around an interesting shop the girls would have liked called Hot Topic, went to the 'Texas' store and bought a cowboy hat (keyring) for Hannibal, then had some Chinese food in the food court. When we left the mall we drove into Houston itself but it's all just skyscrapers and offices, nothing to see.

Index

[Melbatb]

Thanks for writing this up - you are packing a lot in!

The Funeral Museum sounds different!