I have not been able to post the last week because I have either been on the road driving or hanging with whom ever I was with in that city. So I am giving a small excerpt from each place over the past week.
New Orleans:
Steve was one of the best hosts around. From when we woke up till we passed out he showed all the stops in New Orleans. We woke up and got Po' Boys at Parkway Tavern which were awesome. They are humongous. Neither of us could finish them, so we saved them for later. After taking Steve's dog on a little park run and sweating so much cause NO is super humid, we went to the Southern Food & Beverage Museum. We then went to Dryads Market for some chips and afternoon beers. NO is so awesome, no matter where or what you are in there is a bar at least 30 feet away. After freshening up we hit the town, went to Bourbon Street and Pat o's and got Hurricanes, and had Chili Dawgs for dinner, then Cats Meow karaoke for a drink before heading to our Ghost tour with this voodoo lady. She took us all round the French Quarters telling us ghost stories about each place. It was one of the scariest things ever! Had to drink extra to get rid of the heebeejeebees. We went out after that and I have to say Frenchman Street is one of the coolest places ever. Woke up very hungover and we got Beignets before I left for a struggle drive to Oxford.
Oxford:
Oxford is one of the most unrated towns in the south. It was so awesome to see Kunhardt again, I haven't been able to hangout with him like old times in forever. Chris showed me around Ole' Miss campus and around town. Nice little square. There is a lot of cool history in Oxford and the school is so old. We went to Chris' girlfriends, Glennis' place, where we met the 4 cats and 3 dogs they have. One of them was Chris' named Harry, very cool dog. We had some tasty cocktails before we got dinner at this asian fusion sushi place that was really good. I was finally starting to feel human again after a few drinks so we checked out what the square was like. It was popping off! Every kid had a polo shirt and khaki shorts on. Went to a couple places but ended up at Chris' favorite spot called City Grocery, which was an awesome bar in the square that was mostly locals, on a second story building with a balcony. Next day we checked out William Faulkner's house which was very interesting. We hung out the rest of in town talking in southern accents (just me) and people watching. It was sad to leave the next day.
Great Smoky Mountains:
On my way to the mountains the scariest thing ever happened to me. I stopped outside of Knoxville to get gas. I went in to pee and the gas station clerk asked me where I was coming from, I said SF, and where I was going, I said NYC. And then he said, not even making this up, "You're going to Columbia right? Going to study Medicine?" My heart dropped and I freaked out a bit. I peed came back and spoke with him for another 25 minutes. He wasn't a psychic but said he just knew things. Hard to explain this while typing so feel free to ask me next time you see me. Needless to say I was freaked the funk out. Made it to the Smokys with no cell service and it was pitch black. And because I thought I was going to get murdered I slept in my car. Woke up with stiff knees and thought I should try to make the best of it so I went fishing for awhile. After losing 4 flies to the overhanging branches and still having the willies from that weird guy, and because I was so sick of driving, I decided to head out a day early.
DC:
Schwebel was kind enough to welcome me to DC a day early. He made me a comfy pull out bed. We talked about the trip and hung out for a bit. He is also moving back to NYC in two weeks to leave with his finance that just got a new job. We got breakfast in the morning and he understood I was sick of being on the road and wanted to head home.
NYC:
I did not go through a toll until my drive from DC to NYC where I went through a MILLION tolls. Why are there so many tolls on the east coast and before AND after bridges, and to get into and out of cities, where does all this toll money go cause it ain't helping the roads, so much money going through these tolls. Anyways made it to the big apple, changing the mountains to sky scrapers. I had officially driven 4433.8 miles. Damn that's long. Basically slept and checked out campus since I've been home.
It was an amazing trip and thank you for everyone who put me up and followed along.
On to the next journey, should be a long one.
- Frank
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