Apr 14, 2014

New Orleans to Moss Point, MS

madeleine Blog Post

We left New Orleans reluctantly on Saturday. Having had such a great time we were inclined to stick around through the weekend but a reasonably priced hotel room proved elusive. Our sendoff meal was at Cake Cafe, my new favorite place on earth. Riding out of the city ended up being complicated as we navigated some incredibly poorly paved roads and confusing one-way street situations. We rode up through the Ninth Ward and had almost cleared the city when we came to a railroad crossing. A train was coming through slowly and eventually just rolled to a halt. We sat waiting for it for at least 30 minutes. It was crazy. I took it as a sign that we weren’t meant to leave but eventually we got through and rode east on Route 90 toward Mississippi. A few miles out of town we saw a big sign warning of traffic delays the following day because of the Ironman Triathlon that would be running. We thanked our lucky stars that we avoided getting stuck in that. On 90 we noticed a couple guys erecting a “ghost bike,” a bicycle frame painted white as a memorial to a cyclist who had been killed in that location. It turned out that a firefighter from Atlanta was in town training for the Ironman and had been struck and killed by a car the previous day exactly where we were then riding. We were informed of this by several locals at a gas station/restaurant/bar where we had stopped to rest. They were all telling us about the accident and how we should be careful out on the roads. They were all also very clearly loaded and we watched several of them hop in their cars and drive off. I even sat and watched as one guy drove in, went into the store, came out with a 22oz. beer, got in his car, opened it, took a swig, then drove off. Unbelievable. So yeah, that was a pretty gnarly experience. Back on the road, keeping a watchful eye in our rearview mirrors, we rode through the bayous and eventually over the Mississippi border. Dumbfoundingly enough, it is apparently legal to drink and drive in Mississippi (according to both my brother and the internet). As long as you don’t blow a 0.08% BAC, you can operate a vehicle while consuming alcohol. Whoa to that.

Our first couple nights in MS we camped at state parks where there a a million jillion kabillion gnats and I now have an equal number of bug bites. We also visited the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library and historical home, Beauvoir, in Biloxi. Yes, such a thing exists. After getting our history on we hit a local joint which was packed with (mostly drunk) locals having all-you-can-eat crawfish. I decided to join them and, after struggling with the little critters for a while, a local guy came over and said, “You’re not from around here are you?” He said he knew because “No one from around here would ever take a fork to a plate of crawfish.” Then he proceeded to pick up several crawfish off my plate and show me how to peel/shuck them. Southerners are VERY friendly. Anywho, now I know how to eat crawfish like a southerner. On the menu for tomorrow, a swamp tour where we will allegedly get a chance to feed some alligators. Stay tuned!