The Big Easy

July 24th

I had to ask someone what the date was ‘cause I was convinced it was the 22nd of July. Time flies when you’re having fun right? We’re spending a long day on the bus again today on our way from New Orleans to Austin (a 9hr drive). We just stopped at a burger place and I feel like I’ve had enough food for the next week, the portions are so big here. Earlier this morning we stopped at a gas station with billboards promoting their tiger. At first I thought they were joking but there was indeed a tiger there. The poor animal didn’t have a very big enclosure and it was really hot with barely any shade..

We spend two nights in the Big Easy, Crescent CIty New Orleans. We arrived in time to have dinner in the city and walk around Bourbon Street for a bit. I also enjoyed sleeping in a real bed in an airconditioned room for two nights. Our room was enourmous. We had eight beds between the six of us, a couch, a couple of comfy chairs, there was a tv and a big bathroom. Some of the other rooms even had a kitchen. The hotel was very cute as well, painted in bright colours.

The next day I went to explore the city with one of the girls from Germany. We walked around the French Quarter for a bit and strolled down the Mississippi river. We visited Lafayette Cemetery, a place that was featured in a lot of different movies and tv shows. I also took a ghosttour of the quarter. It was really interesting as I learned a lot about the history of the quarter. Our guide was either really into playing her role or she actually believed in ghosts 'cause when someone asked if she had ever had an encounter on the tour she told him that she had a run in with a ghost a week ago. I really loved New Orleans, a nice atmoshpere, lots to see and friendly people!

Before heading to New Orleans we visited Memphis. It was really warm that day and at night it was still around 27 degrees, which lead to people opting to sleep in the bathrooms where there was aircon. I slept surprisingly well though. There was also a pool so we took some time to cool down and swim. Of course we couldn’t visiti Memphis and not visit Graceland. Thankfully our campsite was next to Elvis’ house so we didn’t have to go far in the heat. It was great to see the place Elvis lived for most of his live. The property was huge! The house was big in itself but then there was also some sort of annex which was more of a house in itself where Elvis could relax, a garage for all his cars and even a stable and pastures for horses. He was also burried on the property so it was really impressive to visit the place. The decoration in the house wasn’t my style though ;)

In the evening we went out for BBQ in Memphis and a couple of drinks afterward. We passed by the Civil Rights museum and saw the motel where Marthin Luther King was shot. We spent some time at an outdoor stage in the city listening to country music before heading back to the campsite to just sit and talk for a bit, as it was way too hot to sleep. The only reason I didn’t sleep outside my tent was because of all the musquitoes.

As I mentioned in my last blog, we also stopped in Nashville. We didn’t get to spend a lot of time there but we did go out for drinks in the evening. It was nice to walk around the busy streets for a bit. Every bar had its windows open and there was live music playing everywhere, really cool! We went to a couple of bars and listened to the bands there and we went dancing for a bit before heading back to camp around midnight as we were really tired from all the travelling.

Tonight we will set up our camp in Austin (I think it’s four more hours before we get there) and tomorrow we’ll go to a natural pool and have a day to relax.