Day 47: Chattanooga and Nashville, Tennessee

My thoughts exactly.

From Atlanta our next stop was Nashville, Tennessee, but on the way (right outside Chattanooga) was the Chickamauga Creek National Battlefield which we definitely wanted to check out.  Despite the fact that this was the site of the last major confederate victory of the civil war, and the fact that both of us are pro-Union guys, it was very very cool to see the battlefield and the museum at the site.  The battlefield was very well maintained and had lots of monuments and information that really let us visualize what had happened, and the museum was really well done and we both enjoyed it thoroughly. 

On this stretch of road we also saw our first Bojangle's of the trip.  Of we course stopped and enjoyed the finest sweet tea and Cajun chicken and biscuits that the south has to offer.  And it was delicious.

Battlefield Memorial at Chickamauga

After spending a few hours at Chickamauga, we drove the rest of the way to Nashville and checked into our hostel for the evening.  The hostel itself was one of the best we stayed at in terms of atmosphere and character.  As soon as we got there there were people hanging out all over the place just playing music and singing and generally having a good time.  After lounging around the hostel for a bit we found a good place to eat with some live music and enjoyed that for a bit.  Even though the performers were actually very good, the music scene here wasn’t exactly what we were looking for so after we were done eating we headed into downtown Nashville to find another venue.  

Downtown Nashvegas.

We basically stumbled upon the Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar after hearing some rocking music coming from inside, so we went in and spent the rest of the night listening to an excellent southern rock/blues band.  After the long day we’d had we headed back to the hostel.  Tomorrow: Kentucky.

Day 46: Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta, GA

We made it to Atlanta from Fort Benning in a few quick hours of driving and we headed straight to the hostel where we’d be staying to check in.  Unfortunately the hostel office was closed all afternoon, so we decided to just go check out Atlanta and then to check into the hostel later.  

Reflecting pool at MLK Jr. National Park

Final resting place of MLK

We drove just a few blocks from our hostel to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Park in downtown Atlanta.  There was a very cool and informative museum that had tons of information and artifacts from MLK’s life and the civil rights movement in general.  The grounds also had a large reflecting pool that reminded us (purposefully, we assumed) of the reflecting pool in Washington D.C. and King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.  In the middle of the pool there were 2 sarcophagi holding the bodies of both Martin and Coretta King, with an eternal flame dedicated to their memory right behind.  The entire display was very informative and very inspiring.

MLK's birthplace

After the museum area we walked a few blocks away to take a tour of the home where MLK was born.  The house was nice, and we got a very unique tour with a park ranger who was actually blind.  It was very interesting to hear the stories of MLK’s childhood, especially from our slightly-too-lively tour guide (he was way over the top with his personal interpretations of MLKs childhood).  It was a very cool experience.  

John Oates...or is it

After the MLK National Park we headed to the hostel, checked in, and got settled for the evening.  Taking advantage of the internet at the hostel we find a good place to eat and have a few drinks that night called Highlander’s.  It was just a few blocks away in midtown Atlanta, and we got there in time to discover that it was Bingo night and they’d be giving away prizes all night.  Needless to say, we decided to stay a little longer than we’d planned to play Bingo, and we won 3 times between the two of us.  After Bingo ended we headed back to the hostel to rest up because we were trying to leave early so we could have plenty of time to sight see the next day on the way to Nashville.

Days 43, 44 and 45: Fort Benning, GA and Halloween

Who are YOU gonna call?

After leaving the Big Easy we drove through the deep south to get to Fort Benning, which is in Georgia just across the Alabama border.  We drove all day, finally making it to Fort Benning around 10 o’clock local time, which was Eastern Standard! Even though it’s never fun to lose an hour to time change, it felt great to finally be back on EST.  We met our good high school friend Greg just off base and spent the evening hanging out with him and some of his West Point friends at a local watering hole, where there was live music that could not be described as anything other than “death metal.”  It was quite a scene.

Infantry Museum

US National Infantry Museum

The next day Greg took us on base to see the National Infantry Museum which was very cool.  They had some really excellent exhibits and it was good to have a real infantryman as our guide.  We stayed at the museum until it closed, at which point we had to put together some plans for Halloween, which we'd be celebrating that night.  We decided to make the drive to Auburn University about an hour away in Alabama, which meant that we had to find some good costumes for the evening.   

Don't worry, we're scientists.

After hunting around a Halloween store, we found our costumes: three GhostBusters jumpsuits complete with inflatable positron nuclear reactors for taking care of any paranormal activity we might encounter.  At Auburn we were very excited to see that there was a costume contest, and that the best costume would receive a $1000 prize.  We thought our main competition would be from some of Greg’s buddies who came with us and dressed in ridiculous 80s hair-band attire, complete with wigs and leggings.  Other than these guys the only other costume we were worried about was a group of guys dressed as the Chilean Miners, but we figured that was too not PC to win.  Unfortunately, we all lost the contest, proving that it must have been rigged (Avatar won? Really?).

After our disappointing loss we headed out for some grub and to crash for the night at our hotel.  The next day we drove back to Benning and spent the day lounging around Greg’s apartment, watching football and movies.  After a dinner of old fashioned country cooking at a place called Gus’s Drive-In, we called it a night since Greg had to be up early for training and we had to hit the road.  The next morning we packed our stuff, said goodbye, and hit the road for Atlanta, GA.

Days 39, 40, 41, and 42: New Orleans, Louisiana

On Monday, October 25 both of us had a long day of airport waiting, flying, and driving ahead of us.  We both spent pretty much the entire day in transit, and when we both finally rendezvoused at G.W. Bush Airport in Houston around 7:30pm we got on the road immediately and headed right to New Orleans.  Around 1am we checked into the India House Hostel, our lodging for the next few nights, and we both immediately passed out.   

Where our room was

The India House

This hostel was full of character, and although it wasn’t the nicest place, it was certainly very cool.  The most striking thing about the India House was that after walking up 6 steps to get the first floor of the house, there was a water mark on the walls of the main level about 3 feet off the floor where the water had settled after Katrina hit the city.  This water would have been about 8 or 9 feet above street-level, which just amazed us both.

 Unless it's the daiquiri, that's a double rainbow on Bourbon St.

The next morning we headed right to the French Quarter by way of public cable car.  After getting off at a stop on Canal St. that looked like it could have been in any major US city, we turned down Bourbon Street and were immediately struck by the sheer volume of restaurants, bars, music halls, and other random and mostly interesting shops.  Our first stop was to pick up a few Daiquiris at a stand that had a happy hour starting at 10am, and to wander around with our beverages, exploring the French Quarter while (responsibly) taking advantage of New Orleans’ public consumption laws.  We saw some very cool places while just wandering around Bourbon and Royal Streets, including crazy looking bars, mask shops, antique shops, a very cool voodoo shop, and a historic gun and coin store.

 

Some really wild looking masks

Jackson Sq. and the St. Louis Cathedral

After wandering for a while we decided to stop in for some lunch at “The Gumbo Shop” for some Cajun food.  After lunch we continued to wander around, finding our way to Jackson Square and the Mississippi waterfront.  Here we also saw the famous Café Du Monde which we knew we needed to visit thanks to a strong recommendation from our friend Joel, a self proclaimed lover of New Orleans.   With a storm moving in we headed back to our hostel to regroup for the evening.

Frankie and Johhny's

We decided to meet up with the two Wills, a few UNC guys who were in my fraternity and are both now living in New Orleans.  We found an excellent local place to eat and then as per the recommendation of the Wills (among others) we went to the Maple Leaf Bar on Oak St. to catch some live music.  A brass band called Rebirth was playing and they were excellent…the place was packed and the music was great.  

Old New Orleans Rum Co.

The next day we went looking for Po’ Boy sandwiches at another well-known establishment, Frankie and Johnny’s.  We had some delicious sandwiches before heading over to the Old New Orleans Rum distillery (the oldest micro-distillery of rum in the country) for a tour.  The folks over at Old New Orleans were very knowledgeable and friendly, and it was very cool to see how they ran their small little operation (there were probably less than 10 employees at the whole distillery).  We certainly had fun learning about their product, and even bought a bottle or two to bring home with us.

Climbing Trees in City Park

We then went over to City Park on the north side of the city to explore the Bayou St. John where they’d be holding the Voodoo Experience Music Festival immediately after we left.  We wandered this park for more than an hour—turns out it’s one of the biggest city parks in the country—and saw some very cool stuff before heading back to the hostel to prepare for a night on Bourbon Street with a few guys we’d met at the India House.  Needless to say we had a blast on Bourbon that night with live music playing on nearly every block.  Of course, we finished the night with rounds of beignets at Café Du Monde, and they were excellent.  

The Bayou St. John

The next day we set out around lunch time, again in search of a fantastic Po’ Boy sandwich.  The place we were looking for turned out to be closed on Thursdays, but luckily it was right around the block from Frankie and Johnny’s, so we decided to go for round two there.  It was even better than round one. 

Desert roads would have been easy if we'd been driving a Sherman

After lunch we headed to the National WWII Museum for the afternoon.  This museum was excellent.  We couldn’t take a lot of pictures inside, but the exhibits were all very well done and interesting.  We didn’t even have enough time to see everything that we wanted to before the museum closed.  That night we had a Cajun feast for dinner at a place recommended by the Wills, then took it easy in preparation for driving all through Alabama the next day.

Days 35 and 36: College Station, Texas

The Dineens

After a morning of looking around at some of Austin’s famous vintage clothing shops and excellent record stores, we took off for the relatively quick drive to College Station, home of Texas A & M as well as John and Katie Dineen, Corey’s uncle and cousin (they live in Bryan, right next to College Station).  We arrived in time for a delicious home cooked dinner, slaved over by Katie and her friend and one of our other hosts, Megan Duffy.  In addition to the fact that this was our first home cooked meal since we’d left Lynbrook, NY, it was really quite good, and it was great to have a roof over our heads and a house to stay in.  We took it pretty easy that night, hanging out with the Dineens and just enjoying the comfort of domestic living.  

Us and Trevor at the Dry Bean Saloon...what a place

The next morning we decided to explore College Station, starting with a lunch stop at Fuzzy’s Tacos, a recommendation from Chris, another one of our excellent hosts.  After an excellent lunch we wandered around College Station, seeing everything from restaurants and bars to A & M specialty shops to cowboy shops and everything in between.  We had a great time exploring before we got back to the Dineen residence and were informed that we’d be hitting the town that night (we put up a big fight against that one).

Showing off our RTD (Road Trip Dance)

After a quick pregame we hit the town with our hosts Katie, Chris, and Megan and their friend Trevor, who seemed to know every bartender and bouncer in College Station, and who successfully got us into every  place we went to for free on a busy Thursday night.  It was a lot of fun to be back out in a college town.  We finished the night with a trip to the famous Whataburger, where Katie ordered a whole bunch of “honey butter chicken biscuits” for us—apparently this is their specialty.  Sure enough we weren’t disappointed, and they were delicious.  

Us and our hosts...Megan, Uncle John, Katie and Chris. Thanks again!

The next morning we woke up bright and early and drove the quick drive to Houston so that we could each catch our flights to our respective destinations on the east coast.  Corey took off for Newark to spend the weekend in Boston at an alumni event, and I flew into Raleigh-Durham, NC to spend the weekend with college friends, since I’d be missing alumni weekend while on the road.  

We’d like to say THANK YOU VERY MUCH to Uncle John, Katie, Chris, the Duff, and Trevor for treating us so well and showing us a great time in Bryan and College Station. 

Days 31, 32, 33, and 34: Desert Driving and Austin, Texas

Cactus Garden

We left Joshua Tree National Park pretty early in the morning, intent on driving out of the south exit of the park in order to pick up Interstate 10 which runs from just south of the park all the way east for thousands of miles.  We decided to take the “Geological Tour Road” which took us through the desert on a dirt road, past some really amazing mountains, cacti and rock formations.  After the first 9 miles, there was a sign recommending 4-wheel drive, so we threw the Rav4 into desert mode and continued on the road, confident in our noble Japanese steed to get us over the rough terrain to the interstate beyond.    

Our first impasse

Unfortunately, after another 10 or so miles—probably around 2 hours into our drive—the road was absolutely impossible to pass, covered in jagged rocks and boulders that would have chewed apart the Rav’s undercarriage.  With much dismay we turned around and retraced our path backwards, through the desert, all the way back to the middle of the park in order to find a better way to I-10.  With the loss of around 4-5 hours because of our little detour, we continued on down the road through Arizona. 

Phoenix, Arizona

We drove pretty much all day to make up for our directional snafu leaving Joshua Tree, driving through Arizona, past Phoenix, and ending up in Picacho Peak State Park, in southeastern Arizona.  This park was very cool…it was basically right off of I-10 on the side of a large mountain, surrounded by desert and huge cacti.  It was a cool place to spend the night.  

Picacho Peak

We got up with the sun the next morning to put some miles behind us, still trying to make up for Joshua Tree.  We made it as far as Sierra Blanca, a ghost town in the middle of nowhere in West Texas, before we crashed for the night.  The next morning we woke up bright and early, and drove all day to get to Austin for the night, which we did.  Unfortunately, the camera didn’t make it out with us in Austin, but we had a GREAT time.  We had some great food, saw some really cool shops on and around the UT campus, and heard some awesome live music downtown on 6^th Street.  We stayed 2 nights in Austin and had so much fun that we could easily have stayed for another  week if we’d had the time.  But, alas, we didn’t.  On to College Station, TX.