Muddy River

We were blessed with another free hour this morning as daylight savings ended this morning. This meant we were able to get our gear together and were ready to hit the road again by 9am while still having a bit of a lie in. Amy and I made a beeline through the balmy morning air to Cafe Beignet to pick up some Chicory coffee and their supposedly world famous Beignets (square French doughnuts). The cafe certainly was popular and we lost just about all of the hour we have just gained in the line. We took our pastries and made a track to the Lower 9th Ward, one of the suburbs worst hit during hurricane Katrina. 7 years on the destruction was still evident, the roads pot holed and many houses boarded up and abandoned. A few of the houses still bore the marks of the search parties who spray painted a hieroglyphic symbol to denote houses as clear. It was reasonably haunting, some of them reading messages such as K-9 dead in living or 1 dead in attic. The closer we got to the point where the levee was breached by the storm surge the more complete the destruction. Some folks had rebuilt and new houses were scattered in amongst overgrown lots and bare foundations but it was at least 6 blocks back from the river until the first original homes stood. It was a very sombre experience, and took me back to the helplessness we felt during the earthquakes back in Christchurch when you a shown you aren't in control of nature. The encroaching storm clouds cast a melancholic mood over the ward, in a strange way it seemed fitting for a city that will always bear the scars of the hurricane.

One of the Levee's that breached in 2005, since repaired

As the clouds rolled in we began to make our way across the longest continuous bridge over water in the world out of New Orleans to continue the adventure. At 38km long the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway certainly was lengthy, cutting a direct path from New Orleans to Mandeville on the opposite shore. When we made it again to dry land we need to make a bathroom stop. We pulled into a cluster of shops to find a suitable facility and found we had parked with a river separating us from the shops with the bridge crossing locked. Unleashing our inner ninjas we nimbly shimmied along the edge of the walkway to the other side where we found a little Italian Cafe. Only really intending to use the bathroom and maybe buy a coffee if forced, I was well under dressed in shorts and a beater for the very tidy establishment. After some assurance from the waiter that shorts were fine (he didn't mention my lack of sleeves) we were fed some unexpectedly good food and about 15 cups of decent coffee.

Soon enough it was time to hit the road again, this time Highway 61, a nice rolling road running roughly along the side of the Mississippi. A couple of uneventful but enjoyable hours later we arrived at our overnight stop of Natchez. Being one of the oldest settlements on the Mississippi, Natchez has been run by the French, English, Spanish, Confederate and American governments during its existence. It is a fairly sleepy town but due it once having the highest concentration of Millionaires in the entire country it has an abundance of huge mansions dating back to the cotton picking days. We checked in and asked the receptionist if he had any suggestions for a place to eat. His recommendation of Ruby Tuesdays was ignored as we were looking for something a bit more local so we headed downtown. Upon arrival riverside we were greeted with a spectacular view of the Mississippi from the bluffs that the town is perched upon.

The river boat in shot is a casino, Mississippi state law dictates that all casinos must be floating. As we wandered down the road to check out the riverboat it soon became apparent why the town was so deserted. With a courtesy vehicle to ferry even the most obese slot-junkies 25 metres from their cars to the entrance, the casino was humming. It is disappointing to see so many people literally throwing their money away while the town looked to be struggling to keep it's head above water. Next stop was a riverside bar with a beer on my mind. Any thoughts of sticking around were lost in the thick haze of cigarette smoke we were greeted by. The 5, heavy smoking, patrons obviously hadn't had much contact with out-of-towners as even a midget was staring like we had 2 heads. Down the street we found a nice enough looking restaurant, the Magnolia Grill, which was thankfully non-smoking where we setted in for a meal. We all took the opportunity to get a salad while we could before getting any deeper into fried chicken country. All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening spent on the beautiful banks of the Muddy River.

Beer of the Day:
Southern Pecan - The nutty pecans came through strongly in the nose but were overwhelmed slightly by the sweet caramel flavours. Nice full body which was a pleasant change from the watery rubbish I've been having lately.