New Orleans, Jackson, Vicksburg
I lied; I didn’t report in from the road.
Turns out that finding the internets in the deep south is more difficult than I thought – I eventually found them hidden under a rock along the Mississippi River in Vicksburg, Miss. But only for a few minutes on Saturday morning, and then I lost them again.
Overall, our trip was a great success. We drove about 8.5 hours to New Orleans on Thursday morning. We got there about 5pm (their time), parked on Bourbon St., and walked aimlessly for a while. We were almost immediately pulled into some random shopping place, but clawed our way back out with just one bag of touristy trappings.
We followed with an amazing dinner at The Gumbo Spot in the heart of the city and very near Jackson Square. It didn’t seem fair to not support the local economy, so we ordered one of everything New-Orleansesque on the menu. Seafood gumbo, chicken andouille gumbo, jambalaya, aligator sausage, and other wicked stuff. Have you ever noticed that just about every creature on God’s green earth tastes the same once you’ve turned it into sausage? Just saying.
Oh, and for you Jacksonville residents, it appears that Andrew Jackson actually had a relationship with New Orleans, not the neglectful father role he plays here in Jacksonville.
Within two hours, we were back on the road, this time a 3-hour sprint up I-55 toward Jackson. I mostly wanted to hit up Jackson because a good friend of mine is from there (he’s one of the faces up top) and I pretty much just wanted to say that I had been there. D and I stopped in about 10pm, got some coffee, filled up the gas tank, got accosted by a homeless guy who was probably an undercover cop trying to sell us weed, and went on our way.
And then – Vicksburg. What a quaint, poor, disintegrating city. If it wasn’t for the history provided by the Seige of Vicksburg in 1863, the city would have long ago tumbled into the Mississippi River. In order to adequately relay the city, I am about to go Bob Ross on you.
Start with a verdant, lush, rolling landscape, perched high above and with a commanding view of a mighty river. Add endless sunshine, roaring cicadas and so many trees that it doesn’t matter what kind they are, since they just turn into one massive green crush.
Then add a casino right in the middle. Then imagine that casino to be a 60-foot tall, 400-foot long casino, meant to look like a steamboat docked along the mighty river. Then imagine four more of those along a 5 mile riverbank. And then build up as urrounding infrastructure suitable only for housing those foolish enough to visit a faux riverboat casino and those desperate and poor enough to work there. Throw in enough pavement to connect the casinos and call it a day.
That’s modern Vicksburg.
Not hard to see why the city was settled when some lucky French bastard first came across the eastern shore of the Mississippi River, but it’s pitiful to see how squandered the city has since become.
Next chapter – Gettin’ Hitched!