southland 3 March 29, 2008

I’m in New Orleans, Louisiana (state number 45, for those who are keeping track). Since last updating, I spent a day in Oxford, Mississippi (state number 44), home of Ole Miss and William Faulkner, and a day here in New Orleans. It’s been beautiful weather-wise until this afternoon when the sky opened up for a bit while I was on a tour of the oldest cemetery in New Orleans and a Voodoo Temple. The tour was great. Very interesting. I’m not feeling very energetic, so here are some pictures:

William Faulkner’s parent’s home. I guess that means he didn’t live there. Huh. Why did I bother?

Cafe au lait and beignets (with tons of powdered sugar) at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans.

Here is Marie Laveau’s grave. She was a Voodoo priestess. They said that’s her grave is the second most visited grave in the country – behind Elvis’s, so I guess I’m doing pretty good this trip.

I’m here for another two days.

hostelling March 27, 2008

Weird site at a hostel:

Dry Cleaning? Huh.

 

At this hostel, they assign chores. Now they always say that you might be assigned chores when you stay at a hostel, but it never actually happens. Well, at this one, they do. This isn’t a complaint about being asked to clean a bathroom.   I don’t mind really.  It’s just kind of funny.

 

Someone stole my bananas. They had my name on them. Someone took them. I hope they were good.

southland 2 March 26, 2008

Today was another beautiful day – 70 + degrees and sunny. Lovely. Good decision to head south.

Yesterday I had lunch with Elvis. He says, “hi,” and sends you his love, by the way. Here is Sheldon admiring his house from across the street.

Well, green shag carpeting is alive and well at Graceland. And there were mirrors everywhere – completely lining some rooms – walls, ceilings, you name it.

Today I went to the National Civil Rights Museum, which is housed in the (former) motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. The museum was a bit dry – a lot of reading and very little multi-media information. I was a bit disappointed because it is such an important history to explain and it’s really interesting if it’s presented right.

After the Civil Rights Museum, I went to Stax Museum of American Soul. Very fun, interesting, and loads of great music. Did you know that Otis Redding died in a plane crash in Lake Monona in Madison? I didn’t know that.

Tomorrow onto collect state number 44 – Mississippi.

there’s something ’bout the southland in the springtime… March 25, 2008

Well – if you had asked me on Friday where I was going on my spring break travels, I would have said, “South Dakota”; however, I’m writing this from Memphis. That last few inches of snow on Friday really made me think hmm… I think I’m done with snow… where can I go where I won’t get hit with more white stuff? Apparently, Memphis. It’s gorgeous here. I think it was seventy degrees today and the skies were lovely blue. Yea!

I got off to a slow start yesterday. Since absolutely no planning nor packing was done before I woke up yesterday morning, I had quite a bit to do. I didn’t want to compromise the amount of sleep that I needed, so I woke up around 7:30am. I had packed/paid bills/watered plants/held mail by 10am and my plan was to run my keys by my folks, get the oil changed in my car, get a new gadgety thing to play my ipod in my car at Target, and get gas. Keys to mom – good. Oil change – good. Gadgety thing – good. Gas – good. I then went to plug the new gadgety thing (I do know what it’s called – an iTrip auto, but I prefer gadgety thing) and the thing was totally used. I’m not talking the package was opened and then someone changed her mind about the item and took it back to Target. It was worn old – scratches, paint scuffs, loose fitting. There is no way that this was acceptable. So, back to Target to exchange it. Ughh. I didn’t get on the road until nearly 11:45am.

With lots of determination (and a heavy foot), I managed to get to Memphis by 8pm. I didn’t really abuse the speed limit laws until I called the hostel to get a reservation around 6:10. The woman on the phone informed me that I had to get to the hostel by 8pm. Okay. I’m only 140 miles away. I think I can do this. Ughh. I called the hostel at 7:55 and said that I was about 5 miles away, but I was indeed on my way. This was a different person than I had spoken to before and she said to take my time, she’d be around. Good.

Here’s a starting shot of the temperature. Thirty-eight degrees.

Here is the mighty Mississippi near St. Louis.

Yes, they are all car shots. That’s all I saw yesterday. Here is the sunset in Arkansas.

a keen sense of smell saves the day… March 8, 2008

When I got in last night I smelled a vague whiff of gas in my apartment. The pilot lights on the stove have gone out from time to time, so I checked that and they were lit. The smell wasn’t very strong at all, so I just went to bed thinking that I was slightly crazy (you know, a bit more than usual) . When I woke up this morning the smell was stronger. I checked all the pilots (oven, hot water heater) and they were fine, so I called the gas company. They sent someone out this morning – within half an hour. One point gas company. The guy didn’t smell gas at all – but they have these gauge thingy to measure for leaks. So he’s measuring all around the stove and doesn’t find anything. I’m standing there thinking that I’m wasting this guy’s time and I’m crazy. He doesn’t smell anything and I can barely detect it at this point. We go down to the basement and he uses his magic wand/gas gauge thingy on the furnace and the hot water heater. Nothing. Then he checks the lines and connections – and voila – a leak. He still smells nothing. Weird. He fixed it and all is well. And I’m not completely crazy yet.

A couple random thoughts:

• Do you think that the phrase hot water heater is redundant? If it’s a heater, isn’t it by nature hot?
• I have issues with the word gauge. Typing it, specifically. I almost always type the word language as langauge and it’s in my job title and at least a dozen times in every report that I write. I do have it set to auto-correct on my computer. Then, I never type the word gauge correctly – I type guage. What’s wrong with my typing, people!

I went out to dinner last night with a woman from couchsurfing. Have I talked about that? I have couchsurfed with a few people in my travels of late. This woman is a flight attendant and she has several overnights here this month. She was very nice and easy to talk to. Fun evening.

I’m off to bed. Don’t forget to change your clocks.