day two

Date: 19 May 2007
Start: Southern Georgia
End: Sulphur, Louisiana
Distance Travelled: Approximately 650 miles
Duration: 11 hours, 30 minutes (including accounting for EDT to CDT change)
This, the second day of our trip, was definitely a time-and-distance day. Having driven this particular stretch of I-10 many times in the past, I knew just how boring it was, and just how little there was to see along its length. As such, we went ahead and planned on driving as far as we possibly could in this day, to leave time in other days to take it easy and not have to push quite as far. All said, almost 12 hours of driving is a little rough, though doing it on our second day of the trip was definitely the best course of action – we were still relatively fresh, and driving/riding in the car for extended periods of time was still relatively novel.
And, in all honesty, from Jacksonville, Florida, to New Orleans, Lousiana, there really is nothing of interest on I-10. I mean, sure, you drive past Tallahassee (which has a classic car museum, if you dive off 10 onto 90), and past Pensacola (the birthplace of Naval aviation, with the appropriate museum, I understand), and past Mobile (which has a nifty battleship parked in a harbor), and past Biloxi (which actually has all of its casinos rebuilt and fully operational again, after Katrina), but none of those really held any attraction for us. Hell, I lived near Biloxi for almost half a year, and stepped inside one of its casinos all of once, just to say that I had. Granted said casino (the Beau Rivage) was all manner of nice and pretty, but gambling just is not my thing.
At any rate, along the way we stopped off at Loxley, AL, for lunch at the McDonalds right off I-10… I desperately attempted to empty out my soda cup all over Better Half, but she deftly avoided it, and I survived the experience, so no harm. The manager was somewhat amusing, though, and micromanaged his cashiers in a manner that leads me to believe he has since suffered a coronary. Along the way, we did take a slight deviation from our course when we got close to Biloxi – as I said, I used to live in the area, and we went to take a look at my old apartment/stomping grounds. During Katrina, my apartment complex was flooded up to the middle of the second story (thankfully my particular domicile was on the third), various roofs and walls were torn off, and various boats were deposited in the parking lot. All of this, however, seemed to have been corrected/rebuilt, as my old apartments were being sold as waterfront condominiums, starting at $169k and up. Right before the storm, the landlord had been making noises about converting them into condos, so I guess they figured that the almost-destruction of the property was as good a time as any to remodel and start over again. Hopefully they are successful. The good news is that most of the area around my apartment seemed to have been rebuilt as well… granted, a lot of the small shops had vacated the damaged storefronts, and have not returned yet (in particular, a comics/gaming store I visited was completely gone), and the bridge between Ocean Springs and Biloxi had not been replaced yet, but the area really did not seem all that poorly off. Of course, the areas we drove through were also not at the bottom of the economic spectrum, so who knows…
Once we crossed the Lousiana border, we knew we were on the home stretch, so we got a little more exploratory. On I-12 west (we opted not to go through New Orleans – after seeing Mississippi after Katrina, I did not want to see it again) at exit 7, there are signs for what appears to be “Louisiana Mud Painting”, about 2.5 miles off the freeway. We figured we would take a look, and went ahead and jumped off. Well, two phrases of caution: first, it was not 2.5 miles – more like 1.5; and second, you do not actually get to do the painting yourself, as we kind of figured after seeing the sign. Rather, it appeared to be a gallery in a private residence. The situation sufficiently threw us off that we did not actually go in the said gallery, so I honestly do not know what this whole “mud painting” thing amounts to, but if you were looking to get your hands dirty, it is probably not the right place.
We pulled into Sulphur, thankfully without incident, which was rather surprising considering the distance traversed and the sheer, mind-numbing boredom those stretches of I-10 can induce, and checked into the Microtel there. Paying $55 a night, plus tax, I was not really expecting a whole lot, and it lived up to that beautifully. First, let me preface the rest of this post – Microtel has made an industry out of providing cheap, clean, basic hotel rooms to the cheap/business/spartan travellers of the world. Throwing free wifi internet and the occasional pool into the mix, and they are doing quite well, from what I understand. This particular hotel, however, was a very, very poor example of the chain (having stayed in a few now). However, I will start with the good parts, before I start causing too many ripples. The room itself was clean, but definitely showed itself as being either very old, or very heavily used. The mechanical aspects of the room were also acceptable, with more-than-adequate AC and a mini-fridge/microwave combination that worked perfectly for us to keep our drinks and such cold. The wireless internet continued the trend by working without a hitch, and was more than fast enough for our limited desires. However, that is about where the flowers and fairies die off. The toiletries provided were… rudimentary (two bars of soap and a dinky bottle of shampoo), there were only two, rather sandpapery towels in the bathroom, the sheets and coverlet both were rough and of rather low quality (with the coverlet also in possession of a few stains on its underside), and the low ceilings and even lower showerhead definitely got on my nerves. The breakfast the next morning was definitely restocked rapidly and efficiently, but that could not be too difficult considering that it was pretty much carb-only.
The shortcomings of our lodgings, however, were compensated for by the dinner we secured that evening, however. Right off I-10 at exit 20 for Sulphur, Louisiana, you can find the garishly-yellow restaurant known as “Cajun Charlie’s” (apparently, the alligator on the billboards is called “Charlie” – who’d'a thunk?). While the restaurant itself is somewhat auspiciously located right next to a standard above-ground Louisianan graveyard, this is no reflection on the food quality, and only serves as an easy way to find the location. Once you get past the kitchsy, Cracker-Barrel-esque gift shop, a friendly wait staff escorts you into one of the most eclectically decorated dining rooms us urbanite East Coasters have seen. Among the featured items, one can find a 17-foot stuffed alligator, a 130+ year-old hand-carved canoe, a 1927 Nagant rifle of unknown lineage, and a variety of vintage metal signs, Native American items, and other trinkets (and animal heads). The menu includes such Cajun delicacies as crawfish (boiled, broiled, baked, fried, and possibly even live if you asked nice enough), catfish, alligator, boudin, frog legs, red beans and rice, gumbo, jambalaya, and all the rest, as well as some slightly-more-standard things like shrimp, po-boys (in a variety of flavors), and country-fried steaks. If you could not decide, there was always the option of a relatively comprehensive buffet including most of the items on the menu (though placed under a heat-lamp, of course). We can personally attest to the superior quality of their hush puppies, as well as the fried alligator and red beans and rice. We were not terribly fond of the french fries accompanying the alligator – but if you really want fries, this is kind of the wrong restaurant. Additionally, as a warning to the diet-conscious, or those who like having more than a little salad with their dressing, you might want to ask for your dressing on the side – they tended to be a little enthusiastic with it. A dinner for two can range from $20 to $35, depending on selections, and overall it was an outstanding sampling of local cajun cuisine and atmosphere. Its menu is available here, here, here, and here.
In the “You Probably Do Not Care” category, today was not particularly successful when it came to wild-animal-sightings – only a single red-tailed fox and a wild turkey… and a tiger. Yup, a full-size, eat-your head tiger. If you are on I-10 going through Louisiana, pull off on exit 139, and navigate your way to the gas station on the south side of the interstate (it takes a little finagling – funny bridges). Once there, you will find four pens, and a large open area … expressly for the housing of tigers. There was only one in residence when we stopped, and he was pacing about exactly like you would expect a caged tiger to do (which, in turn, was all manner of sad), but it was certainly not something we expected seeing on a cross-country trip, and not at all something we expected at a rather run-down, dirty gas station. A casino up the road might provide an explanation, but only a partial one – why would the tigers be housed at the gas station as opposed to nearer to the casino? Regardless, it was a little odd. Additionally, we somehow bounced all over the globe, and passed Panama City, Havana, and Bagdad… all in Florida. Finally, today was a very good day for license plate bingo – of course, it was also our first day paying attention, and the two generally go hand-in-hand, so… Anywise, we managed to find Texas, New Jersey, Alabama, Minnesota, Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida, Oregon, Oklahoma, Illinois, Louisiana, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia, South Carolina, Ohio, North Carolina, Maine, California, Arizona, Nebraska, Mississippi, Idaho, Colorado, South Dakota, New York, New Mexico, Virginia, Michigan, and Kansas. And that was only driving from Southern Georgia to Lousiana!
Pictures from this day can be found here.
Trackposted to Right Pundits, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson’s Website, Big Dog’s Weblog, Maggie’s Notebook, The Populist, Stuck On Stupid, Leaning Straight Up, Cao’s Blog, The Amboy Times, Pursuing Holiness, third world county, Stageleft, stikNstein… has no mercy, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, The Pink Flamingo, and Dumb Ox Daily News, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe, as well as Electric Venom.