Nothing to really report today as we spent it in the car driving from Memphis to New Orleans. This took us from Tennessee though Mississippi into Louisiana. I still find it amazing that you can cross a state line and experience an immediate change in the roads, the culture, that overall look.
I would like to mention of something that I have noticed in Tennessee. In every other state you have a Walgreens and/or CVS (to those that don't know...this is a pharmacy chain which also carries grocery lines) on every corner. In Tennessee, and in particularly Memphis, there is a church on every corner. And I don't mean little, quaint churches. I am talking HUGE churches with the most impressive steeples. I am not a Christian and am certainly not a church goer. However, with steeples like that, I could almost (and I shall repeat....almost) enter a church to check it out, just because they have impressive pointy things coming out of it. I can picture the American Negros, going to church in their very best clothes and singing loud and proud. In fact, this morning we stopped to get fuel a little bit south of Memphis, and decided to get some breakfast at a McDonalds. We went into the store as the drive through line was long. Whilst we were waiting for our order, I stood back and listening to a bald, black man, who was sitting eating his McMuffin....and singing some sort of gospel song. His voice was amazing....and despite my very non-Christian views, I found his singing to be just beautiful.
Crossing the state line from Tennessee into Mississippi the roads improved dramatically although there were a number of road works going on. The scenery changed from the brown and "dead looking" trees, so green farmland and cattle. Where there was not visible farmland, there were green fir trees and horses.
The part of Memphis that was in Tennessee was almost embarrassingly dirty with rubbish strewn along the roads. This was particularly noticeable along Elvis Presley Boulevard just up the road from Graceland where whole vacant lots and the streets were filled with garbage. This was not evident in the parts of Memphis that were over the Mississippi side of the border although of course I cannot speak for the parts that I did not see. The same could also be said for parts of Tennessee that I did not see. There may very well be prettier parts. Although I did like Jackson in Tennessee which is a nice, clean, modern town. This is also the case for Jackson in Mississippi.
I would like to mention of something that I have noticed in Tennessee. In every other state you have a Walgreens and/or CVS (to those that don't know...this is a pharmacy chain which also carries grocery lines) on every corner. In Tennessee, and in particularly Memphis, there is a church on every corner. And I don't mean little, quaint churches. I am talking HUGE churches with the most impressive steeples. I am not a Christian and am certainly not a church goer. However, with steeples like that, I could almost (and I shall repeat....almost) enter a church to check it out, just because they have impressive pointy things coming out of it. I can picture the American Negros, going to church in their very best clothes and singing loud and proud. In fact, this morning we stopped to get fuel a little bit south of Memphis, and decided to get some breakfast at a McDonalds. We went into the store as the drive through line was long. Whilst we were waiting for our order, I stood back and listening to a bald, black man, who was sitting eating his McMuffin....and singing some sort of gospel song. His voice was amazing....and despite my very non-Christian views, I found his singing to be just beautiful.
Crossing the state line from Tennessee into Mississippi the roads improved dramatically although there were a number of road works going on. The scenery changed from the brown and "dead looking" trees, so green farmland and cattle. Where there was not visible farmland, there were green fir trees and horses.
The part of Memphis that was in Tennessee was almost embarrassingly dirty with rubbish strewn along the roads. This was particularly noticeable along Elvis Presley Boulevard just up the road from Graceland where whole vacant lots and the streets were filled with garbage. This was not evident in the parts of Memphis that were over the Mississippi side of the border although of course I cannot speak for the parts that I did not see. The same could also be said for parts of Tennessee that I did not see. There may very well be prettier parts. Although I did like Jackson in Tennessee which is a nice, clean, modern town. This is also the case for Jackson in Mississippi.
Mississippi
Crossing the next state line into Louisiana the roads took a little bit of a nose dive, and the landscape wasn't as quite as pretty as Mississippi, however the sky turned a deep blue somewhat like we might find in North Queensland. Being as far south as we have become we have definitely got out of snow country, although the Bear believes it did snow in New Orleans this winter. Being away from the snow and the tornados is a huge relief!
We drove into New Orleans a little bit different to the road that we left by during our 2012 trip so I got to see things a little differently. Today I saw what bayous looked like which I found very interesting. I could almost imagine the "barking logs" (alligators) out there, as the Bear would call them and could picture the catfish being caught. I was reminded of the pictures that Uncle Remus' s "Bre'r Rabbit" would bring to my mind. Tar babies were exactly just that back in the day before learning about racism.
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A blue bayou? I have no idea what Linda Ronstadt was singing about.
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Tomorrow we shall head into the French Quarter and visit the Lafayette Cemetery which we missed the last time we were here!
