Maiden Voyage, Mobile + New Orleans

Right now I am sitting in my camper in Stephen Kreller's side-yard in New Orleans Louisiana.  The trip has been great so far, I have made some progress west and I have seen some friends and had some fun! I left from Bainbridge on Friday the 17th in the afternoon and drove to Mobile and got there safely around dark (I say safely because the GPS was telling me to go through the smaller of the two tunnels in Mobile and I would not have made it through if I tried. Wouldn't that be an embarrassingly short trip across America).

Picture below: Me leaving my house in Bainbridge (photo Courtesy of Ann Brannen)

 I am still trying to work out all the little kinks in my camper set up, like "shifting luggage" I had a large Gatorade powder mix fall out of the cabinet during transit, and explode everywhere (so I put little bungee straps on the cabinet handles). I met up with Martin Hackney's friend, Todd Robinson who graciously let me put the camper at his Dads house, and then took me to a catfish and bream fish fry and his friend's house.  The fish, coleslaw, and blackberry cobbler was AWESOME and the Natural Lights were pretty good too; Martin met up with us later on and we all ended up back at Todd's apartment. The next day Martin, Todd and I went and got the camper and took it to his family's place on the Fowl River where many of family members had gathered this weekend to go to a wedding party Saturday evening.  I hung out on the "Warf" (dock) all day and swam in the river, with the Hackney family and company. They Late that afternoon, I took a shower in the camper, made myself some Ramen noodles and hit the road to New Orleans to meet up with Daniel Salisbury and his brothers, David and Stephen.

Picture below: My Hackney Surrogate-Parents

   Louisiana roads are terrible, I mean terrible, especially for a truck with a travel trailer. I eventually got to Stephen's house after going through a seemingly uncoordinated jumble of crowded and craggy New Orleans backstreets, overpasses and corridors.  I called a cab and got a ride to the French Quarter to meet up with Daniel and his brothers. The fact that bars don't seem to ever close in New Orleans is very deceiving to an Athens person who is accustomed to bars closing at 2 AM.  Nonetheless, it was a very fun outing in ole' Nawlins, we visited DBA bar, Bruno's, and F & M's. Quite exhausted from the night before, I decided to wait until Monday morning to head to my next destination, Houston Texas.

Picture below: My camper at Stephens House, not very exciting but maybe you can appreciate this picture, Drew