Day 12 -- April 12, 2003 -- Saturday

We slept later than usual today as we have just 80 miles or so to our next stop, New Orleans. Sunny and 70 degrees with a blue sky with light cirrus clouds. After two days of cool weather and the top up, we looked forward to getting the top down and soaking some rays.

When Boz checked us out of the hotel, she asked directions to Highway 90, and the desk clerk said, "Well, you turn right out of the parking lot." It seems we were on 90. Hey, it was late when we checked in, and we were pooped. The clerk asked where we were headed, and when Boz said New Orleans, he said "You don't want to take 90; it will take you three hours to get there on 90, while it will be just an hour or so on the Interstate." Bozzie just smiled.

Since we didn't get to Biloxi in time to hit the casinos last night, we stopped at Copa Casino. The Copa is about as far removed as you can get from the glamour and glitter of Vegas; they tried to hide the acres of Dole Pineapple and Chiquita Banana trucks on the land either side of the entrance drive, but didn't succeed.

Just inside the door, we came to a security station where we met Mary and Mary, two nice security ladies. We stopped to introduce ourselves and chat. We joked that we were going to be big winners and would be needing an armed escort to our car. The uniformed Mary with a gun strapped to her hip assured us in the most serious of tones that she would do so. She said she had done it just once before. A 28-year-old man won $10,000 playing the slots, and he asked for a security escort to his pickup truck. (Ah the contrasts from big cities to smaller towns!) We told the Marys that we were going to place one big bet, and that was it. We then walked straight to the roulette wheel.

Now for a little history. In 1977, Boz and I took a six-week driving trip around Europe. We had big plans to finance part of our trip costs with gambling success in Monaco. We set aside a little money, and walked into the very snooty casino there, and we went to a roulette table and put all of our money (probably just $250 or so) on red. It came up black, and they took our money. We went back to our little green Ford Fiesta and felt devastated. We planned to win and then let it ride and win again and live happily ever after. The truth is that we had spent a lot more than we had planned, and we could have really used some cash. We didn't have much money, and thinking back, we have no idea how we could afford the time or the money for the trip. Back to the Ford Fiesta...we sat there and discussed whether we should take our last $250 and go back in and put it on red. We finally decided that Bozzie would go back in and do just that. She returned in a few seconds. It came up GREEN! Losing was bad enough, but there's only one GREEN spot and tons of red and black spots on a roulette wheel, and we hit GREEN. The next day, we learned how you can get a cash advance on a MasterCard. We swore off gambling, though every time we hit an area with a casino, we bet on red, and we almost always lose.

So, there we were at the $1.00 roulette wheel in Biloxi, Mississippi. Barbara thought I was going to make a BIG bet on red as I had commented that it would be nice to win enough money to pay for our travel expenses thus far. I hate to lose money, so I just tossed $100 on the table and asked for a $100 chip. Onto red it went. The $1 betters at the table were stunned to see such a big bet. I told the folks seated at the table that they'd be wise to put their money on black. No one laughed or took my advice. Lisa the roulette lady gave the wheel a mighty spin, and we were really happy gamblers when the little white ball found a home in a red slot. We grabbed our winnings, and went straight to the cashier where we got two $100 bills. We stopped to say goodbye to the Marys and to let them know we had won but wouldn't really need the armed guard escort to the car. It's so nice to leave a casino as winners! From the time we headed to the roulette wheel to the time we left was probably no more than three minutes, so we figure that's a mighty good "hourly wage." We may never gamble again...at least not until we hit Vegas and Atlantic City or a bingo parlor somewhere along the way.

When we reached Pass Christian, Mississippi, we were blown away by the miles of gorgeous old southern colonial-style homes along the highway facing the beach and Gulf. There's a lot of old money in Pass Christian!

Just a few miles further down the road, we saw some of the poorest areas that we have seen yet. What a stark contrast from the mansions just a few miles away.

Literally out in the middle of nowhere, a massive alligator (maybe 100-feet tall) loomed on the horizon. It appears to be a sign for a casino, but there is no casino. We'll try to find out the story behind this.

Unfortunately, there was neither a sign to announce that we had reached Louisiana nor a sign to officially announce that we had reached New Orleans. I guess that's one of the few disadvantages of taking the road less traveled. I knew we were in Louisiana when I saw a 504 area code on a sign for a swamp tour place on a bayou. I stopped to take some pictures; it was like something out of a movie, though my photos do not do it justice.

As we rolled on, we passed a really interesting area with mile after mile of houses built on stilts. That's to try to keep the water from getting into the houses when the area floods. This was a lower income area as well. It's the first place on the trip that was dirty, though it also appeared to be garbage day, and I'm sure that affected our perception.

There are some places where we've said to ourselves "wow, I wonder what it would be like to live there," and then there have been others where we have thought "oooh, I'm glad I don't live there!" We were glad we didn't live there.

The scenery in this area is definitely interesting to see - low, swampy areas, flat with a lot of reed-like trees and shrubs. There were some cool-looking old bridges as well as some pretty bays and intriguing bayous and rivers.

When we reached New Orleans, it appeared to be a rough part of town. It's the first place we've been where I felt vulnerable when we pulled up to a red light with cars on either side of us. I would have felt safer if the top had been up and the windows had been closed. I was relieved to hit I-10 so we could follow the directions to the hotel.

When we pulled up at the beautiful, old Fairmont Hotel and walked in, we were immediately struck by the contrast between the old, seen-better-days Biloxi Holiday Inn and the old, fabulously-maintained Fairmont in New Orleans.

We wanted to tour New Orleans rather than just walk around The Quarter. Unfortunately, the only tours appear to be in vans or on foot around The Quarter. So, we hoofed it over to Bourbon Street on our own. Up and down the streets we went. We aren't really into drinking, so we felt out of place. The streets were packed with people. There was massive drinking going on already, and it was just noonish. We stopped at Papa Joe's for a muffaletta sandwich. Then we went up and down the streets some more. We did enjoy seeing the street performer statues - quite a contrast between them and the painted cement statues that we saw all across Florida. Our favorite was the sock monkey.  I asked him or her what  was the motivation to become a sock monkey, and the person wearing the sock money costume never said a word but held up a sock monkey doll.  Pretty good answer, I thought.

There must have been a hundred psychics scattered all about The Quarter - palm readers, tarot card readers, you name it. We enjoyed looking in the Rodrique Studio; he's the artist who paints a blue dog in all of his pieces. We also walked through the antique gallery area of town. It had been a number of years since we had been to New Orleans, and it did look better than it did a number of years ago when we saw one T-shirt shop and sex show after another. On this visit, we saw mainly bars, restaurants, and shops. The architecture is fabulous, and if there hadn't been so many people, I would have loved to take more pictures of the buildings and architectural elements. Again, the contrast between beautiful, quiet Savannah and New Orleans is significant. Similar architecture, but world's apart. It is great to see that The Quarter has tight controls on development that protect the old and keep the new out or hidden.

By 4 o'clock, truth be told, we were both bored. So we went back to the room and took a nap. We ordered room service (disappointing pecan pie that tasted like something bought in the frozen section at Piggly Wiggly) and watched TV.

The contrast between Fox News and CNN and various newspapers continues to amaze us. Prior to the Iraq War, we assumed we were seeing impartial news reports, but we now realize that the TV networks and newspapers are very partisan in their coverage. I guess we've been mighty naive. Our country is far from perfect, just like us, but we are mighty proud to be Americans.

So, New Orleans wasn't that much fun. Perhaps it was because we had two very long days without much rest. Perhaps it was because we saw what all the tourists see, and we prefer the road less traveled.

Today was a day of contrast. Big cities and small towns. Rich and poor. Clean and dirty. Sophisticated and naive. Old and new. Bad and good. Common and unusual. Live and dead. Drinkers and non-drinkers. $1 and $100. Losing and winning. Convention and unconventional. Tired and rested. Cool and warm. Oceans and swamps. Loud and quiet. Expected and unexpected. Quirky and "normal." Back roads and interstate. Mansions and shacks. Pickup trucks and limousines. Haves and have nots. Happy and unhappy. Drunk and sober. Tourists and locals. International destination and roadside attraction. Homes on stilts and on dry land. Savannah and New Orleans. Fox and CNN. Republicans and Democrats. Left and right. White and black. Red and black and green. We're seeing it all. We're all different.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we've been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we've seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this web site. Other pages of interest include the running report of "vital statistics" on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you'd like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest and the full itinerary is shown.