Across America - Day 2 - Monday 5/16/11

The Endeavour launches for one last time today so we were up early to watch the launch after which we quickly packed up and ready to say bye to Mickie n Minnie :(

Orlando, FL – New Orleans, LA

10:00 am – we leave Orlando, it will Turnpike North first and then we jump on I-75 N. We finished breakfast in Ocala and then continued on I-75 towards Gainesville. We drove through University of Florida, it’s a beautiful campus, got a few pictures in Gatorland and back on track! We then hopped on I-10 W somewhere around the state capital –Tallahassee - we will be on I-10 for the rest of the day!

1:00 pm – things look smooth until Madhav gets pulled over by a cop in Tally, “hi why are we doing 97 today?” he said, a few quick protocols before we get slapped with a $290 citation – phew! We did say goodbye to the Sunshine State in style, didn’t we!!

2:00 pm – quick stop for lunch, switched seats and ready for the afternoon!

6:00 pm CST – we reached Pensacola and decided to take a detour into the city. We drove along the Gulf on Scenic Hwy; there are some beautiful houses on this drive! We initially wanted to drive to the lighthouse and other points of interest in Pensacola but we had to get to New Orleans before night time so we skipped all that.

After Florida came Alabama the Beautiful and our only stop there was at Battleship Park to see USS Alabama. The ship is parked in a quiet and uncelebrated corner! I was surprised to see no visitor fees and gift shops surrounding it and we were the only ones clicking pictures with the ship, there were a few others in the area but they were fishing!

Next came Mississippi “Birthplace of America’s Music”.

7:30 pm – “Welcome to Louisiana Bienvenue en Louisiane” Louisiana comes right after Mississippi’s Pearl River. We drove straight into New Orleans and that would be our halt for the night! It was chilly evening down in the early 60s.

The I-10 pretty much looks similar throughout FL, green and clean on either sides! The stretch post Pensacola was exciting as we started crossing state lines. The MS stretch of I-10 looked noticeably old town and the LA stretch was the worst in terms of quality of the road. But the freeway is far better compared to the roads inside the city of New Orleans. Katrina really killed the roads in this city. We were instantly reminded of our Chennai roads, New Orleans is worse!!

We found it very exciting to capture all the welcome signs on our trip. We pulled up the route on iPhone 

Google Maps so we could tell when we were nearing a state line. So, keep that camera handy! We also noticed that there’s a rest area as soon as you enter each state so I guess you could turn around too!

We checked into La Quinta on the I10-W service road, it costed us about $70 a night with complimentary breakfast. We went to Jacques Imo for some local flavor. The local flavor of New Orleans is a combination of Cajun, southern delicacies, sea food and tons of unimaginable sea creatures and amphibians!! One of their appetizers is the Shrimp-Alligator-Sausage Cheesecake – that according to me is a crazy combination! If you are a vegetarian, you wanna be extra cautious in this town J My favorite in this restaurant was their corn bread on the house. It’s topped with garlic and parsley and smells and tastes heavenly. I was intrigued by their fried grits and of course I ordered it but it came with toppings that I couldn’t even recognize and sure enough, one of them was craw fish! Jacques was a fun experience inspite of the fact that I am a vegetarian! It’s a great place to get a feel of the local people and cuisine! I just got lucky with the corn bread and the sole veggie entrée!