Our road trip started at 4:45 a.m. Torrential downpours followed us the entire 14 hour drive. We literally never escaped them for more than 10 minutes at a time. During the drive, Brendan snored so loud at one point that he woke himself up. And, while I was sleeping, he woke me up because he thought he saw a moose alongside the road. It was a cow. I had to remind him that moose do not run wild in Mississippi. We also stopped for lunch at a typical Southern burger chain called Jack’s. I ordered a double cheese burger and asked the lady working if they had wheat buns. She looked at me, scoffed and laughed. I realized I probably seemed like a pretentious Northerner. While we were eating lunch, Brendan and I played two handed as usual, and the people there not only found it unusual that we were playing cards at a fast food restaurant but also that we were playing some foreign game called euchre. It led to us having an hour long conversation with the cute older couple sitting next to us. We eventually made it to Dylan’s house at 6:30 p.m. We didn’t really get lost on the way here, but the street signs in New Orleans are definitely antiquated. Instead of being over the intersections, they’re hidden off to the side. We also saw the super dome where everyone took refuge during Hurricane Katrina, which was really surreal. Once we got to Dylan’s, we said hi to Brian Bell and met three of his Miami of Ohio friends. I then made a bee line for the shower. Once I was done getting ready, Dylan’s roommate Dan took a group of us to the grocery store to get a few food items in case we want to make any meals at their house. In addition to getting some burritos, milk, etc., we also got king cake, which is a traditional Mardi gras pastry, and Zapp’s voo-doo chips, which are traditional New Orleans chips. After bringing our food back to the house, I counted up how many people will be staying here for the next few days. The total reached 14 give or take a few. Brendan and I then went out to dinner at the Saltwater Grill. It had poor service but OK food. We tried the oyster platter with grilled asparagus and beans and rice. It was fun to try authentic Louisianan food, but our waitress was literally so bad that we barely tipped her. We have never done that before. I think that says a lot about the kind of service we received. We ended up getting back to the house around 10:30 and going to bed. Everyone else got back at different times. It wasn’t necessarily the best night of sleep I’ve ever got, but Dylan was sweet enough to give up his bed.
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