Wednesday, July 3, 2013

The 3,000 Miles: Day 3

Day three was a first for me: the man I was sharing a bed with woke up screaming. 

Since each hotel is going to have two beds, and there are three of us and three hotels, we decided that each hotel someone would sleep alone. The other two would share.

Ali was the first to claim a bed, so Joe and I shared the other (Joe claimed the single for New Orleans and I get the single for Arizona!). 

During the middle of the night, Joe was whimpering and mumbling in his sleep, so I turned over to see if he was okay. Apparently, he was having a nightmare that the front desk clerk was murdering us and my movement surprised a shriek out of him.

I, still being sleepy, said eff this and went back to sleep. Five hours later, we hit the road. If Day 2's keyword was rain, then Day 3's driving could easily be called sunny.

The closer we got to New Orleans, the clearer the skies. The road also became a straight line contrasted to the curvy mountain roads of the Mid-Atlantic.

On the way we saw mist covered mountains, large lakes and rolling oceans. Here is my view from the back seat:



hahaha! With Joe doing 90% of the driving and Ali acting as Navigator, I've been in the backseat nook, which I like, but it prevents me from taking decent photos of some of the more amazing road sights. 

I did get to see them, just didn't get a photo.

The hotel in New Orleans was really nice. Gold coated faucet handles, a little courtyard with a fountain for three rooms to share, nice flower wallpaper that matched heavy silver curtains. The lobby had a chandelier.

Video to come.

But New Orleans! The nightlife is like nothing else. Roads were closed off to cars so that people can walk freely, you can have alcohol out in the open (as long as it's in a nonbreakable container), loud music and the heavy scent of food battle for attention. It's definitely something to experience.

We started our night with a stop in a bar, of course. I ordered a Long Island Iced Tea, but it was subpar. But since we weren't staying at the bar, I was able to carry it and drink slowly to the next place, a little southern pub. The food was warm (as in spicy), but it was delicious and worked with my glass of red wine.

At this point, I'm drunk. I'm drunk until the next morning.

After the pub, we headed to another bar (catch the pattern here?), where Ali and Joe got a Hand Grenade, "New Orleans' Most Powerful Drink." Loads of sugar, and alcohol for only $8 with refills at any of the Tropical Isle's spots. Some bars have little to-go sections just for this drink.


(The Hand Grenade)

After downing one, both Ali and Joe we're drunk (or close to it). We hit another bar, this one had a live band (Lov Sexy), that mostly covered songs from the 70's. Remember that I was drunk, so of course I danced.

When I was dirty dancing with an older woman (mid-forties), she took a dollar out and trailed it down my chest before shoving it into the waistband of my pants. At the time, I laughed it off and moved back to my friends.

Now I'm thinking, that I came pretty close to being something like a stripper. Another job I can check off my to do list.

I did use that woman's dollar to buy a tube shot, that didn't taste like alcohol so I'm sure it wasn't too bad.

We stayed in that bar for at least an hour drinking and dirty dancing. Joe "cut a rug" extremely well (he's got rhythm), and the bar started chanting, "Go white boy! Go white boy!"

It was hilarious. Once we started getting tired, we headed to another bar - with Joe saying he wanted to go to a strip club. Of course, once Ali and I starting walking into a strip club, Joe kept walking down the street.

We ended up in another bar with live music, but this time it was trailer park dudes singing 90's rock songs. I didn't like this bar as much, so I left and explored the area a little. Ten minutes later, I met up with Ali and Joe and we decided to split. 

Joe wanted to stay on the street, Ali wanted to go back to the hotel for a bit and I wanted to see the non-party side of New Orleans. I dropped Ali off before waking to a nearby park with light statues. 

However, I was still drunk and I didn't want to get lost so I turned back shortly. Ali called on my way back, wanting a hot dog, so I nabbed one for her and one for me.

Joe was back and clearly smashed when I returned. He tried to sit on the corner of the bed, only to fall to the floor. When we laughed, he decided to show us up by doing a rolling-flip thing that would have been impressive if only he didn't crumble forward two seconds after landing.

Ali and I laughed again (how could we not?). Joe stood up and declared that he was showering. I lied down to sleep, listening to the rushing water. The last thing I remember thinking was, I'll give Joe thirty minutes before I check on him fearing he might drown.

I fell asleep before the water stopped. (Spoiler alert: Joe did not drown. He's just slightly hungover.)

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