once the car finally stopped in Lewes, I was exhausted, couldn't do anything. ate food watched the derby, drank, slept.
I am FINALLY in NYC, after a ridickuluss 5 hours. nauseating. BUT here I am , here. east coast, QUEENS. ahh, about to eat pizza!!

the record: 5 states in 12 hours

so yesterday was a wash blog wise , however was a great day... but I cannot CANNOT post photos & write about it tonight, I will have to recap on Saturday when my bootay is in Lewesay. it is 1:30am and we really kicked it.
Dont tell anyone, but St Augustine is an oasis, errr I mean... awful , AHEM ..dont ever go there..... Ghosties , yes, sightings, no....
It was so hot & humid, a great intro to my future summer...It was very damp- (Kim laughed at me dripping wet from a walk from the porch to the car, off )! the fires made breathing a bit of a challenge. WE left at about 1:30 and in 2 hours & georgia, the temperature dropped, I SWEAR, 10-15 degrees. and as we hit NC, it was c-o-l-d even... a jacket , all in one day... kinda cool.
weather schmeather, we are in EMPORIA VA, tomorrow should be a breezy 5 hours, (?)
WHERE I will upload photos & write stuff.
gniter

4 states, a lotta pine trees, long drive

Its Thursday, I lost a day on the road ... but at least now I am in the Eastern TIME ZONE!!!
I had more N.O. shots I was gonna upload, maybe later.....
So today, Fla, what does one do in Florida? in May? besides sweat, hmmm maybe some laundry.
Maybe I will head to st augustine... sorry , pretty boring.....

beignets

here is a shot of the beignets & cafe au lait, from Cafe du monde, It is THE place to get these two items. Either it was too late in the day, or I wasn't drunk enough to "get it'. While tasty -- fried dough--I dunno, maybe you have to be from N.O.

Here's a shot for pops... he has his own personal corner in N.O.

Dinner at Jaque imo

FINE I AY
well, I guess I will look into how to REALLY SPELL IT-
we had KILLER DINNER here,YUM
My FAV, soft shell crab deep fried on top of grilled eggplant & fried green tomato napolean! YUMMIE
You can actually eat in the pick up truck.....
I'll flip the photo tomorrow, meanwhile rotate YO HADE FOOL!!

French Quarter & lower 9th ward

not neccesarily in that order. this from me Deny,
Good morning PJs coffee shop ( note: NOT STARblechts) Then cousin david drove us around the lower 9th ward, Unbelievable. Before visiting N.O. I couldn't believe that 2 years later, here in US of A, there are still areas without electricity & people living in FEMA trailers. WHY? HOW? here in the US of A? So from the inside scoop, yes, it is a horrible situation, yes there could be more assistance, but the assistance they recieved was squandered and misused. And it seems there is lots of indecision within the local gov about WHAT to rebuild. The Local news is still very much about rebuilding & problems with gov decisions. I am surprised that not much of it filters out to mainstream news. Although I hear Anderson Cooper says these people who are rebuilding in these hardest hit areas are in denial, since it was not Katrina but the levee breach that is responsible. ( Now NOCuz's if I screwed this up PLEASE correct me, please)
Having never been to NO I have no idea was it looked like b4. But the devestation is incredible. the roads are rutted & trashed, the post levee breach markings are still on most houses, there are trees & debris still on top of buildings. Things haven't been cleared or cleaned, there is a house on top of a car ( the spray paint sign says 1600 people died 4U2 take this picture ) while next door someone is rebuilding a house. The requirement is 3 ft above the ground level, which is silly when you realize the water rose way above the roof in this area. So I am guessing they don't know if they can fix the levees enough to make these houses safe. Although the cynic in me thinks someone wants to clear the decks... There are some really strong folks hanging strong in the 9th ward, who are either rebuilding or living in the FEMA trailers. There are alot of businesses that have not come back because there is no one to work in them. The population has been cut in half. The french quater has t shirts with jokes about it. It is all very sad, irritating, depressing, angering, unerving, so many more words I will fill in tomorrow....
So much for french quarter fun..... I had beginets & cafe at Cafe Du MOnde, did a bit of sovenier shopping, drank some beer, looked at pretty buildings & the ole miss, enjoyed the humidity that I will be experiencing in FULL this summer.
heres a couple pix, maybe more tomorrow. Mags didn't write today, so far she hasn't offered much in this HAS SHE??? :)

NAWLINS!

FINALLY over the Mississippi!!!!!! That was the big event. Cousins are awesome, got here a bit late, due to a few accidents along the way, backups etc. but we are here, got a quick bite & are planning tomorrow. plan to visit voodoo queen cemetery, Anne Rice's house in the garden district & of course the french quarter and beignets & muffalata.... so hope for a great post tomorrow. ---deny

ANd MAGSIE SAY:
New Orleans
Hey there,
Well, got into N.O. a bit later than expected, so it was hard to see much tonight. Had a lovely dinner, and are visiting with Deny's cousins. Tomorrow we go to the French Quarter and to see areas that are still really devastated. Still, it's a lovely city. We've seen lot's of egrets and unfortunately alot of dead armadillos. Well, time to call it a night. Chat tomorrow.

the birdies we saw

DISCLAIMER: these are not our photos , we borrowed them from yahoo,
we saw this guy : Scissor tailed flycatcher today , zooming about the highways in hill cuntry
and this guy was in NM, around las cruces : northern_harrier
guess which one is which!!!

DAY 2.... ends in Texas

Phew, long day , about 12 hours....and mapquest said it should take 10ish, we think we were either abducted by aliens or its an effect of time zone shimmy...we aren't sure but we are being entertained by books on tape, Louise Rennison's novels about Georgia Nicolson, a precocious british teenager.
I must say I prefer southern TX to the panhandle, prettier, & the medians were filled with wild flowers & I think it must have something to do with LadyBird Johnson's Wildflower center. very pretty. It rained alot, we decided not to go to Austin, but to spend the extra time in Nawlins with my cousins!
Margaret didn't write anything today, so thats all I have, maybe she'll write in the AM, but really it was uneventful.
Here is a pic & pretty much it looked like this the whole way , after we got out of the 'big bend' section & into 'hill country'
Okay kids, g'night ...

So Mags speaks:

Tex-ass

Hey Kitty Kats,
Well, we are in Houston. Tomorrow we will go to New Orleans (Thank God). Note to self...if you ever get the wild idea to drive across the ridiculously large state of Texas...have someone smack you silly until you regain your senses or lose consciousness....either way you'll be much better off.. Really though, it's all been pretty good so far. We've encountered some ugly rain storms and lightning, but no tornadoes, so that's a bonus. We are currently in the hotel with beer and goldfish, so all is not lost. Must be a zillion cows sort of randomly wandering about in this state. We've seen a few birds we've been unable to identify, so that will be fun to track them down. We keep losing bits of time, too. Keep your skirts on, it has NOTHING to do with beer or goldfish!!! It's either alien abduction or time zone time/space fluctuation. Well, must get back to lounging about.
s'later

DAY 1 ends in Texas

We met a road runner in Las Cruces, NM! he was made out of old rubber shoes & found trash, he was very tall we could walk under his legs without ducking. (google las cruces roadrunner rest stop) lucky us margaret insisted we stop to pee! This guy made the whole day worthwhile, better than white sands.
we drove from Tucson to El Paso & mags drove the whole time, don;t think I can get away with that tomorrow!!

This is from Mags blog
on the road....

Hey there,
Well yesterday was one long-assed day. My flight was delayed, etc. I was up for 22 hours...woo hoo. We went to Tuscon to the Hotel Congress. It was a funky, wild place which was very cool. Woke up with a tick attached to my arm..... We drove to El Paso, TX today, and may try to make it to Houston tomorrow. The Texas long-haul has begun! Check back later.
mm

let the road trip begin...Friday!

Hey all,
Deny & Margaret here, (well actually, she isn't here yet, I am waiting for her flight.) We decided to blog our trip! aren't you excited? it should be RIVETING. Thelma & Louise in reverse, we haven't decided who is who yet....
Mags will write, since I suck at it & I will take some pics, we'll do our best to post & respond if need be. 7 days RT10 to RT95. This is the pre paragraph from her blog:

We are checking out the Hotel Congress in Tuscon.....funky 1919 place with live music venue. Should be a kick ass way to start a road trip! Then we are on to New Mexico, where hopefully, all the aliens we meet will be friendly! The brutal part of the trip begins in the Lone Star state, where we've been promised tumbleweeds and oil wells. Maybe we'll meet up with Roadrunner and Coyote....? The Big Easy will be a welcome relief from the cross Texas journey. Can ya say Nawlins Jazz, hun? Woo hoo! Then on to the Sunshine State to visit one of my fave folks on this here planet! We are guaranteed entertainment and good times there. Check in here regular, y'all, 'cause we will be chit chattin' 'bout our adventures! S'later.

http://www.hotelcongress.com/