Everglades and Aligators

It’s been another interesting part of the journey. I have spent the last week with Nigel catching up on all the things he and his family have been doing in the last 32 years, as well as drinking loads of Captain Morgan Rum, Wine and generally anything else that came to hand! We did do some work and some packing (they are moving this weekend) as well. I will be returning to continue the stay (and the drinking) next week.

I've also been visiting the Florida Everglades and the Keys.

The Everglades was a place I imagined to be mostly like Mangrove Swamp. I think that’s the impression that most of us get when we watch the TV programs that involve this part of the world. The truth couldn’t be much different. A lot of the Everglades are grass wetlands and some of the higher ground (i.e. 14 inches) are covered with small groves of Pine trees. Certainly no stagnant water here. There are areas of Mangroves around the coastal fringes where the water mixes with the sea water to become brackish. Having said all that Florida is not the place to visit in the summer months. It’s the wet season and the humidity would give anywhere in the tropics a run for it’s money!! Plus the fact that in the Everglades National Park they do not spray for Mosquitoes (being part of the food chain) which means in turn you become part of the food chain!! So after four hours of wandering about getting very hot and sweaty and bitten all over, you start to think this is the swamp you were expecting in the first place.


Some of the grass wetlands


With Mangroves around the edges


Some of the indigenous wildlife


This ones more widely known!


It never ceases to amaze me what people will do for attention

Another thing I got to do while I was here that I have wanted to do for a long time was to have a ride in one of the “plane boats” where the normal outboard motor is replaced with a V8 turning a aeroplane propeller. Good fun, but oh so laud!!


A "plane boat"


Good fun but you need the ear muffs!!


Hanging out at Alabama Jacks on a Sunday arvo

The second place that I wanted to visit was the Florida Keys and more importantly make it down to Key West which is the most southerly point in the USA. If was a nice but long ride (200km one way) from Homestead down to Key West through the state parks and over the long connecting bridges (7 miles being the longest) to get there. Once there you are immersed in one of this countries busier tourist spots, added to by at least one cruise ship in port. I chose to have a look around the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum which documents the finds of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha and the Santa Margarita the Spanish galleons that sank during a hurricane on September 6, 1622, near Key West. Mel and his team discovered the $450 million dollar treasure cache or "Atocha Mother Lode" on July 20, 1985. Over 40 tons of silver and gold were located including over 100,000 Spanish silver coins known as "Pieces of Eight", gold coins, Columbian emeralds, silver and gold artefacts and over 1000 silver bars. Interesting to see where some of those Pieces of Eight that were struck in the mint in Potosi in Bolivia that I visited all those months ago eventually ended up. Next I’m moving up the east coast of Florida.


Old Downtown Key West


No wonder there were a lot of people around!


Another old institution in Key West


The old weatherboard houses are very quaint


Ernest Hemingway lived just up the street


Sunken treasure. These gold bars are the real deal!

Just as a side note. Seeing that I have now reached the East coast of the USA. I guess I have now ridden from the bottom of the world to the top, and now all the way around. Feels good.

The Big Easy

The temperature had been gradually getting hotter the further south I had got, Vicksburg had been quite bearable but New Orleans was another thing altogether. The humidity was getting to the point where anything you did made you break out into a sweat. I had booked a hotel right in the middle of downtown New Orleans so that I could walk to the major attractions of the French Quarter and the Garden district. The French Quarter is fantastic, the narrow streets and French Colonial style buildings show none of the damage that Hurricane Katrina inflicted on the city back in 2005. Bourbon Street leads off Canal Street and was a five minute walk from the Hotel.


Party Street


Bourbon Street itself


Further down more residential


Down to Cathedral square


The French Market


Inside the Market

As I got there early the clean up operation from the festivities the night before was underway and the underlying smell of alcohol was still quite pungent. Further along and down towards the Mississippi the streets turned into more residential homes rather than bars and finally down to the French Market with its restaurants and gift stalls. It has a nice peaceful feel about the area. No wonder the tourists are starting to come back in large enough numbers to ensure the survival of this unique city. After wandering around for four hours I found a nice little restaurant and tried the first of the two specialties of New Orleans the Jambalaya. Delicious!


Jambalaya for lunch


A little more information about New Orleans


A more stylish way of seeing the French Quarter


Another paddle steamer on the Mississippi

The second day I walked in the opposite direction out towards the Garden district and the Lafayette Cemetery which while not the one used in the film Easy Rider (that was St Louis #1) It has been used in various other films since like Interview with a Vampire. Having walked quite a way to get out there and with very dark clouds rapidly approaching with thunder rolling around, I caught one of the old trams back to Canal Street. It was now time to try to find a restaurant that I had been told about for the second dish that I wanted to try Gumbo. It can have various things in it, but I went for the seafood Gumbo which although nice on it’s own I think would have made a better entree to the Jambalaya. That evening I went back into Bourbon St where it was just coming to life and the participants of this years Bull Run were arriving. Some very exotic machinery around, but after the afternoon downpour still funny watching someone moping the water out the back of a $250,000 soft top car with a chamois leather!!


Some of the old houses in the Garden Quarter are grand


Lafayette Cemetery


and again


Here comes the afternoon rain


The Old Trams

On Wednesday 13th I left New Orleans and as I traveled out of the city along the raised roadway I saw other parts of the city that were still boarded up and displayed what damage the force of the hurricane had done. I don’t know if the city will ever return to the same as it was but it will survive. I had a slow ride around to the beginning of the Florida Panhandle. After an overnight stop in Pensacola I continued along the Gulf of Mexico and some beautiful beach-side communities towards the next nights stop in a small town called Perry. I’m now enjoying some time out catching up with an old mate Nigel Tuckey. We served our apprenticeship together at Jaguar Cars in the UK but after loosing touch haven’t seen each other in 32 years!! As much as I dislike facebook it does have its uses.


Lunch time again


Better to start with the Gumbo


The Bull Run was in town


And Bourbon Street starts to come alive


One of the more colorful characters

Country Music, Rock and Roll and Civil War.

First stop was Nashville, home of the country music hall of fame, and for my visit the 4th of July Independence Day celebrations. On the 4th I visited the Country Music Hall of Fame and wandered up and down Broadway with all the bars and shops, and to find the original Grand Ole Opry (the new one is about 5 miles out of town and I think doesn't count). There was free live music all day down at the huge stage they had built over the river leading up to the fireworks in the evening.


The Country Music Hall of Fame


The bars on Broadway


The original Grand ole Opry site


Free music all day

While uneventful the ride through to Memphis was enjoyable. I chose a route that would keep me off the interstate, but which showed off some of the rolling green hills of Kentucky and Tennessee. Just after Jackson in a place called Vaughan, I stopped at the residence of one John Luther (“Casey”) Jones. Again those of my age might remember the TV series; anyone younger will not have a clue. It never occurred to me that he was a real person and the old song is about a real event back in April 1900 when he heroically saved the lives of all his passengers on the Cannonball Express as it ran into another train. He of course died and became part of American history.




All aboard the Cannonball Express

Memphis was another place I was really looking forward to seeing and another place I have come away from disappointed. I found it to be quite a depressing and unfriendly place. The one saving grace for the place are the BBQ ribs!! I tried them in two of the cities most famous restaurants Neely’s and Charlie Vergos’ Rendezvous, personally I preferred Neely’s.


Down an alleyway and down into the basement


Some very good ribs!!


An unusual way of ensuring the buildings don't fall


At the other end of Beale Street BB Kings place

The second day I was there I went to see the home of one Elvis Arron Presley. Now I’ve never been much of an Elvis fan but when in Rome…. The first shock was the $10 to park the bike, then after paying the $35 for the platinum ticket to be able to see the planes and the automobile collection (it was only $5 more ) I was told that I couldn’t take my camera in because it was a video. In years gone by I might have agreed, but in this day and age every phone and normal digital camera has the capability to take video, which I politely but firmly pointed out to them, and seeing that they weren’t stopping anyone else except me I was getting more and more angry. As a result I was attracting the attention of more and more security. In the end I had to lock the camera away and quieten down. So there are very few pictures of Graceland from my camera. Not happy and not impressed. So anyone going there either hide it very well or just use your Iphone!! For the arseholes that are the security there, I’ll reproduce the images that are in any Google search and if you want video of the house just look in the same place!! The crowd when I arrived was OK when I left it was huge. They are still raking in millions 30 years after the guy died. As a footnote, the house itself wasn’t as big as I had imagined it would be.


The Gates at Graceland


The Mansion


The living room


The jungle room (the seventies has a lot to answer for)


The grave is just to the right of the house

Once again I hadn’t really planned where I was going to stop after Memphis. So that night I got the map and picked Vicksburg. Again from nothing planned comes the most unexpected surprise. This little town on the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers in the state of Mississippi is a lovely place. Small enough to be comfortable and not be fighting with the traffic on six lane highways, but with a history and civic pride that makes it feel welcoming and accessible. There are still a lot of pre civil war buildings in the town due mainly to the fact that the town was placed under siege during the war and eventually surrendered after 47 days on the 4th of July. For this reason the 4th wasn’t celebrated as it is everywhere else in the states (Independence Day) until about 8years ago. They have very long memories in the south, and according to quite a lot of people, it will rise again one day……

Two places in Vicksburg that are worth a visit are firstly the first place in the world to bottle Coca Cola on March 12th 1894. Before this it was sold out of a syrup jar and carbonated water was added afterwards. A local candy store owner Joseph Biedenharn thought that it would be a good idea as not many people in the outlying areas came into town that often. He asked permission from the Coca Cola company who said yes, but weren’t interested themselves in doing it. The rest, as they say, is history.


The original candy store


An original syrup fountain


This soda fountain is fantastic


The original bottle to the present day shape

The second place is the Vicksburg National Military Park a pleasant enough park to drive around, but the real feature for me was the Union Ironclad Gunboat the “Cairo” which was sunk by a mine in 1862 and raised 100 years later.


The Ironclad Gunship "Cairo"


It's hard to imagine the noise inside one of these paddle steamers

A third place worth a mention is the ‘Old Courthouse” museum. The civil war memorabilia that they have in there gives a great incite into what life and war must have been like back then. All in all I enjoyed my time in Vicksburg immensely.


The old Court House museum


The south will rise again