(Sung to a slow blues rhythm)

I’ve gots 142 birds

but that’s not enough for youz

You want somethin’ new

I’ve gots the checklist blues

I took you to the east

I found you 4 birds blue

You want something’ new

I’ve gots the checklist blues

We went through the south

the red birds we did see

You want somethin’ new

I’ve gots the checklist blues

In the great north we survived the storm

for a boreal owl to see

You want somethin’ new

I’ve gots the checklist blues

four thousand miles

and only 142

you want somethin’ new

I’ve gots the checklist blues

From New Orleans to Washington DC, we followed within about 50 miles of the coastline and everywhere we turned there was water:  seeps, sloughs, bays, estuaries, inlets, streams, rivers, creeks, brooks, ponds, lakes, reservoirs, swamps, marshes, wetlands, bayous, sounds, ocean, lagoons, branches, … 

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There was so much water that the air was thick with the stuff:  mist, dew, fog, and it condensed on our skin and other surfaces with very little provocation.  It even fell from the sky as rain and hail. 

One can’t help but notice that the southeast has so much water and meanwhile so much of the rest of the country is water-starved. This is just another example of the physical differences across regions. But we wonder how it colors the perceptions of the people who live here and have never been west of the Mississippi. No wonder drought in the west isn’t a big story here.

In a previous post I commented on the Mississippi River being the early version of the interstate highway. Lots of people say “Don’t travel on the interstate it all looks the same.” Mostly these people haven’t travelled very far on the interstate. I-40 in northern Arizona certainly looks different with its wide-open spaces and endless sky then the tree-lined tunnel of I-95 in South Carolina (see photo). And the road surface varies from silky smooth to some of the worst pavement we have driven on anywhere. And when it comes to covering distance in a vehicle there really is no other option than the interstate.

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That being said, when we can, we like to get off the big interstates. Rural America does look a lot alike in some ways: small communities interspersed with generally open space (even in the east), schools with football stadiums and ball fields, lots of little businesses, all linked together with roads and an occasional railroad. This is a lot like northeastern California in many ways. We’ve travelled a long ways but we still feel close to home. Oh – and if you want to know the worst roads: I-40 east of Flagstaff and US-90 in southern Louisiana win the ribbon for roughest.

Boyd

It's not the first day of summer....

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Who ever came up with the Big Easy as a nickname for New Orleans must have been a photographer. There are an incredible number of opportunities to make images of interesting things in the Crescent City. We spent a whole day in the French Quarter and only just started to see how many possibilities there might be. We like to look for colors when we are in urban areas. Here’s six samples of some of what we found in NOLA (besides nicknames).

Those words flashed at us on the temporary sign as we crossed a canal onto Tybee Island, Georgia, followed with the cryptic: “…water parade ahead”.  We had no idea what was in store until the first group of scantily clad bystanders pulled out their oversized, homemade pvc water guns and blasted our car with straight streams of water filled from garbage cans lined up and ready.  Everyone was in on the action, kids with squirt guns, old people with remote controlled hoses, and everyone in between, each with their own brand of aquatic weapon.

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The local citizenry gets one opportunity a year to blast drivers as they pass down several miles of Main Street, followed by a parade where the water flew in both directions.  We had driven 4,000 miles without a car wash, so removal of at least some of the accumulated bug splatters was appreciated.  We waved merrily as we navigated our way to the Atlantic Ocean (our destination) on the far side of town. You just never know what random event you will run into crossing America.

Kathy

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It was a dark and stormy night (actually it was clear – but stormy sounds better) when we saw them staring at us in a State Park in New Orleans (N’walins to locals) as we took an evening stroll.  First one darted by, then another blinked on and off in the nearby tree line.  Soon more joined in until we were surrounded by eerily staring, but unsynchronized blinking eyes, steadily going on and off.  Having seen just one before, we realized we were surrounded by hundreds of fireflies.  For a minute it felt like we were on the “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride in Disneyland, only it was better because they were real; one of those special, unplanned moments.  

Kathy

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I-310 bridge over the Mississippi River

While driving the west bank river road upstream of New Orleans we toured this Creole plantation. An enterprise built on slavery and cheap transportation of sugar down the river. The Creoles were French and Catholic and had been in Louisiana for well over 100 years by the time that first steamboat came huffing along. They knew not to paint houses white. The mold and climate would turn white houses green in a short time, so why not paint them more interesting colors?

By the time we reached the Mississippi River on this trip we had travelled a lot of miles on the interstate highway system. But the River was the first interstate highway system. Did you know the first steamboat travelled from Pittsburgh to New Orleans in 1811/1812? We didn’t. That’s 202 years ago; less than 10 years after Lewis and Clark had to pole their way up the Missouri from St. Louis.

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A Creole Plantation house - Laura Plantation

The workers did not get such a good break. Five people in a 16-foot by 16-foot cabin (when the law was followed – an important caveat). And everything from hammocks to possessions had to be kept in that space. And that was maybe the least of the cruelties their occupants endured in a system that produced commodities to be distributed to the world from ports on the River.

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Slave duplex - Laura Plantation

Today the plantations are gone, but sugar and all manner of other commodities are still moving up and down the river. It is still an interstate highway.

Boyd

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I always find it surrealistic to walk through historic icons, such as the Alamo.  I saw the movie and read accounts of what took place, but it is different being in the same buildings (initially built as a mission in 1718) where the battle for Texas independence took place in 1836.  Standing where they stood, I came away with a greater appreciation for the 186 valiant men from a wide assortment of cultures that joined forces to fight a bigger foe.  It was a case of losing the battle to later win the war.

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Since we were in San Antonio, we also walked the River Trail, a portion of the San Antonio River in a canal, reconstructed for the 1968 HemisFair that winds through town (think Venice).  While environmentally probably not the best thing, it created a festive ambiance as we dined in one of the many canal-side cafes.  A nice day. 

Kathy

Traveling the US in the spring is an interesting exercise in weather behavior.  Within two days we went from 22 degrees at Luna Lake (over 8,000’ elevation) in Arizona to 108 degrees at Big Bend National Park in Texas. 

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We were chased by severe thunderstorms as we drove across Texas to Boyd’s sister’s in Houston.  The scanner weather alert went off three times, including a notification that the campground we had stayed at in the beautiful hill country of Texas (never thought I’d use the words “beautiful” and “Texas” in the same sentence), was under a severe thunderstorm alert with quarter sized hail, heavy rain, and flash floods.  We were glad not to be crossing all those low water channels with the warning signs and flood gauges we had seen!  Now we find ourselves in the south (New Orleans) where our skin gets instantly "dewey" as it contacts the saturated air.  Meanwhile we hear that it’s snowing in Colorado and Wyoming.

It’s more exciting when you don’t know what to expect each day, but certainly air-conditioning makes life easier than it was for the natives and early settlers that we keep reading about at historic stops.

 “…whether the weather is hot, we have to put up with the weather, whether we like it or not. “  As long as we can avoid the tornadoes!