Driving Home

Welp! My time in the desert of Arizona came to an end recently which means I had to pack up all of my things and hit the ol' dusty trail. I am happy that I got to spend some of my last days in the US participating in one of our most ancient  traditions; the road trip. 

The Arizona Landscape

Fighting dysentery, snakebites and food spoilage my fellow intrepid explorer Stephanie and I fought our way through the south west

Dust Devils along the Highway

Our first stop was in the completely forgettable Van Horn Texas, we had the choice of staying in the "El Capitan hotel" or the Days Inn down the road and chose to go with the known evil.This particular Days Inn had an air conditioner with only two settings, "Off" and "Tundra" which led to a very poor motel experience. Our next stop however will not soon be forgotten.

Austin TX is a wonderful city, I love it, It would love to live there and I still can't believe it's Texas! It's like they saved up all of the awesome in the state and dropped in on one patch of land and called it Austin.

Austin Lake Oasis at Sunset

Dinner at the Oasis

After Austin we drove through a few hundred more mile of Texas, which is scenic in parts, but in the end there is just a little too much of it.

The next stop was good old New Orleans LA. Understandably after our third day straight of driving too much we were lacking motivation to fully commit to the new Orleans experience, instead settling on exploring the city in a lucid state. I was able to grab a fantastic meal from my favorite New Orleans restaurant Bennachin by the skin of my teeth so I came away satisfied. On the other hand, in true New Orleans fashion there were plenty of other vacationers picking up the slack in the alcohol department. Many belligerent arguments, bachelorette parties complete with neon genitalia hair pieces and even an elevator full of hung-over hotel guests with fresh tattoos were witnessed in our short time there. We started the next muggy morning off right with iced coffee and beignets at the always-fantastic Cafe Du Monde and hit the road for the final stretch. 

Walking around the Streets

Souvenirs in New Orleans

The last stretch was uneventful, we were focused on the road and completing the cross country road trip. We stopped in Mobile Alabama are the Dauphin Bicycle Shop for some pretty unique tacos and  a Dairy Queen in the middle of the Pan handle for Blizzards. It was a good day.

What the road looked like by the end of the trip