http://blogs.bootsnall.com/JessieGoes Its going to take me my whole life, bit by bit, but I'll get there. Tue, 08 Jul 2008 03:51:25 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Just in case you didn't know, I moved the site, and checking here won't work anymore! Please visit www.mytb.org/jessiegoes  to keep reading! http://blogs.bootsnall.com/JessieGoes/jessiegoes-has-moved.html I arrive in Vicksburg, perched high above the Mississippi river, about 2 hours to sunset, and make my way through the main street and down a steep enbankment towards the river to the bed and breakfast I’m stay at tonight.     It is surrounded by lovely gardens and feels old and ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/JessieGoes/a-ghost-story-part-i.html There are days when all the romance of roadtrips goes out the window.   Lets say, when you fight with your computer to accept the free wifi WEP at your hotel for an hour yet it still never really gets on, so you finally wait in line to use theirs, and ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/JessieGoes/road-trip-rage.html Outside of big cities, the USA doesn't have a heck of a lot of guesthouses of the hostel type.   A place where you can NOT make reservations in advance and have a good chance of landing a cheap bed, or find yourself in an atmosphere where single travellers can congregate.    ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/JessieGoes/cajun-hostel-with-a-side-order-of-timbuktu.html 7 people, 2 from Korea (1 who spoke no English - how he ended up in a Louisiana swamp outside of Breaux Bridge is anyones guess), and 1 Cajun, took off in our swamp mobile at 3:30, pushing off the side of the banks of the Cypress Island/Lake Martin Swamp.  The boat ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/JessieGoes/swamps-gators-and-cajuns.html Another great roadtrip day, near perfect weather, 72 degrees, no humidity and blue skies this morning, so uncharacteristic of New Orleans in May. First order of business on the day, aside from packing my things back into the car, is a small detour on my way out through the Bywater and ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/JessieGoes/bywater-lower-9th-plantations.html Of course there are a few other things that have influenced New Orleans in the more modern era.  The government, notably during the early 20th century has been famously corrupt and bribe oriented.  Today, some say, just like the chicory in the coffee, the french in the cuisine and the ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/JessieGoes/all-that-jazzand-a-rumored-vampire-or-two.html So...how is it that New Orleans, and the French Quarter in particularly, got this way, so different then the rest of the country?    Well, first, though settled in 1718, it didn't become part of the good ol' USA til after the Louisiana Purchase, and many say that it still, in ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/JessieGoes/big-easy-history.html By myself now, Rob to his classes in Montgomery, and me onward to the Cresent City.  The sights and sounds from my table at Cafe Du Monde still feel the same.  Visitors crowd every table, brushing powdered sugar off of themselves, the city anthem "Oh When the Saints Go Marching In" ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/JessieGoes/do-you-know-what-it-means-to-miss-new-orleans.html Well, I must say the drive from Apalachicola continuing west is nowhere near as relaxed or pretty as the panhandle has been to this point.  After a semi solid nights sleep, the dozen or so giants who must have checked into room 214 of the Nacho stompily pried me from ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/JessieGoes/further-down-panhandle-lane.html