Quest for Quirky Americana Pop Culture Landmarks II: Week 3

Day 15

After a fun day of packing everything wet back in the car, we drove to New Orleans. There is a rather long bridge leading in to New Orleans. It's about 20 miles long, you do hit some land every now and then so it cant be classified as the world's longest bridge. It does give you a nice tour of the swamp land of LA.

We arrived at our hotel and went for a swim and then ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. After a small nap we were out on the town. Bourbon St. was a blast. There were many street performers who we got to sign the Brady Bunch theme song after dropping some change in their box. We arrived at a restaurant that had a guitar player that played the guitar and harassed the audience. We ate and harassed him back.

Back on the street, we walked up and down. We visited the World's Smallest Bar, and Preston got a beer. It was called the Tiny Tap. Sold two kinds of beer and it was only big enough for the bar tender and one customer. The street was blocked off from cars, but you had to deal with heavy traffic on the cross streets. Mike showed how much of a gentleman he is by assisting and elderly lady across the street.

Bourbon street was a blast, and it you ever get the chance, stop by and visit. Mardigras is an even bigger party, but everything is booked four years in advance. Please note Peters beer that he purchased him self with no ID, and is walking down the street drinking it.


Day 16

Today we drove a lot. We're in the middle of South Carolina. They only highlight was when Mike was driving and we hit a really big bug that went splat on the windshield... It left a great big blood stain on the window. Being as it was flying insect, it does not count for a road kill.

Tomorrow, South of the Border, and Washington, DC. and hopefully home.

Day 17

Our last day on the road. We left our beautiful camp site and it's wild animals, in Aiken SC. We did however, take with us a large portion of the sand that was around our tents. In SC we had our only close call with THE MAN. We were driving along, the radar detector was going off and we saw two cops in the middle of the road. One of them pulled out and followed us for a couple of miles. Then he got off at the next exit. We were not really speeding, but being pulled over would have been a drag.

After complaining for 16 days, we arrived at South Of The Border, SC, and Peter was able to get the fire works that he wanted so much. SOB is located just SOUTH of the North Carolina BORDER , hence the name. It is quite the large tourist trap. More spread out then we were expecting. They had many different shops, some amusement rides, and a hotel. Our first stop was the fire works store. Peter was like a kid in a candy store. Come to think of it, he WAS a kid in a candy store. In no time he had is cart filled. two of these, three of those. He spent his money faster then...?? He just spent it fast. Preston grabbed some items and we were off. Mike was busy checking out the over priced items in the Western Shop. We all went to the T Shirt shop, but did not buy anything. The prices where rather high, and the even charged you for the SOB bumper stickers. Wall Drug gave them away, and is a much better stop.

On our way again, we tried to figure out how much more fireworks Peter could have gotten if he had not bought so much candy on the trip. We estimated it two ways. We figured 7 candy bars a day at $.65 each. Over the 17 days it comes to $77.35. Peter did not agree with our math and told us to calculate it at $3.00 each time we stopped for gas. We stopped 28 times, for a total of $84.00. Either way I think we are low.

We arrived at Washington, DC and our first stop was the Jefferson Memorial. To keep the tradition alive, the National Park Service was nice enough to have the Memorial and the Statue completely covered with scaffolding so we could not get a good look at it. Being as the building is round, one should be able to whisper by the wall and some else on the other side can hear it. We tried but there was to many other visitors and we could not hear over all the talking.

We tried to get to the Lincoln Memorial but we kept getting detoured over one bridge or another. We did end up at the Washington Monument. We illegally parked and walked up to it. It's made with a stone from each stated of the union, and has fifty flags around it. None in the flags are marked and there is no reference to which stone came from which state.

After a brief visit to the White House, we were on our way in DC rush hour traffic. What a mess. We got gas, ate dinner and found our way to route 1 above Baltimore. Our last stop was the Mason Dixon Line Marker in Rising Sun, MD. The very marker that Preston tried to steal in his first road trip... We arrived back in Newtown Square at 9:05 p.m. with the Brady Bunch playing as we drove through town. We unpacked and the car, what a mess.

Some stupid facts and figures for the trip:
409 hours, 50 minutes.
7,120 miles.
437.21 gallons of gas.
$527.67 spent on fuel.
22 States plus the District of Columbia. 25 states if you count the ones we went thought twice.
No break downs.
No speeding tickets.
No unwanted run ins with the law.
No accidents or body damage to the car.
No road kills.
No thefts. With the exception of one pair of sun glasses, nothing lost of forgotten any where. Pretty remarkable if you think about it.

Day 18

We spent the day cleaning that car. We found $15.59 in spare change in the car. It came in very handy at the coin-op Wash 'n' Vac. We also found a dozen post cards that where never mailed, and the stamps to go with them. Most of the dirt came out with the exception of a small amount of Blizzard stain in the back seat. The car needs a good wax and will be for sale for who ever wants to buy it.

A quick thank you to everyone who helped with this trip, and a big thank you to Nick Iacona, our web page God. Thanks for stopping and reading along. We hope to have pictures of the trip up soon. Stop back!