NOLA or Bust!

On Saturday morning I laid awake in the darkness, just waiting for the alarm to ring. When it finally did, after a quick breakfast and last minute packing, we loaded up the van and pointed out noses south.
Sort of…
There’s no direct way to get to New Orleans from our home in the Missouri Ozarks, so we drove in a southeastern diagonal, cutting across Arkansas on highway 63. The sky was just beginning to lighten by the time we reached Mammoth Springs. Ethereal, huh?

In a few more minutes, the sun made its glorious appearance. Everyone always raves over sunsets. I really love seeing it rise.

We drove on, slipping through a teeny corner of Tennessee, then from Memphis south into Mississippi on I-55. All went well until we hit Jackson where an accident had both sides of the interstate at a standstill. We took the opportunity to slip off the interstate and grab a quick lunch at a fast food place at the bottom of the ramp. Unfortunately, when we came out ready to go on, the snarl on I-55 hadn’t moved a jot. The same eighteen-wheeler was still sitting on the overpass where it had been when we left the line.
So while the DH filled up our gas tank, I went into the station and said to the other customers waiting in line to pay for their chips & drinks, “We’re trying to get to New Orleans. Does anyone know how far south this traffic jam goes?”
A couple of people in line were really helpful. One had come from the south and knew where she’d hopped off to drive through town to avoid it. Another gave us excellent directions for making a detour through the capital city to skirt the traffic stoppage. I snagged this photo of the capital building as we breezed by.

No more problems all the way to NOLA. Now the DH & I have both been in all 50 states! Yeah, I know it’s not the greatest pic, but we were moving fairly fast.
As we neared New Orleans, I realized we were not driving on a normal highway. It was elevated on pylons over a swamp. (Should I say wetlands?) Anyway, it was an amazing feat of engineering that went on for miles and miles.

We reached our hotel before the sun set and now we’re just waiting until it’s time to head for the pier tomorrow morning.We’re scheduled for an 11:00AM embarkation!  I’ll leave you with one last pic from our day’s journey.