Christmas Eve Begins! blow baby blow!

Chilled out beginning in India House Hostel. Probably the most laid back complete hostel Ive seen to date. Our private room last night had massive paint peelings. And I thought, heck yeah, New Orleans!

Found some red beans and rice with grilled catfish for lunch. Then hopped the trolley (yah the trolley $1.25) into town. The neighborhoods in midtown had great bars witha great vibe but I need to see the craziness downtown. Just found a brass band near Frenchman called the Spotted Cat. Its nestled in the side streets of colorful houses. Characters all over the streets. Big plans for awesome music tonight!

Hope everyone has a stellar xmas eve! I'll be thinking of snow, cozy fireplaces, christmas trees, presents, family, pierogis, borscht, post-feast napping,and the movie White Christmas (with the comments mom makes about it every year); as I celebrate another non-traditional xmas away from home because this where I landed. The hostel should have a gathering tomorrow.

Love everyone

Mile 95: Goodbye 'Dignity'; Hello New Orleans!

'Dignity' canoe & Davy

"I gave away the canoe last night in exchange for a po' boy and my bar tab" said Davy as he swaggered by my tent, after the bar. I felt indifferent. Ending at the port city of New Orleans would be a fitting end to the saga::.15 days and 350 miles. I got to experience a lot of the Mississippi, build up muscle, and take some great pics of a America's modern marvel. One of those trips where 2 weeks felt like 2 months.

This last 20 miles down river were relatively quiet at first. Little traffic. The clouds gave way to some sun, then we saw the city 3 times around false bends. We were defeated as we hit the last stretch and the river began to flow backwards in a massive eddy with the wind on us hard. A barge overtook another barge coming closer to us than any other on the trip -- for one last scare.

Sitting along the New Orleans river walk a couple took the $400 canoe for $40 (and a majority of the Walmart gear), so we can celebrate! We donated the rest of goods to the homeless people scattered about. They were happy. And like a mermaid losing her fin, we walked into New Orleans -- land people, again.

Bring on the holidays! I'm thinking Mexico City for New Years .

Rain. Wind. Rain. [Tornado Cancelled]

[Update: The tents started to blow violently; the rain came down hard. Davy's tent took off (while he was at the store) and I dropped a rock on top of it. Tornado sirens went off. I collapsed my tent, pulled in the canoe, and made it to Amour de Cafe (with my dry bags) to dry off and warm up. Now, far less grumpy. The tornado warning was eventually cancelled. The sky is clearing. I'm sure the waves are still choppy. We'll hold for the night].

[Earlier] Hiding in my tent and eating dry packets of oatmeal because its too windy to start the propane burner. Testing the limits of this childrens tent and its surviving! How is Walmart's Ozark Trail not sponsoring us yet?! The thick fog that set in last night and blanketed the coast like an eerie movie has lifted. I'm content reading Vonnegut a bit longer; but things are damp all-around. Maybe sun by noon? Too bad its just the NOLA airport and the suburbs (shotgun houses and Christmas lights galore) over the levy. No good stores; no Starbucks.

Mile 115?: Amongst giants; suicide alley part II

Today was blues skies and hot sunshine. For parts of the day one shore was peaceful and green; the other shore was larger and larger factories billowing smoke; then the shore became wall to wall lines of barges awaiting picking up. In a way this became the new norm, the steel levy.Passing by titanic sized ships being loaded with coal and chemicals was often awe-inspiring. Watching tiny men walk their lengths. We watched the movements of all things metal; studied them; and reacted to them with patience as we drifted by. Manmade rapids would appear an challenge us. Such a strange challenge. Land of giants.

Then the river gave way to a long serene stretch, like peaceful lake forged by miles of dam to one side. Its calm made me nervous. We came across a migration of thousands of tiny ducks amid the barges. They would fly and land near us again and again.

We are camped somewhere between barges. Workers are busy. A fire seems improbable. 20 miles outside New Orleans. My arms hurt <whine>

Mile 147: All is swell. Real swell.

We had to wait until noon for the river fog to clear. Zero visibility until then. Thunderstorms and rain loomed but we just got wind on us that created 1-2 foot waves the length of our path down glorious Suicide Alley. For 15 miles the graineries and shore factories were got bigger and closer. Awaiting barges lined the shore. But while we hit arm exhausting chops down this stretch there was little traffic. Im almost sad.
At this point the barge traffic stops and gives way to larger ships like the one pictures that head the rest of the way to sea. They dont move very often. We just pass a lot of them.
Still seeing eagles. Perhaps a migration.
We've made it to Gramercy. Davy is anxious. His last attempt at this river ended at this same town in 2010 when his expensive kayak was stolen. Just 150 miles to go. Or as he says "hes almost there". Being the hitchhiker; I'm only halfway there myself. ;)

Mile 177: Messy-ssippi River begins.

From Baton Rouge on the river has been dredged deeper for large ocean bound boats like the one above. Sure its bigger than a barge but im more afraid of the great width of a barge than the sheer hull of this ship. Anyways the big todo is that theres supposed to be 100s of boats of traffic and industry. We made 30 miles or more today and the traffic was light. No problems.
The shore is lined with nuclear. coal and natural gas plants. oil pipes. poorly regulated chemical factories that look like a futuristic smoky metropolis. But what i really noticed was a couple bald eagles in trees. a herd of cattle and calves following us along the swamp. a car full of people following us across the levy. and a lot of idle workers waving at our tinsel covered canoe .
Thought we hit faster water but maybe theres just more to look at on shore. perspective. well, might have rain or fog slowing us tomorrow but we've got a lot of supplies from Dollar General to feed us.

Grocery mirage!

This convoy was a grocery store on the water. Sadly, they deliver to barges by making runs to the grocery store andd have no inventory. I was tempted to call them on the river for a pizza. Thanks for nothing!

Mile 200: Plaquemine plaqueayours!

We made it 30 miles south of Baton Rouge on a sunny barge-free sunday! Canoe was intact. Prior to leaving I snapped this pic of Baton Rouge from atop the tallest state capital building.

Had some fun nights out in the spanish town in Baton Rouge. Most of the time was spent at the neighborhood Hound Dog Bar. A little time in the better known Red Star bar. and eating in a LSU bar, blackened drum fish. LSU has its own tiger! we also had the powdery desert beignet. even the healthy food is always somehow unhealthy around here. at least its not fried.

checked out the Louisana State museum. so much exciting history and culture around. learning so much about this little Mississippi river.

stopped to visit old scad friends Nick and Kirsten in Plaquemine. feeling recovered: good shower, good bed, awesome pets and a fabulous meal from the plantation they work at. wow that place is beautiful. i was impressed with the 12 ft doors!

onward we press! hopefully in Venice by xmas!

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Mile 228: Baton Rouge -- Go Tigers!?

Finished off the night in New Roads at the Daiquiri Diner (common here). The diner didn't serve food, but had a lot of daiquiris mixed with grain alcohol and other deadly sins; and there was video poker. We found the Cypress hotel nearby. Checked in at midnight.

Started the long walk back to the levy. Tried to hitch unsuccessfully, and stopped for some cajun Boudin balls, delicious spiced seafood and rice in a fried ball. Our friend from Jay Place's, the owner (and bartender), who's a cop by day, saw us roadside and picked us up. He'd just checked the hotel for us. He'd had people checking out canoe all night. So, I got my first ride in the back of a cop car.

We filled up on drinking water and pushed out. Made it 20 miles downriver. Hot and humid (in the 70s). Found a small spot dock amidst high walls of drift wood. Real Louisiana swampy looking. Peaceful crickets all night. And the glow from industrial complexes far off like a sunset. We had to wait until noon for the dense fog to clear off the river. We made Baton Rouge in 3 hours. Past oil pipes, billowing factories. and coal ports. Pretty ugly. A start of the reality to come. The rain finally hit (and hard) as we were docking. All the hotels were pricey and miles away. Luckily a manager in a grocery store took a risk (guess I'm a risk) and kindly put us up for the night. Awesome! Now lets check out the pubs.

Mile 267: Whats over the levy? New Roads = old roads.

mile 267. New Roads. We had a late start today. I was reading Slaughter House Five, while Davy caught a small catfish, prepared with butter on the fire. We are so domestic. The sun broke and we headed out after noon. Minimal barge traffic for the 30 miles. But we cut a barge fairly close, as we anticipated its turn wrong (rather it turned unpredictably and slow becomes fast with two boats heading at each other).

Amazingly, we saw a deer paddling the river. Just its head bobbing and it doggie-paddled fast across the 1/2 mile or more width. Who knew?

We pulled in thru the swamp, north of New Roads, and climbed over the high grass hill of a levy (I now know understand what a levy is). Looking down, we saw a house, field, a modern Baptist church and Jays Place, which we hoped was a bar. It was! Later described as the last black bar around the town, and no one in town had heard of it. We had a blast. Chowed do a huge portion of seasoned wings and played Domnioes for hours with Clyde, the bartender, while everyone else played Wii Golf (sadly no one needed my Wii tech support skills). Lots of love in that place. We hitched a ride 5 miles into the actual town, with a local from the bar. Now at the Daiquiri Diner (daiquiris are big here) which is across from McDonald's and a Subways and is apparently situated on False River, which we never saw. Small town; good people. Think we will be pressing on tomorrow. to Baton Rouge. 30 miles more.

BearGator Beware!!!

"I dont want to camp here. There's no firewood," Davy says, after we assess the sandy peninsula of an island. I call his bluff as we disembark, a beautiful pink sunset falling over the island. There were deer prints all over the sand. Plus, random large dug holes and a myriad of strange tracks (three clawed), one of which I believe to be tail mark. Gator tracks I say; Davy claims they were bear tracks. We decide to push on near dark and we cut across the mile wide channel to a safer shore spot. Firewood. Stars. Pork chop dinner. And,  did I mention the opposite shore is the notorious Angola prison. It was a tough day. A full 6 hours of paddling and an estimated near 50 miles of progress. A total of four buildings during that whole stretch. Tomorrow afternoon we should reach New Roads.

Knock Knock Its barge. Come barging in.

For the longest time no barges passed last night. We had made it roughly 20 miles down river in 3 hours.Past a dredging barge planted in th water to clear channel for barges. A barge or two snuck by in the night. One coming up river took what felt like an hour of distant rumbling and passed in the early night. The only sign of human life yet mechanical and ominous like the approach of Russian sub or alien warship. This morning there was loud sound of trees crashing and breaking. Of all the spots on the mighty a long barge had settled so close to the our shore that we thought we might have lost the canoe. Not sure who surprised who or if we chose the spot for the same reason. These boats are like aircraft carries to our native American canoe, or Huck Finn raft. This is not Mark Twains Mississippi. This is the lifeline of shipping to the center of the country. And compared to train or
truck shipping is super efficient. Rich with history.

Things I learned at the Under The Hill Saloon last night:

JD the bartender.

1) This is probably the closest I'll ever get to a real leprecaun, JD the bartender. Accents so different that we couldn't understand each other.
2) Those steel buoys that guide us on the river cost only $200 each. The Coast Guards main job is recovering all the strays that disconnect when the water rises.
3) I should have bought a D harp instead of an A harp. According to the bar singer who thought I looked like a fellow musician.
4) The story of the Bowie knife starts at Under The Hill, and ends at the Alamo.

Gambled away the fireworks.

I had to drop some pennies in a casino shaped like a steam boat. Turned a dollar into five bucks playing penny slots (walked away $2 up). And earned a free buffet visit for signing up for a free casino card. Score! sadly, while hiding in the dungeon for a half hour we missed the fireworks. guess they werent very special (word on the dock).

Mile 363: Natchez (not nachos)

Luck was with us this morning. Woke early to a perfect sunny day. Davey caught a cat fish and breakfast was omega filled. Some duck hunters boated up to us looking like an army boat. Nice guys. Chatted and gave us oranges and sodas. we covered the 25 miles in just 3 hours with the wind with us and sun on our face (red nose). Docked and entered the 1820 waterfront bar, Under The Hill saloon at noon and a patron bought us 3 beers each for our efforts. Checked into a $45 motel and headed into this historic town (one of the few saved from being burned during the civil war). Supposed to be fire works tonight for xmas. Theres a holiday ice rink but no one knows how to skate. Priceless.
new mantra - My legs are weak; my arms strong ; been in the canoe a little long; gonna need a beer to carry on. ~ me.

387 miles till we cant see land.

We have stopped just past 387 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi and 20 miles from Natchez. Avg 7 or so mph for the 4 hours on the water today. Doesnt to break early and try to catch fish. No fish but we did gather a load of fire wood; and I wandered around the forest down dirt hunting roads into the swamp and along the coast. Massive metal buoys have floated away and can be found all over. One was in a tree; theres a door in a tree too. Loads of birds. And trees with exposed roots. Another perfect sunset. Delicious stew made over the fire. Tonights the leaves shake and sound like rain. Barges rumble past and fling there spotlight about but not often. Tomorrow Natchez!

Thursday Night Lineup on Mississippi River TV

The bus got into Vicksburg nearly on time. I met some recently released convicts while I waited for the town taxi. Two guys in a car with an estimated price. My friend Davey and I killed a riverboat casinos lunch buffet (Grand Station Hotel). We covered 20 miles in 3 hours passing numerous barges, 10s of thousands of gathered migrating pelicans, past swirling pools and to this spot to camp. Feels like the middle of nowhere but with cell phone signal. Nothing else but mile wide river and the occasional barge with a spotlight. The sun went down perfect while full moon rose at our backs. Time to drink beer, eat hot dogs, and reflect on peeing into a plastic peanut jar and wide open spaces. wish me luck on cold night in cold walmart tent.

Be Prepared

Walmart run complete. This is my 17 dollar waterproof youth tent (which I pretested). The worlds most fashionable 15 dollar coast guard approved life jacket. plus 30 degree sleeping bag and mat courtesy of my buddy Jeff. He also bought me an emergency blanket (in case I need an impromptu Silver Surfer costume). Thanks for the support Jeff. Now for a 12 hour bus ride from Austin to Vicksburg MS full of delicious Saltys bbq.

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Ive been to dinner 3 times now and I cant take a picture different than this. The bright close sun. The dark blue sky always contrasted by stripes of white clouds. And these leafless (now) soft gray trees full of texture and spontanaeity. Coupled woth glassy dark water. An abundance of geese. And dark pink sunsets cutting across the water and glass of the city. A huge flat exspanse atop the mountains. Row s of similar sturdy brick houses. I get so lost. Its like nowhere else.

what is the perfect meal prior to mountain biking the red rocks outside of Denver? This fantastic post-Thanksgiving fixings sandwich. Its all in there. The efforts of a dozen individual acts of cooking in one bite. and followed by an afternoon bike ride with Maryann and JP. We were able to rent a sweet $1000 bike for $40 for 24hrs. Odd that you can rent a new car for the same price. Although denvers dryness and altitude has caused instant congestion and lack of energy, I became renewed on the bike. Surrounded by epic, mountains, orange prarie grass, creeping gray trees. long flat meadows, patterned clouds on a blue sky like none other - consistently. Bike hard up and around corners than come down fast but gradual. Its good its real good! I cant see hiking the long spaces. Biking and trail running seem to make sense.

love love love me some blues! inspired to listen and sketch while I drink a soda (same price as a beer). almost forgot i had this skill. blues got ahold of me!

New country (or same) = new hat! and if youre going to spend one saturday night in memphis. 5 dollar tall drinks are going to make blues rock your soul to your toes....

Feel like I'm somewhere different. Somewhere gritty and full of deeper music. Full of neon signs. Fried Catfish. And the blues. This city is far from perfect. But im charged up, a little nervous, and feeling alive. Memphis baby! Memphis!

Traveling the Mississippi, in a canoe.

I've been conflicted about traveling thru hostels, as opposed to being thrifty, and meeting locals, thru Couch Surfing. On the other hand, I've meeting great people from around the world (and the U.S.) and getting new ideas. There's 3 bunk beds in my hostel room (the Pilgrim House Hostel inside of church in Memphis). Its just me and another guy, who's Scottish and a resident of New York. He's  been canoeing solo down the Mississippi for the 5th time and is on his third month. Camping. Avoiding flying carp. And making crafts out of beer cans, to pay for his bar tab. Perhaps I can join him later on his trip.

Where am I?

Still in Nashville. This is the worlds only full scale replica of the greek Parthenon. Amazing? well sort of. It started as wood and plaster mock up for an early 1900s Expo and stood next to a giza pyramid and the worlds largest see saw. When everything came down the pathenon stayed and was redone using modern concrete. Even the original statues were recreated using concrete. Those statues dont look great. Seems like one of those things that shouldnt have been done. But the parl and lake from the expo were also kep startung the wonderful park system in Nashville. The Nashville art museum is asmall collection of impressionist paintings on one floor and a massive 40ft Athena statue filling the 2nd floor. Looks like massive buddhas in Asia minus the gold paint and charm. The museum is not worth the $6 but is worh $2 to learn why they would build a parthenon. If someone asks you where
there is a full size Parthenon in the US. Now you know.

Southern Foood and biking. Living the life!

I am happy that this delicious meal of fried catfish, collard greens, cornbread, mac & cheese, and sweet tea was followed by 5 hours of urban biking. I rented a bike from the hostel for $10. The weather was sunny but brisk; outside the city the wind was strong. I rode in all directions. Found the long strip of houses which serve as record labels for the thousands of never be country stars and tote such talent signing as Kings of Leon.
Through the city the re were well marked bike lanes. Loads of signnage 'Music City Bike Way' and 'Bike Parking'. The trail had a bike lane thru town. And then a super wide bike/walking brick sidewalk which led far out of the city. One bridge had been converted to a pedestrian bridge. Crossing over brought you to a trail around the stadium then down past factories and past gold courses and long parks. There was rarely a time I felt threatened by vehicles. and all of the buses local and the free city loop bus had bike racks. But where were the other riders?

When asked if you are a college student, the answer should always be YES. $15 tix to Nashville hockey! unfortunately, now I have to watch hockey. ha ha.

I feel like ive made it somewhere important. Nashvilles wild baby!

Knoxville, Tenn.: Tired of waiting around in the bleak bus station I found it was a short walk to downtown. Old brick buildings line the streets. There seem to be a good amount of nice looking bars that play music. Also lots of creative design firms. The local transportation appears to be wheeled trolleys. The city is pretty flat, theres a lot of bikes (and bike racks). Low mid-day traffic and more suits walking around then Asheville . Apperently this is an energy company hub and there is VW plant. Lots of restrauraunts, some classier, and vegetarian options. Train tracks border the town. No hostel here; and ive got some funny looks wearing my backpack. Lots of country music history here. Well planned city on a river.

The beauty of bus travel scheduling left me with two options to get from Chattanooga from Asheville (a 4 hr destination): 5 hour layover in this luxurious lobby or boomeranging out to Nashville west, transferring and heading back east for a total of 6 hours on a shaky bus and slightly reclining seats. I'm building my lobby fort. My neck hurts already. And the ticket guy joked in an unfunny way that I'd be locked in which wasn't true (like when I was locked into a Chinese police friend's apartment). On the trip to this station the previous bus station manager told me to board the bus; then the bus driver was disgruntled with me for having boarded the bus. I understand that these operators deal with a lot of shit but i couldnt be more friendly or apologetic in these situations. Hoping for attitude improvement as I continue my travels as Id rather be promoting bus travel.

Every now and then a pub crawl of amazing breweries happens. And  and the walnut gorgonzola mushroom w sesame crust pizza was delicious. and soon it wil be 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11.......

The key to the cities: UNLIMITED bus pass.

Here it is, unfettered access to almost any destination in the US and Canada (at the slowest possible pace). At 6AM I was on the train to Hartford tiredly gazing the sunrise; don't think I've yet begun travel without a sleepless night of preparations. 

At the Greyhound counter the attendant priced the ticket at a 100 more than the website (citing lower online prices). She wasn't nice, however the other attendant was, especially when I questioned if the ticket price was higher because they had given me a 60 day pass (rather than the 30). I was correct, but decided that an extra month for a $100 was a good enough deal to hang onto (and hadn't been advertised): $556 to go anywhere. How will this change my plans?

Overnight all the way thru to Asheville, NC - 24 straight hours. Sorta comfortable, mainly because of the frilly travel pillow I brought not because of the seats or cold air. Half of the Greyhound attendants and drivers are mean, half are amazingly friendly. Guess they deal with a real mixed crowd.  Should I be hopping trains like Kerouac?

Preperations.

What is necessary to travel from place to place for several months? Shoes (maybe just flip flops), a pair of pants, a t-shirt. Passport. And cash. I think that's all you really need. A towel and a toothbrush, if you want to get fancy.

In a world full of personal possessions ("stuff" as George Carlin would say), narrowing my life down to a bag full of necessities is absolutely freeing. Last trip I over-packed, and for a short time I believe my neck vertebrae separated due to the weight of my shell (seems fine now). I have since learned that bootleg Lonely Planet guides can be bought in Cambodia for a dollar

Welcome to my new blog!

Ah...My first post on the new blog. Love that new blog smell! OKAY... A lot of people asked, "Hey Tom, What happened to the old blog? Why'd you stop? You deserve a Pulitzer. yada yada..."  Well, as it turned out, the internet in Asia, especially behind China's firewall, was pretty crappy (and often expensive, pitting precious blog money against precious drinking funds). I could barely access the sluggish Word Press site; and I definitely couldn't upload photos, or even respond to comments. Finally, I decided to live the moment and stopped messing with the blog, and computers. I continued to write to myself, for free, and sadly you missed out on a ridiculous amount of adventures -- the boring stuff like crashing my first motorcycle, eating a live snake, and free climbing up a cliff (to come back down with a heart-stopping leap into the water). I wasn't able to share my mind full of introspective, detailed accounts of amazing people, descriptions of beautiful landscapes, notes on efficient public transportation, reflections on lifestyles far removed from our own, or those tender romantic moments (I am a gentleman!).

On my return, I was very glad to hear people enjoyed my blog,