Before leaving Helena we noticed a raised earthen mound alongside the river... a levee! So we drove our Chevy to the levee but who would have guessed it....the levee was dry (for those confused by this previous statement... think Don Mclean and American Pie)... this amused Sarah immensely!
From Helena we headed across the border into Mississippi to Vicksburg where there is a scenic drive past many old civil war sites. Unfortunately we never found this scenic drive but created our own anyway.
We then crossed another state border into Louisiana! We stopped the night at Lake Providence and feasted that evening on Jambalaya and Gator balls! The next day we tried to visit the Louisiana Cotton Museum but unfortunately it was closed. As we headed back through the town we decided we needed some cash so decided to try the drive thru bank experience.... it is great, you drive up to the ATM, get your cash and then if you are American.. you are ready to visit your drive thru fast food outlet.
As we left Lake Providence we noticed a rather different attitude to hitch hiking than we had experienced elsewhere in the world... a sign instructed us "Prison Area. Do not pick up hitch hikers".... we did wonder whether it might be more effective to prevent prisoners escaping rather than rely on passing motorists not giving them lifts.
We continued south towards New Orleans and started to notice increasing swampiness! There were a number of indicators that we were really entering The Deep South; the huge Antebellum houses of the rich (or once rich) contrasted with the two room shacks of the poor (usually surrounded by old cars or pick up trucks and an array of other "shack tat".....2 examples shown below), the increasing number of swamps,the increase in temperature and .... a change in roadkill species. We were now seeing dead snakes and armadillos on the road,as well as the usual raccoons, posssoms and other assorted unidentified species. It was about now that Sarah seemed rather disturbed by John' preoccupation with spotting and subsequent species identification of the assorted roadkill! (JH: I think it is important to have hobby.. and it was a long road trip! Also, because in most areas the Americans hunt anything that moves this may be the only way to observe nature....though admittedly not at its best!
Another night in rural Louisiana and we were almost in New Orleans. Before hitting the city we wanted to see some proper swamps with alligators and swamp people... so we got directions from a tourist centre and were off swamp bound. We stopped enroute for lunch and enjoyed gumbo whislt watching the alligators in the swamp outside the restaurant window. We found the swamp people and booked a tour on an airboat despite having just seen gators at the restaurant... we wanted to get up close and personal! The airboat is essentially a small aluminium dinghy with a huge fan strapped on the back that can skim across the water and swamps and speeds upto 60mph. After a very nice introductory talk from the boss swamp person... which we understood not a word of... we climbed aboard the boat. The trip was excellent and our boat driver swamp person could actually speak english... and was pretty funny! We saw a number of alligators including a female who we fed some chicken to and who almost climbed on the boat and a huge 13 foot male who was quite tame. We also saw a range of other wildlife including several bald eagles and a huge beaver like rat that is considered vermin in the swamps after it escaped from fur farms during a hurricane. The boat driver caught one of these 2 foot long rats to show... it was hiding in the swamp with its tail sticking out.... and was none too happy when our swamp guy grabbed its tail and yanked it into the boat! Apparently there is a bounty on the varmint's tail ($7 per tail) and a good proportion of the locals spend their days in boats, drinking beer and shooting large water rats.
After our swamp tour we completed the last bit of the drive to New Orleans.
