New Orleans!

Armed with the remnants of my Hungry Howie's, I struck out for New Orleans. At the state line, I was welcomed by a sign in French. The rest of I-10 wasn't very remarkable; it was just another beautiful day on the Gulf Coast. I was given the option of taking the I-610 perimeter west to avoid New Orleans proper. I wanted to see some more of downtown, so I stayed on 10. At first it was great: I crossed Lake Ponchartrain and got a great view of the New Orleans skyline. The highway snakes right through neighborhoods and business districts, without much wiggle room. For some reason, I found this really interesting, as I'm used to arrow-straight interstates with lots of space around the shoulders.

Anyway, I peeked down into the city below as best as I could. I wanted to stop and explore, but I was running far enough behind schedule already. I did, however, get to see a cemetery from the interstate. It turns out Coach Huerkamp wasn't lying to us in 9th grade geography; cemeteries in New Orleans are in fact all above ground.

I couldn't see any of the leftover mess from Katrina, but I'm not sure if the parts by the interstate were damaged badly. I lost another hour in traffic just past downtown. I-55 starts just past New Orleans on the west side of Pontchartrain, and that's where I began my trek north. I stopped to fill up, and found strawberry-flavored Mountain Dew. It was exciting and delicious enough to keep me amused for the next half hour, which was good, because the first hour of I-55 is featureless bayou. There weren't even exits--just straight, boring interstate and mildly interesting swampland. I found blue Mountain Dew later.

I took I-55 all the way up to Memphis, stopping for supper at a Waffle House. I'd decided to drive until I got too tired, and I reached that point at around midnight somewhere near New Madrid, Missouri. So I pulled off there and spent the night in a hotel.