New Orleans, India House Hostel lobby, $1 high life in the vending machine, free wireless.

john's airplane was delayed due to tornado potential around chicago midway on friday. i looped the airport in the dark and cool of a rising storm with my windows down and my music pumpin'. when he did get in we drove downtown through overlapping catching-up conversations back to the Coco Cafe. we ate, drank, and carved out a plan for the evening. i decided that we had 2 probable options:

1. pay higher prices for a motel in downtown nashville / go out and party like it's 1999
2. keep the party in our pants (at least mine anyway) / drive out a little bit and pay more reasonable rates out of town.

then there was the wild card option:

WC: just roll with the vibe and see what happens~ maybe we'll crash on a stranger's couch, maybe we'll spend the wee hours of the morning light attempting to recover in a denny's with no sleep.

we decided to post-pone this decision until we were 3-fingers deep in some honky-tonk down by the river. long story short, we met some hotties out on a birthday party and the wild card option was looking possible until one of the girls started puking on the street.. lame. we ended up in some super 8 out by the highway, had a rough morning at waffle house and hit the road to memphis~

i've been driving in rain, rain, rain - it was coming down in torrents as we approached the gates of graceland. man, what fantastic fun that was - elvis was one wild, eccentric guy! the highlights were his wardrobe, his trophy house, and his jungle room~ what a nut. but he did have a knack for decorating, i'll give him that. we visited his grave - i was hoping to see some crazy women break down in tears, but no such luck.. and you know, the gift shop was so tasteless, it was worth the price of admission itself!

after making our peace with the king we headed out to the subs to visit kami! i hadn't seen her in nearly three years i think - john in at least that long. we rocked up, got caught up, and met kami's bf, david. the 4 of us went downtown for some world-class ribs and then hit beale ave. for big-ass beer and blues on blues on bad-ass blues! i loved it~ great music and some pretty good people watching. day 2 in memphis, we took a long walk down the scale model of the mississippi river on mud island and visited the national civil rights museum at the death place of Dr. Martin Luther King.

all the hits in just over 24 hours - we left memphis and bolted down to new orleans. we got in after midnight, so we just kicked it on the porch of the hostel and talked with the random travelers on the porch. it's a nice place~ lot's of personality. there are pictures on the wall here of the flooding and aftermath of katrina. the water came right up the steps, but not in the door. we're not too far from the french quarter - today we walked all over and got acquainted. tonight we really go out - we're looking for gumbo, jazz, and strong drinks!

PUT SOME SOUTH IN YOUR MOUTH!!