Day 24, Canton, Mississippi

Time to pack our bags and head down the trail. Our first stop was New Orleans. Tia had never been, so we went to the French Quarter and walked up and down Bourbon Street. Finding a parking spot was no easy task, but we finally spotted a garage off Canal Street and we paid the meter six bucks for ten hours. Now that’s a deal. I suppose we were just really lucky our stuff didn’t walk away while we were gone, but as you’ll see, we didn’t give it much of a chance.

The main goal at this point was food. We walked just half a block back to Canal Street and found a lovely diner. It was just a couple doors down from the Ritz, so the neighborhood was good. They made chicken strips out of real chicken, and they weren’t shaped like stars or crowns, so the kids were impressed. All in all, a great meal.

Bourbon Street is only about three blocks down from the Ritz, so we did the backstroke down to Bourbon Street. Once on Bourbon, we set a new World Record for speed walking up and down the approximately eight blocks of the rankest, trashiest and most foul smelling street in New Orleans. It was especially ripe on this day given the 110% humidity and the temperature of 105.

Ten minutes later we were back in the van and headed down the trail.

I wanted to catch the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway on the way north, but alas it was not to be. Turns out I couldn’t find that either. It’s the largest bridge of its type on the planet, and I couldn’t find it. It’s about 38 miles long, and I couldn’t find it. Another badge down the drain.

So we ended our travel at Canton, a nice little town just north of Jackson, Mississippi. We took a dip in the pool, ordered pizza and called it a night.