DStilled

Through The South

June 22, 2007 on 2:08 pm | In Blog |

Hello all! Thanks for checking my site while I’m on my trip. I’m doing well, slightly bored at times but what pilgrimage isn’t? Anyway my chronicles are as follows:

Sunday morning I woke up too early and made breakfast for my Dad, Mom, and Garrett for Father’s Day. I took a short nap, finished the loading of the car, and headed out. My first stop on the trip was 10 miles away: Kentucky’s own famous castle. I made it to Memphis a little before dusk and found a cheap hotel. I ended up just watching Discovery channel and falling asleep early. Afterall, I was now on central time.

Monday morning I toured Memphis and found a random pyramid. I went to the gates of Graceland and saw the ghost of Elvis. I didn’t pay to go in because I really just don’t care that much about Elvis. I went down to Beale St. and saw all the blues dives. I drove across the Mississippi river to touch Arkansas and add it to my state list for the trip. I made it to Pass Christian, MS, around 6pm, toured the city a bit, and then saw my friends down there doing humanitarian work. Jenna and Matt were the ones I knew but Tony and Elizabeth came from UVa as well. The other guy we hung out with was sort of a project manager and had been down there over a year. We played some basketball, ate lazagna, and then turned in. That night I woke up around 7 times due to the humidity and very loud noises (train, fridge).

Tuesday morning we woke up and ate breakfast with a group from California that had just arrived. We then broke up in teams and went to different worksites. The city of Pass Christian is 100x better now than when I first saw it shortly after Katrina. All 5 of the site we were on were CONSTRUCTION, not DEconstruction. So I stuck around all day, ate diner, played some good ping-pong, and drove to New Orleans. On the way there I witnessed some of the coolest and most intense lightning I’ve ever seen. I spent some time on the phone with my Dad who was on the internet trying to help me find a good place to hear some live music and a hotel nearby. He did find a place but then when I called them to verify, they apologized about their website info being incorrect. By this time it was already 11 and I was ready to sleep. I found a cheap hotel again, but this one was very nice (mini-fridge, good bed, and even better pillows).

Wednesday morning I woke up to cruise New Orleans. I went down to the French Quarter walked Bourbon and Tolouise and ate at the famous Cafe du Monde. The ben-yays (I hate French because nothing is intuitively spelled) were very good. I would liken them to the greatest funnel cake you’ve ever had. I saw the Superdome where the Saints did shockingly well last year. About a month after Katrina one of my discussion classes at UVa was discussing whether or not New Orleans should rebuild or just abandon the wreckage and move elsewhere. After going there, I see why people wanted to rebuild. Was it worth the 300 billion or whatever they spent? Let’s just say that world hunger or the oil problem could have been solved for that much. The founders of New Orleans shouldn’t have built a city on the marshlands in the first place. Driving through, I’ve never experience a city in America that felt so much like Guatemala City. But now that the people and culture are there, I guess we should support them as citizens of this country and help them rebuild their lives and city. I then drove to Houston and loved it. If I had the money, I would have a winter home in Houston. I heard people talk about it being a concrete jungle but I saw plenty of green in parks and wooded subdivisions. The city was clean and tidy, which in my book is a great plus for an enjoyable living environment. I spent most of my time around the theatre district downtown but drove through most of the forth biggest city in the USA. I took the twenty mile drive to the Johnson Space Center found another cheap motel for the evening.

Thursday morning I woke up and went to the Space Center. It was obvious that the center was made for children but appropriately so becasue there were at least 400 children there from daycamps and whatnot. I got to see the new bast-off theater. Not NEARLY what I was expecting but enjoyable nonetheless. The tagline was “It’s like experiencing a launch in 10-D!” Nope. But after the disappointing launch they took us in a control room theater where someone walked us through the mission control and details of the space flight going on right now. That was neat. I did a simulation landing the shuttle and docking in the space station. I’m guessing the real thing is a bit harder than what I was put through. After that, I took the tram tour of the facilities and saw all the real stuff. The training facilities and rocket area were awesome. I left shortly after and traversed the state to San Antonio. I met up with Christa from UVa and met her housemates and friends. We went to dinner at a Vietiamese restaurant and just hung out in the cool drizzling night.

Friday morning I woke up and wrote this rediculously long entry. Something else I would like to tell you is that I’m reading the Bible through while on this trip, on CD of course. Yesterday I finished the Pentateuch. I’ve never read the whole book cover to cover in a row, and this way I will do the whole thing in a tangibly short period of time. And I can tell you, I honestly have some issues with the Bible so far. “Progressive revelation” answers some of those issues but I’m trying not to cheat by knowing the whole story yet. I figured going through the whole Bible quickly would give me a better understanding of God, Israel, and my place in the world. So far I don’t really like God, Israel’s an idiot, and my place in the world is worthless.

Anyway, I’m going to enjoy San Antonio and the rest of Texas before I update again. Take care and give me a call every now and then.