Talkin bout hey now! Hey now! Iko Iko ah-nay. Joc-a-mo-fee-no-ah-nah-nay. Joc-a-mo-fee-nah-nay!

I'm a little perplexed...is the South a congenial place or should I be watching my back? I had envisioned a sunny place with smiles and drawls dripping all around me but so far it's been pouring and storming, I've gotten tailgated twice, and shot at an intersection by a pretend gun. But then of course there was the sweet waitress at the Waffle house with her warnings of a speed trap, and Duane at the Lafayette KOA who I owe my life to! Seriously. I checked into the campground around 5 o'clock on Wednesday evening and as I was about to set up my tent an angel named Duane handed me the keys to one of the cabins warning me that "the weather" was rolling in. Boy am I thankful. "The weather" did roll in. Lightning and rain like I have never seen before! I was positive that the lightning was striking right outside my cabin. It was lighting up the entire room with strikes that would last for something like 5 seconds at a time! It really was crazy, I cannot imagine what it would have been like to be in a tent. I probably would have peed my sleeping bag.So anyhow, after a belly full of sushi and a good nights sleep, I arose early and packed up my stuff and hit the road for New Orleans! Yay! I was due to meet Briana there early afternoon. When I arrived I drove around a bit to check out the city before eventually meeting Briana and her friend Tony at his place. We had plans to drive out to the 9th ward to see the parts of New Orleans that were ravaged by Katrina but instead I locked Tony's keys in his apartment so we were stranded until the lock popper came. Oops. It really wasn't my fault though, he told me to shut it! Once he got his keys he took Bri and I to our hotel on Canal street where we settled in and got ready to hit the town.
We left the room and began out trek to the famed Bourbon street. That's when the craziness began. It started out with a beer and some conversation at a quaint little bar and not long after that we were stumbling down Bourbon street, taking silly pictures, wandering into blues bars, doing the electric slide and yes, even collecting beads. Ha! Bri and I were good but we saw plenty of ta tas last night. Somehow towards the end of our night we ended up on the 3rd floor balcony of a gentleman's club throwing beads to people on the wet streets. Ha ha, It's so funny what people will do for those cheesy beads!
After sneaking out of the club we opted to find food and call it a night. As we were making our way back to our hotel the rain started...and the wind. It wasn't long before Bri and I were soaking wet. We tried to avoid it for a second but then we had no choice but to surrender to the weather and so we started up with yet another photo shoot. Needless to say, we now have a bunch of pictures of two drowned rats making funny faces on the streets of New Orleans. We probably looked really crazy walking through the hotel lobby dripping wet with mascara running down our faces. I looked in the mirror in the elevator only to find that I had taken on a strange resemblance to Ozzy Osbourn. Scary.
Once in the room we ordered a pizza and I passed out before it arrived--probably a good thing. All except for that Bri went downstairs to get it and I wouldn't wake up to let her back in the room. Oops! I was in la la land--drooling and dreaming of all guys named Ryan on until the morning. And let me tell you, I am already looking forward to sleeping in this heavenly bed tonight. Undoubtedly the most comfortable place I've slept this entire trip :) Thanks Briana!

Look out Bourbon street--we're coming back for more!

♥ Yours Truly