It's so damn haaawt! Texas and Louisiana

Trans Texas: Austin to Lafayette  12^th June Sunday

In Austin we were staying in a youth hostel so were sharing rooms, in fact,  all twelve of us were sharing one room. In theory this should have been like a huge sleepover, but actually it was a right pain. Everyone went to bed at different times and there were several sighs from those who were interrupted late at night. The room was absolutely freezing in the morning, the AC seemed to have gone on to over-drive which may or may not have been because one of our fellow tour members spent half the night wandering round trying to turn it on.

 Another Van Appreciation Day. So not really much to say. Alice read the whole of “a slacker’s guide to US history” (which unsurprisingly didn’t take too long) whilst Gilza and Bessie slept.  For the short time that they were awake, we played Fit or Fugly, an app on Gillian’s ipod, which is definitely bogus but gave us endless amusement anyway.

375 miles later, in Louisiana, we arrived at the Kampground Of America (KOA) campsite. We call it camping but we stayed in bunkbeds in cabins. The cabins were right opposite a small alke where there were pedalos to hire. A few of us had a go, it was much harder in the muggy Louisiana heat than anticipated, thus most of the time was spent sunbathing.

In an attempt to feel ‘at one with nature’ we cooked our own dinner. The plan was for potatoes cooked on a fire. After the boys tried and spectacularly failed to light coal, Gillian and Alice took over, those years in girls guides clearly paid off. We just about managed to light a small fire but soon realised cooking jacket potatoes on it was a bit ambitious. The boys with their brusied egos recovered their dignity by cooking sausages. We made some mores s’mores.

Louisiana- home of the swamp people.  (only kidding!)

13^th June Monday

Started the day with ‘Curtaingate’ or in Gillian’s words:  “crappy night’s sleep because the curtain fell on my head and I was blinded by the sun” and despite Gillian’s best efforts to be quiet (so she says!) she woke up Alice who was less than enthusiastic about helping her fix it!).

We booked a tour of a swamp in Louisiana, the swamp is famed for alligators. We had to wait for a bit so hid in the confines of the cafe and it’s air con. Our boat driver, Captain Mel,  had a brilliant southern accent  (y’all, baby, etc). The swamp was exactly what you’d expect, lots of trees with wide buttresses in murky brown water covered in duck weed. There were loads of birds such as herons, ospreys, egrets, and little yellow ones. Before long we came across and alligator. Captain Mel was rather emphatic about the differences between alligators and crocodiles, there are plenty apparently. He fed the alligators hotdogs on a stick and marshmallows (they look like turtle eggs). They came very close to the boat and we were told to keep our hands and cameras in, they have lightning reflexes. Alice nearly wet herself every time Gillian’s video camera even begun to approach the railing (with what she says is a ‘quite rational fear’). This disagreement over whether or not alligators are cute was a cause for ‘endless discussions’, much to Bessie’s annoyance.

We also saw some of the devastating results still visible from Hurricane Katrina back in 2005. And in case you were wondering, we didn’t see anyone sitting on a front porch, chewing tobacco, cradling a shotgun- apparently life on the swamp is nothing like it is depicted in ‘Swamp People’ (not that any of us have ever seen that programme). We finished off with a whole host of group photos (which included Mel).

Moving on from the swamp, we had a 45 minute drive to New Orleans. We stayed in the Best Western Hotel, which was seriously nice. Most of us went out for dinner at a place called The Gumbo Shop (Gumbo is a local creole speciality dish which is a bit like a stew made with crayfish).

Now for all of you under 21s, New Orleans is the place to be for a good night out! We walked into a bar and all bought some drinks (no Ids needed!). New Orleans is famed for it’s two VERY strong drinks- Hurricanes and Hand Grenades-, but that isn’t to say that their other drinks are any less strong. We were persuaded to have a go on a rodeo bull. We went on the rodeo bull. With hindsight, that probably wasn’t the best idea. Sorry photos/ videos are being censored!!!

Moving on, we went to a karaoke bar. We all got onto the stage and had a sing along to Miley Cyrus’s Party in the USA. Before you knew it, we had the party started, and were dancing to Flo Rida’s Low, and having a fine old time. Gillian and Sas did a brilliant rendition of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance. We’re all fully expecting to go on tour next year.

We moved on to a bar with a live band. They were all really great and we had a nice old dance. Next we went to a bar which had a couple of really awesome gay guys as the bar tenders and they gave us lots of free drink samples.

The night progressed, somehow it ended up being 4am, and we had walked back to the hotel and headed off to bed.