USA roadtrip recap - Part 3

Biloxi, MS - After leaving great Kiwi hospitality in Alabama we headed along the Gulf Coast towards New Orleans. We got off the interstate and went through Biloxi where the epicentre of Hurricane Katrina hit. The amount of destruction was amazing. For about 3 blocks in from the beaches everything was wiped out. Even a year later you could see massive piles of rubble and the foundations of numerous buildings. Everything was gone or damaged beyond repair including homes, service stations, department stores, fast food restaurants etc.



New Orleans, LA - We made our way into New Orleans via the 26 mile long bridge across Lake Pontchatrain. When you are in the middle you can only just see land on the horizons. They really liked their bridges in Louisiana, with us travelling on numerous ones over 5 miles long.



It was a Monday night after a long weekend when we got into New Orleans so there weren't many people out and about on Bourbon Street. I think revellers were outnumbered by cops. The damage in New Orleans CBD from Katrina is cleaned up now but the streets stink. We went to a few clubs but they were empty. Drinking on the streets is allowed but only if you have a plastic cup, "a go cup". With limited time and a long way to Canada we carried on heading west.

Dallas, TX - After a long day's drive we made it to Dallas. We went downtown and saw where JFK was shot and had a quick look around town before hitting the road again. Dallas downtown was very quite and very clean. We didn't see any bums, which are in almost every city scabbing for money.



Out of Dallas we started heading into the desert and small towns reminiscent of the one in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. We also got into black gold, Texas tea country with oil rigs dotting the landscape in their thousands as we headed to New Mexico.



Roswell, NM - As we got into New Mexico, we were well in the desert. Each afternoon huge thunderstorms would cruise through. It was amazing because it is so flat and you could see them approaching from miles away. In Roswell we had a look at the UFO museum and from what we read of both sides of the story we decided that it was a weather balloon that crashed and some dumb hicks couldn't work it out so said it was a UFO. Roswell city was a lot bigger than I thought it would be and it is quite funny with its alien theme throughout town.



Santa Fe, NM - We headed up to Santa Fe, through yet more thunderstorms and had our first day of bad weather in four weeks. On the way we stopped at Billy the Kid's gravesite. The gravestone is bolted to the ground with a metal cover and surrounded by a cage because it has been stolen 3 times since his death. Buildings in Santa Fe all brown with flat roofs and plaster outsides. Even the McDonald's and service stations are built in this style. With the large Mexican population it was weird to think we were still in the States.



During the weekend we were there it was their annual fiesta. There was a heavy police presence due to (from what our taxi driver told us) a shooting a couple of years ago between wannabe Mexican gangsters. We went out on Friday night and whilst waiting in line to get in a bar we watched a massive brawl between two groups of Mexicans happen right in front of us. The cops turned up 3 minutes later and we decided we would find somewhere else to go. At 1:30 the cops including the SWAT team (not fully kitted) came through the town and closed all the bars. Anybody who didn't move on was locked up. It was cool to see somewhere that has the numbers to police effectively.