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DATE: June 12, 2002 High Temperature: 101 Low Temperature: 85 Meat intake: Chicken, Beef, Pork, Boudin Source material: Eat Your Way Across America, emails from Tom Welsh & Ed Ward, Lonely Planet: USA. Miles covered: 550
So today we wake up ready to hit the road. We were actually a little tired because we watched the World Cup games till 3:30. A few beers were involved. We got a slow start, then called to see if the car was ready. It wasn't. It turns out that the people at the Austin Audi garage don't know much about cooling systems. Go figure. It only gets like 110 there for most of the summer. You'd think they could fix an overheated car. But no.
After a quick swim, we checked out of the hotel and went to have breakfast at El Sol y La Luna. A Mexican place. We were still Qued out. I think we learned what a lot of BBQ tasters learn. You can't eat too much meat at any one place. By the time we got to Coopers on Monday night, we were so ready for BBQ, that we overdid it. It would be like a wine taster who couldn't quite find his way to Napa. By the time he gets there, he'd guzzle wine (at least I would). Maybe it's me. I have been eating a lot of ice cream, too. Speaking of ice cream, we did have some really good ice cream on the advice of a friend of Carrie's in Austin. We went to Amy's Ice Cream on Guadeloupe Street & 35th. My sister, Susie, and I used to eat there all the time. Maybe you've heard us talk about it. Or maybe not. But it was good. I had the white chocolate ice cream with Oreos mixed in. John had the vanilla (Just Vanilla) with Heath bar mixed in. Yummy. It helped in the heat.
We then took a bus (it seems that we are the only people who have ever taken a bus in Austin) up to a place called Mac Alliance to get a new cord for my Powerbook. Why? So I could continue to write my dispatches from the road. Mac Alliance is rated the best Mac shop in Austin. And it's a perfect name. Austin is Dell country. And being in this shop reminded me of the French Resistance. And we were like a couple English or American guys coming in to tell them they're not alone. A group of people who know that Macs are better than Windows PCs. It was a good feeling. Some of you know what I'm talking about. Others probably think I'm a freak.
The guy from Mac Alliance drove us up to the Audi place to get our car. Then we hit the road. We had some miles to cover. And it was already 4:00. We made it through Texas in record time. We stopped at Poochie's, just West of Beaumont, TX, to refuel. It was there that I realized that this was the favorite pit stop of my friend Heather. She's always going on about her Poochies and I'm always making fun of them. Well now I can really make fun of them. They are named after a gas station / Subway sandwich shop.
While driving toward Louisiana, John was looking through the book, "Eat Your Way Across America." He saw that there was a restaurant in Jennings, Louisiana. The heart of Cajun Country. We called them from the road to find out how late they were opened. 9:00 was the answer. It was 7:00. If we put our minds and stomachs to it, we would make it. And we did. Boudin King. This guy is the self-proclaimed boudin king of Acadiana. Sort of the Abe Froman of Cajun sausages. We ordered some gumbo, hush puppies, fried chicken and a catfish po-boy. And, oh, yeah, a half-pound of boudin. Eh, la. We ate too much again. We are not learning on this road. Just eating till we are too full. We are road dogs.
A full belly once again, we knew we had to get at least past New Orleans. For several reasons. If we stopped in New Orleans, I would probably want to go no further. And we needed to get as far as possible in order to make it to Savannah the next night. So we pushed through. We took I-12 around New Orleans and Lake Ponchartrain. We motored all the way on to Gulfport/Biloxi. We stayed at a little beachfront place called the cabana. Prices started at $20/night. Cockroaches included. Here's another picture from the one time we actually went to a BBQ in Texas.
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