Category: Travel Page 1 of 6

It is getting to the end of the trip and I am going to just combine these two days into one post. Not much happened on the second day so its not worth it. We did find the a Laundromat that legit had black and white tv playing though.

Our second day in Chicago we jumped on a bus and went up the Willis tower, but before we did that we grabbed a photo at the start of Route 66. We kind of did it backwards but we got photos at each end and in the middle in Flagstaff.

Willis Tower ( Sears tower ) is pretty impressive. Very taller and pretty long lines, although it was way worse when we were leaving. It was good views and worth it if you get there at the right time of day. read more

The one thing that people have told us in every state since we have landed is “be careful in Chicago”. After the ordeal in Nashville we made sure we booked a nice big secure hotel with on site parking and double entry doors.

I think it is like any other city in the world, where you just do go to certain parts of town after the sun goes down. It’s just the city more than most at the moment.

The start of day 1 started slow with us needing lots of sleep due to the night before, but we found ourself paying way too much for parking and going to Food Truck Friday by the Merchandise Mart. This place was right by the river and was a good first impression of the city. read more

After a bit of an unsavoury night in Nashville we were a bit tired from a lack of good sleep. We both felt a bit unsure when we turned up to the motel ( which is a chain that we had stayed at before ) when there was bulletproof glass at reception. After we got back in from Broadway in the city I was just finishing my blogs for the day and we were going to bed when we clearly heard 4 gunshots across the road. We swiftly called the motel manager, got a refund and changed hotels. Luckily the manager was very good about it and helped us out no problems as he heard it as well. read more

This should be a quick post as we really didn’t do a lot on this drive. It was the most boring drive so far with it looking so similar to home that it felt like we were driving to Taupo, but for 8 hours.

Just outside of New Orleans there is the worlds longest continuous bridge crossing the Lake Pontchartrain, called the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. At 23.83 miles long it was pretty impressive, my camera fogged so bad from the A/C to outside temperature changes I didn’t get any good pics. read more

A trip to New Orleans wouldn’t be complete without going to see som alligators. We went all Burt Reynolds on this place and jumped on an Airboat Adventures Swamp tour. It was located about 25mins from the French Quarter and I’d totally recommend it to anyone.

They did have a albino gator in a tank in the shop which was a bit sad but they said if would be dead if it were in the wild and there are only 50 in the world. The gators are definately use to the routine, as soon the air boat rocked up they headed right towards us. read more

Was a slow morning today after the long haul drive from Austin the day before. A couple of useless storm chasers/aligator finders, I grabbed some breakfast while Paul slept some more.

In the morning we jumped on the ‘street car’ or for everyone else the Tram to the end of Canal Street. The street cars are $3 for a 24hour pass and are pretty convenient in the humid Lousiana heat. New Orleans sits around 32ºC and 80% humidity.

Walking down the river front of the Mississippi there was plenty to see, with boats coming and going, the Aquarium of the America’s ( which had a massive bricked walkway carved with the donors names ) and it all ended at the French Markets. read more

With last nights gig done and dusted we hit the road nice and early, although both of us were a bit tired. This post will be a bit short as it was mostly driving and not much else. Texa’s is a big and flat place, easily bigger that NZ. There was some nice bridges coming into Lousiana and more insane highway overpasses in Houston.

First stop was when we crossed the Texas / Lousiana state border.

After that it was a brief stop when we got to the Gulf of Mexico. Not a lot to see, just some beach, and a massive storm in the distance. We also had to get a ferry across one of the rivers, which was funny being the only car on it, pickup trucks are just as popular in Lousiana as Texas. read more

After yesterdays long drive of 800+ km we wanted/needed a bit of a break. It was a realitively early start at the Days Inn Austin Cross roads hotel, with the usual waffles for brakfast.

we had planned out a few places to check out during the, trying to keep it as long key as we could. First stop was the Texas Thrift shop Paul wanted to check out, he has been wanting cowboy themed clothes since Las Vegas.

Not much was found but it was cool to see what these places were like. The day really was jumping from thrift shop to record store and some food inbetween. read more

After the obvious under estimation of just how long it takes to get from Flagstaff to Austin and ending up sleeping in Roswell for a night we headed off to attack part two of the drive. We did manage to find a cheap motel for $50USD a night, but it ended up being in the rough end of town. Not dangerous rough, just not nice rough.

Most of today was pretty boring really, it was just putting in a lot of driving stopping at interesting stuff along the way. It wasn’t long till we crossed the Texas state border and lost another hour’s sleep to timezone changes. read more

Another early start and we had a big drive ahead of us. We had planned to get into Texas today but that just didn’t happen. With bad weather and some random Google Maps directions we had eaten up too much time.

Breakfast was another healthly serving of waffles and eggs at PJ’s, the motels complimentary breakfast. Everything in Flagstaff seems to be Route 66 themed which is cool.

Then it was East bound and down ( an Archer and Smokey and the Bandit reference ). The car was looking more suited for this drive than ever. read more