Heat, Thunderstorms, and Soul Food.

We made it to Tucson, and far beyond. The weather has lent itself to impossible heat, humidity, and thunderstorms unlike any I have seen. I'll start with Tucson.

We arrived in Tucson and were warmly welcomed and taken in by Robin and her dad. We lounged around in the living room catching up on life post college and figured out what to do the next day. We decided that it would be a great chance to see the old Spanish Mission, and The Lost Barrio as long as we got to it before the hottest part of the day. We managed to make it before the hottest part, but in Tucson that doesn't mean much. Walking was more difficult than it has been at any point on the trip, before or after. It was impossibly hot. The Mission, the Barrio, and a stroll through the hippie part of town were lovely, but in the end the sun got the better of me and sitting indoors was all I could think about. The Mission's architecture was something to remark at and the spirituality calming, but the heat trumped my thoughts. Robin laughed at me, and rightfully because Arizona kicked my ass like there was nothing to it. I was down for the count and doomed to slug around in the beautiful surroundings for the rest of the day. Don't get me wrong, Robin, if you are reading this, I had an absolutely wonderful time, but I am a wimp when it comes to heat.

So, as you can imagine, when I saw thunderheads forming on the horizon I was thrilled. I knew that this meant a break from the heat and a big storm. Both of which I was more than ready for. Callie and I had planned to hit the road to New Mexico, but instead we posted up on the front porch with Robin and the dog to watch the rain and lightning pass overhead. It poured a bone-soaking kind of rain and the skies groaned with thunder. To say the least it was breathtaking. It was a little after five when it ended, but Callie and I decided to leave anyway and drive the four hours to Las Cruces, New Mexico. On the way we collided with thunderstorm number two, which was bigger and louder than the first.

We made it to Las Cruces around 11pm Mountain time and began a late night hunt for the cheapest accomodations possible. We rang a series of different night bells and asked for the cheapest available rooms only to discover that no one spoke the same cheap dialect that we did. At least not in Las Cruces at eleven o'clock at night. Next option: camping. We had passed signs along the highway before we got to town and decided that this was our best bet. By the time we got to the campsite, it was midnight and the office was closed. We opted to take the cheapest possible route: We payed nothing, used the showers, set up camp, and were gone by 6am before anyone could have known we were there. Clean, somewhat rested, and proud of ourselves, we were on the way Austin. Ten hours lay before us of driving through the vast nothingness of Texas. Mesas, hills, and openess were on all sides. It was gorgeous. I thought about the old westerns with cowboys and indians roaming around the hills. This was one of my favorite drives.

Austin, Texas. Cool place. Lots of different types of people. Easily navigable, and very cheap if approached from the right angle. We landed in Austin around 8pm on Saturday night. We did the standard search for cheap accomodations and weren't satisfied. We asked a few motels about availability, and several had multiple available rooms. The next step was to head downtown to 6th Ave where the night life was in full force. Here we thought we could meet some people that would to take us in, if not it was back to one of the available motel rooms. Within an hour we had a place to stay. Night one: a handful of very attractive party boys that had little concept of how to land a lady. They were hospitable, but had a hard time grasping the concept of No.

Very attractive party boys, if you read this know that I appreciated everything you did and was flattered by how hard you tried. Two Callie's don't make a right, but they sure look good. If you know what this means, good for you. If not...

In total, we stayed four nights in Austin. The second night was spent at a youth hostel along the river. The final two nights were spent with our first couch surfing host, Paul. Paul is kind, well spoken, funny, and damn good at scrabble. In our days in Austin we witnessed the emergence of a bat colony one million strong, road in a pedicab, ate some phenomenal icecream, swam in Barton Springs, and explored a magnificently beautiful, and immensely haunted hotel. This in combination with good people made for a lovely and lasting impression.

We passed through Houston, but there really isn't much to say about that so I won't say anything.

Now, I am all too pleased to say that I am sitting on a comfortable couch in New Orleans, Louisiana. We are staying with our second couch surfing host. His name is Seth and he took us out to have some soul food. Delicious. We are within a five minute walk of the French Quarter. We will be here for four nights. We will canoe through the swamps, talk to some cajun old man while he tells nearly incoherrent stories about alligators over some beer. We will eat fried chicken to the point of stomach aches. We will wander aimlessly. We will see what a real hurricane leaves behind. We will run from roaches. We will laugh. We will chat. We will have the time of our lives.