On, July 1, 2003, we left for a grand tour of Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisianna and Texas.

The trip started at 5am, when we were picked up by a limosine and driven to Oakland International Airport.
After arriving in Nashville, we rented a car and proceeded driving the Natchez Trace Parkway towards the Amerihost Hotel in Tupelo, Mississippi. Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis. I'm reasonably certain that it is known for little else. Every restaurant chain you can think of was there, all grouped together on a stretch of highway, just off Main Street.
Following Main Street East, will lead you into Presley Heights, where you can turn on Elvis Presley Drive, bringing you to the construction site of the Elvis Chapel which will open later this summer, located next to the Elvis Gift Shop and Museum, which has been built on the hill above the small house where Elvis was born.
After spending a night in Tupelo, we continued on the Natchez Trace towards New Orleans. Our French Quarter hotel was posher than I expected, with 5 interior gardens and 2 small outdoor swimming pools. The valet parking attendent was formally dressed in a suit and tie. You could see that his shirt was completely drenched from sweat and humidity, but he never stopped smiling. Did I mention the French Quarter is humid? Hot and steamy, which makes a perfect setting for this surreal combination of elegance, decadence and decay.
Although we enjoyed most of our meals, with live jazz and blues playing in the background, some of the food is just plain wierd.
We visited the safe cemetary in the Garden District. We heard that the one closer to the French Quarter was very dangerous and we'd be VERY foolish to go there alone.
Our visit was a little steamier than normal. There was a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico that brought hurricane winds and rain into New Orleans the days we were there.
Eric and I arranged to go on a dinner cruise on the Natchez Steam Boat on the 4th of July. It was awesome! We traveled down the Mississippi River for a ways and got a feeling for how things may have been seen through Mark Twain's eyes.
It was time to return to Nashville.
We drove back along the Natchez Trace again because you couldn't ask for an easier and more scenic road to travel. We rarely encountered another car in either direction!
Once back to Nashville, we had to locate Lebanon, so we could find Liberty, to meet up with Brooker, who lives remotely in the vicinity of the Temperance Hall on a befuddling maze of unmarked, unpaved roads located somewhere in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains. I know I've made it sound far easier to find than it actually was!
We had plans to stay for 4 days on a houseboat on a resevior outside of Cookeville. This houseboat was larger than Monacco! I'm sure it has its own zip code! Thank goodness Steve and Brooker have a a nautical background. If I was resposible for anything, this boat would have gone down like the Titanic.

Eric and Shawn spent time riding the jetski and watching the satellite TV located in the boat's livingroom. Meals were prepared, on board, in the gourmet, fully eqipped kitchen and eaten in the diningroom. We enjoyed cocktails under the stars, on the upper level, next to the jacuzzi.... and then we would retreat to one of the 5 bedrooms, located on both the main and lower levels of the boat....Ok, are you starting to get a picture of the SIZE of this bloody boat? After the houseboat adventure, we returned to Brooker's. He had arranged for a tour of the cave located on his property. A couple of local cave experts volunteered their time so repel into the cave and set up ladders so everyone else could explore the cave, with flashlights, wearing lighted hard-hats. I stayed back after hearing tales of knee high mud, poison oak and approaching hurricanes. But as it turned out, Eric and the crew all had a great and adventurous time without any mishaps.
It was now time to leave Tennessee and catch a plane for Austin, Texas. Our plane arrived in Austin, and we rented a car to drive towards Bracken Cave, the cave owned by Bat Conservation International. It houses the the largest known population of Mexican free tail bats, numbering around 20 million female bats! Bracken Cave serves as a nursery for bat pups.Every night, during the summer, around dusk, the bats leave the cave. They form a giant vortex and fly off towards the southern agricultural fields. The bats consume 200 tons of insects nightly!
After the Bat Cave, we drove to San Antonio and stayed on the Riverwalk at the Best Western. Can you say Hell on Earth? The first day there, Eric and I thought we'd do a little sightseeing on foot and check out the Alamo and the Old Mexican Craft Market. I believe it was somewhere between the two, on the way back to the hotel that I was convinced I was either having a heat stroke, a brain hemorage, or an out of body experience. I remember Eric saying, "I think you better get some water or something..." I won't bore you with the details, but trust me, San Antonio is far TOO HOT to go for scenic strolls on the Riverwalk promenade DAY or NIGHT.
The President of Spain was visiting San Antonio at the same time we were. He took a boat around the Riverwalk with his onterage and security.
The following day, back at the hotel, we had to figure out what I could do in San Antonio that wouldn't be fatal. Caves, cool, cool caves!!!! We collected all the brochures in the lobby of the Best Western describing local caves and decided to visit The Natural Bridge Cave, outside of New Brunsfels and The Cave Without a Name, a short distance outside of Boerne. Now that was good fun and a wise useage of Texas Time!
Texas is not for everyone, it's too damn hot. We found the highlights to be below ground with as few Texans present as possible.

The End.

Oh yeah, by the way, I recommend that you never, ever, rent a Chevy Malibu. The tank could only hold about 5 gallons of gas, and I had to floor it to reach 60 miles per hour. That's why they say, "friends don't let friends drive Chevys."