Alabama

We had another wonderful morning in New Orleans. In search of coffee we headed out with Roxy to Cafe du Monde at 07:30 - 8:00 am. It was a nice peaceful walk at that time of day. Workers were out with pressure washers and garbage bags, cleaning the sidewalks from the night before adventure go-ers. Roxy was welcomed in and we sat at a nice outside perimeter table - great for people watching. The line up to get a table, as well as, to get take out was growing by the minute. We found out today that the cafe is open 24 hours a day. They are open at all hours to get the early birds in search of coffee, afternoon tour groups and in the evening and all night to capture the late night party go-ers. Gary and Betty would appreciate a coffee shop that is open early. We had a nice meandering walk home amongst the shops on Chartres and the French Market place.

We were planning on heading home to get Roxy settled and then head out on the bikes for a bit. However, I got to checking emails and noticed that we were scheduled to check-in to our next place in Nashville on Sunday... which meant we were to be checking out today to drive north to Montgomery. Oops. Definitely a travel blunder. So here it is.. 11:15 am and we should have been checked out at 11. So I quickly called the owner and let her know that we were running behind but were packing up as we speak. So within the hour I had finished the load of laundry I had started (I put in a load into the washer before knowing that we were to be checking out.. another oops.), packed up all of our goods, loaded the bikes and hit the road running. Not to bad considering we had things unpacked and hanging in the closet. We thought it was pretty funny.

Today we headed up to Montgomery, Alabama, passing through a small section of Mississippi. We aimed for the old down town area to check out the Hamptons Inn hotel for a place to stay, but unfortunately there must have been a ton of conferences/weddings in the area as everything was booked up. So we decided to head back to the highway and find a roadside motel. We happened across a Super 8 that has had some recent renovations and checked in for the night. $65.00 USD/night + taxes; and no charge for our "service dog" (they changed their policy to no pets, so we used the "service dog" line). Roxy is so well behaved that you would think that she is a service dog - no barking, walks on a loose lead, listens (most of the time) and is very friendly, so if it means that we can stay at a place and she is well behaved, so be it.

Montgomery is a very interesting and historical significant town. Montgomery was incorporated in 1819 as a merger of two towns situated along the Alabama River. It became the state capital in 1846, representing the shift of power to the south-central area with the growth of cotton as a commodity crop of the Black Belt and the rise of Mobile as a mercantile port on the Gulf Coast. In February 1861, Montgomery was selected as the first capital of the Confederate States of America, until the seat of government moved to Richmond, Virginia, in May of that year. During the mid-20th century, Montgomery was a major center of events and protests in the Civil Rights Movement,including the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Selma to Montgomery marches.

Tomorrow we have another easier day of driving so we will sleep in a bit and check out Montgomery before we go.

Total Travel miles: 350 miles