Circus is in town

Dear future me,

New Orleans is a fun city to be in when they are preparing for Carnival. I couldn`t get a single camera shot without some beads hanging in trees, lying on the streets or surprisingly embracing my neck. And to make it even better, I found myself in good company. First I met some blokes from England in the pub at half past three in the afternoon. No idea how I got there, but to find Poms in the pub by daylight is a very natural thing. And they are good collectors, because at night, watching the parades, Pete caught me all kinds of shoes, bunnies and loads of beads. Mardi Gras started for real the next day. The circus had started on Bourbon Street. As I don`t like bourbon, I stuck to a few handgranates. They wore me out big time, so after watching the parades again I left on foot to go 'home`. Just in time to find my new roommates from Mississippi and France. They were preparing for the night and of course, I had to join them. Well, normally I don`t like to celebrate Carnival if I am naked, meaning that I don`t have a costume to wear. But with all the stuff I got from the parades and some painting on my face, I was ready to go. From one bar to another, listening to weird music but not long enough to get the hang of it. By the time it was two in the morning, this 37 year old body stopped functioning and needed sleep. Time to leave New Orleans and leave Mardi Gras for the young ones.

Mister Time was urging me to start moving fast, because Thé countdown has started. Just another four weeks before I`m waving the States goodbye from behind my little airplane window. I did wanted to do some back tracking however, so I could see a little bit more of Louisiana. For me, plantations with the whole slavery issue attached, is part of the history. I followed the Mississippi to the west and this trip didn`t only provide me with some beautiful water sightseeing, but also spotting huge dignified plantation mansions. I failed miserably in trying to get some insides in the plantation business and the slave workers. Not because there weren`t great tours, but because I let me be guided by a guy from the South who was fluent in his dialect. Equipped with my basis knowledge of English, I couldn`t understand one word of what he told me. Only the pauses in his stories indicated me he was making word jokes that nobody in the group understood. Poor guy! The sun tried its best to make up for the lack of entertainment and gave me her best afternoon light, so I could go wild on taking pictures. On the rest of my trip, I did see though that a lot of the decedents of the slaves still live on the lands. Most of the time in very crappy houses, and I was shocked how poor people are in this state. On the other hand, as I already noticed in my last blog, they are super friendly. And again very interesting. I met Roy, a guy who spontaneously bought me breakfast. He lost everything in Katrina (the hurricane) and moved to Baton Rouge. Past his retirement age, he set up a well running business in helping drug addicts. I admire that. This trip brought me so many beautiful meetings with inspiring people!

Going north, I made the first mistake of my journey. I hadn`t checked the weather forecast, because the summer was already in the air. Not here in America though, as the cold storms are hitting the east side of the States over and over again. And without being aware, I crossed this invisible line. Going from 26 degrees Celsius to freezing temperatures. The only thing that kept me going were these hippo gloves I borrowed from friends in the west. They saved my life crossing Mississippi. In this 'new` state the forests came back, but besides trees I saw a lot of gas stations to warm me up over coffee. Thinking it couldn`t get worse, I stranded in Hattiesburg. It wasn`t so much the rain and cold that were bothering me, but the many bedbugs that found their way into my sleep again. Staying two nights in this rather terrible motel, I was glad to leave the state. No, Louisiana and Mississippi will never win the price for best accommodations. Or the price for best weather.....in that state of mind I entered the last region on my trip: Florida.

It calls itself the Sunshine State. Pretty confusing, cause California claims the same thing and the sun was definitely not there when I entered at night. Not even the next day. I could hardly tell though, because all the wealth was lighting its golden beams in my eyes. The panhandle is covered with the most gracious vacation and retirement homes and it is not hard to see where all the money is. A bit unsettling if you just left the other southern states. And next to the coast, there is another band of land. It is fun riding, because to your left and right is the sea. The band is covered with more amazing houses, apartments and dunes. And not least, gorgeous white beaches. Even in the grey weather, it is still very white and the sea breathes an azure blue color. Very fascinating. The idyll of these places is alive and in your face. No wonder that The Truman Show was taped in this area. Too bad that the bigger town of Panama City shows another extreme. It is like riding into an attraction park. I even saw a complete building upside down! Or are the handgranates still in my system? Thankfully, the area below Panama City is very different and shows the original Florida, without much development. Again, I found that the south is very hospital. People are secretly buying me lunches, so every time I`m standing at the counter to pay the bill, I get flabbergasted. Wow! Reminder to myself: do this at home for other travelers too.

Slowly I made my way to the inner parts of Florida, there were you have a west coast and a east coast. I stayed at the gulf side to make my way to Plant City. The capital of the strawberry (plants), although it got his name from a railway man. But first I encountered some other native inhabitants of Florida. Wildlife is abundant here and stopping on a bridge to watch some fishers, I saw my first Spanish merman. These manatees are hell of an ugly merman`s, some people call them sea cows. You can swim with them, but I`ll save that for later. In a wildlife state park at Homosassa I met all the wonderful creatures that roam these lands. The alligators, sure, but also the many birds you literally see everywhere. I never seen so many birds on a journey, but the south of America is the Walhalla. And Florida seems to collect them all. And I don`t know who told me that there are no trees in Florida, but I see them all over the place. In my humble opinion, Florida is just stunning. Dennis, a guy I met in Canada, was happy to hear that. As a proud citizen of the well know beautiful little town of Plant City, he showed me around. He even threw me a party! Not sure when I would come, he started this fair 9 days before and I was very happy to be there on time to see the last day. Over 2 million people were invited to the (strawberry) party and they brought their music (The Band Perry) and attractions (stuff that even scare me). And, not to forget, great strawberry shortcake doughnuts from the Amish.

Fifty pound heavier, I left Plant City in a hurry to begin my Florida farewell tour. I`m taking two weeks to make a circle to the Keys via the East Coast and back up the West Coast. First big stop: Miami Beach. Again, this ancient Nennie knows how to time her stuff. Getting to Miami Beach, the biggest party place of all, when it is Spring Break! So here I am, surrounded by trillions of girls and boys, wearing nothing more than bikinis and tank tops, getting loaded while parading Ocean Drive. The circus is in town. Note to myself: ride this street on my bike with the GoPro on recording mode. Will be a lot more impressive than dragging this giant flesh of sunburned wrinkled skin in one-for-all-occasions travelers outfit through the most stylish strip of Florida.