We ended up renting, as Brits we couldn't find any company who would insure us and I tried everywhere including our own insurance in the UK.

Hey there!

Well good luck on your trip! If you make it down to the Phoenix area your welcome to use my couch! I'm an AZ native, in a 4 bedroom house w my fiance. I'm 23 he's 24. I believe in vagabonding with all my heart. I hope and believe that the goodness in people is not gone. I make it a point to give cash to anyone who is visibly traveling/vagabonding. I've done it myself and remember all those who gave me a lift, or let me crash on their couch. I try to return the karma so to speak. There are some unique and great places down here, and the Grand Canyon is only a 4 hour drive, maybe 5.
chelseagray23@yahoo.com

While you're in the general area of New Orleans, consider these options:

Cruise to Breaux Bridge, the Crawfish Capitol of the world. Eat and stroll around their quaint old downtown. If there's any way you can be there at the first of May for the Crawfish Festival, don't miss it.

Stop in Henderson to visit McGee's. Listen to music, eat at the diner, stay in a floating cabin, DEFINITELY take the swamp tour.

Drive on to New Iberia and visit Shadows on the Teche, a beautifully maintained antebellum mansion. There are some beautiful old buildings in the town as well. Here's a walking tour guide that describes some of them. Also have a look at the Justin House and St. Peter's Catholic Church, which aren't on the list.

Visit Avery Island to see the Jungle Gardens and tour the Tabasco pepper plant.

While you're in this area, look for little hole-in-the-wall restaurants and bars for authentic food and music, and little streetside shops for primitive art.

This is my old stomping grounds, and I can tell you: there's no place like it. Don't miss it, and have fun.

La

miraclepie wrote:What are some particularily interesting/great things to see. Intersts include:- History & Natural Beauty- Plantations, - Civil Rights/African American History- Civil War - Famous Movies/book locationsAlso, - where is the best/easiest place to Hike in the Appalachians!? - Where can we see a great gospel service?- Where can we go to a huge (enthusiastic) evangelical service? Thank you so much in advance! I know it's a lot of questions.

If you come through Memphis, we have the National Civil Rights Museum. It is the hotel where Martin Luther King, Jr was shot, they turned it into a museum.

Also I have heard that Al Green (the R & B star) has a church here that he leads every Sunday. There are other tourist things here (Graceland) but I don't really go to them...

I'm really surprised that on a thread about travel throughout the South of USA there is so little mention of Memphis, Tennessee. I lived there for two years and in my opinion, it's a place that should be in the top three of your must-see locales, easily as important as New Orleans. Please allow me to ramble a bit here...

For starters, Memphis is billed (and always has been) as the "Birthplace of Rock n' Roll and Home of the Blues". Modern popular music worldwide would not exist as it does today if it weren't for the Blues and Rock n' Roll, and the cradle of these genres is Memphis and its surrounding areas. Some of the most influential musicians/songwriters/performers of all time were part of the Memphis music scene, and this city continues to contribute to the shaping of popular American music today. The musical heritage of this place is every bit as relevant as those of Detroit, Chicago, Nashville, New Orleans or New York City, if not more so. For music-lovers and music-historians, this city simply can't be missed. Google some stuff on Memphis' musical background and you'll find all kinds of interesting sites to be found here that are related to music alone. (Avoid Graceland, though...it's a joke.)

Memphis is huge on pork Barbecue, and they take it VERY seriously. They have a special "dry rub" style of Barbecue that is all their own, and they're very proud of it...there are an endless number of incredible Barbecue restaurants and dishes to be found there. If you want real Southern home-cooking-type cuisine, you won't have to look any further.

The popluation of Memphis is about 63% Black, so if you're looking for a Black Southern Gospel church service there will be no problem finding one here, and you'll be able to find everything from a tiny rural church to a megachurch with literally thousands of members (Google "Bellevue Baptist Church"). The clothing you'll see in a Southern Black church is brilliant, very colorful and vibrant and flashy, and in Memphis certain museums sometimes have exhibitions that center entirely on the types of hats worn by Black women in church.

Many of novelist John Grisham's books are based in and around Memphis, and some of the popular films based off them are filmed there.

Every year there is a festival held in the downtown part of the city that's referred to as "Memphis in May". They've got scores of internationally-renowned musical artists and legendary blues men playing all hours of the night, Barbecue and soul food cooking all throughout the streets. Buskers of all walks of life show up and sit down in the grass or street to play their instruments. You'll see some really incredible musicians and taste some amazing food, it's a blast. The festival attracts hundreds of thousands of people and the best of it lasts for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of each May. As part of this festival there is an event called the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, the largest pork barbecue competition in the world.

I'm sorry if this is too much info, I just couldn't let this great city slip by without mention!

That's decidedly un-'friend'-ly. The trouble with opinions is that they're like belly buttons. Everybody has one and they are all pretty much useless.

That being said, I've chosen to buy foreign because American car manufacturers weren't building the kind of cars that I was interested in, ie inexpensive and fuel effificent.

The thing with the car, is that the car my friend has now gets 70 miles per gallon, so 34 is absolutely disgusting.

I am so curious about a car that gets 70 MPH! 34 is pretty good here, unless you have a prius (my foreign-made cars all averaged about that).

I have no other input other than I agree, New Orleans is a must. And despite what Friend says, you are welcome here to the USA!