that give me that honky-tonk blues

I did nothing today. Aside from watching trashy tv, and I figure today doesn't really count. I also dug through craigslist apartments and called a few people, so it wasn't a total waste of a day.
Continuing with the driving saga (and I'm doing it blow by blow, which may not be the best way, but whatever) Jill took over in El Paso and drove us to San Antonio. On the way, we got pulled over by vigilantes. Seriously. Maybe, just maybe, they were official border patrol, but there was a roadblock and we had to pull off and this guy in a khaki shirt and hat looked at Jill's license and asked "Are you a US citizen? Do you have anyone in the back?" and then let us continue on. What bullshit questions. I feel kind of violated by the whole thing. And I really wish that I had had some one in the back, just for the satisfaction of getting that past that toolface. Anyway. Texas was boring. Mesas and shrubs and flat. I have pictures that I'll post at some point. We got to San Antonio at about 3 that afternoon (monday the 18th) and went, of course, to the Alamo. It was really pretty. The whole area around there is on the pretty side, but the Alamo was really nice. It's all trees and grass and there's a little stream with giant goldfish. In the giftshop there was a giant model of the battle, complete with little cotton smoke puffs from the rifles and cannons, and dead and dying soldiers. It was pretty awesome. After wandering around there for a while we went down to Riverwalk for dinner. There's a stream running through town and down along it are all sorts of restaurants. We went to a really really good Mexican restaurant and I got a margarita. Holy shit. I can never get another margarita in my whole life. It was so damn good. The flautas were also really amazingly good, though I think having eaten nothing but oranges and bread and almonds for over a day helped. We left a little after 5 and headed for Houston. I will be happy to never go back there again. It wasn't that bad. We first stopped at this place to meet up with Jill's friend Chanaan and her fiance Jeremiah. Jill is horrified that Chanaan is getting married, particularly to this guy. We played a few games of pool, and surprisingly, I played really well. Apparently all I need to do to make all kinds of shot is not sleep for 39 hours and have a margarita 4 hours previous. The only thing was that I missed the one shot that I used the bitch stick for. That's the first time I've ever missed using it, but I won one of the games, and I certianly helped on a couple others, so it was all right. After that, we got back on the road and tried to find Jill's other friend, Skye's, bar. It took forever. I am not going to go into the hell that it took us to get there, but the roads were ridiculous. At one point I turned to Jill and said "I'm lost in Texas. This is like my own personal version of hell." This is not quite true, but it was pretty bad. WE finally found it at about 10 30. It was so fantasically surreal. It was a monday night, so there were a lot of regulars. There was a pretty big dance floor that was empty when we got there, but after a bit, people started dancing. It was kind of cute and strange. It was like a scene in a movie, and I was so dissapointed that I didn't have a video camera implanted in my forehead. We didn't hang around long, being totally exhausted, and we headed to Skye's mom's house. This time, the directions were really easy to follow. We each took a shower and collapsed. We had planned to get up at 5 am, but that didn't really happen. Jill woke me up at 8, and we were back on the road by 9.
We made fabulous time and got to New Orleans at 2 30. I finally got to meet Jill's friend Billy the awesome gay boy. She met him while she was trapped in Texas, and she didn't lie about him at all. I think she has a crush on him, and I totally agree. He's one of those really cute guys and it's really too bad that he's gay, but if he was straight he wouldn't be as cute. He was a crazy maniac driver. It was fantastic. He was like a taxi driver in New York, heavy on the gas until he absolutley couldn't anymore, then sharply braking and sometimes swerving over to the next lane. He also talks on the phone constantly and talks with his hands. I had a feeling of "ohmygodwe'reallgoingtodie" the whole time, but in a good way. Kind of like a roller coaster. We didn't go by the really devastated area, but I did see evidence of the hurricane throughout the city. There's a lot of damage still there, but it was a lot better than I expected. We went to Cafe du Monde and had beignets. They were pretty awesome. Apparently they get powdered sugar delivered by the truckload-120,000 pounds a week. Wow. When you see how much they dump on each plate, that's really actually believable.
We went to dinner at a place called Sweet Fire and Ice. It was awesome. I can't remember what all we got now, but Billy did order us two Gilligans Islands to drink and they were literally bigger than my head. I couldn't believe it, I didn't know they made glasses that big. After dinner, Jill and I wandered over the the bar, which is covered in ice. I was standing there looking around at everything when I hear behind me something about rosco and tahitian blue. What? Lighting terms? In a random bar, in the middle of New Orleans? So I turn around and when they offered me the seats they were leaving, I introduced myself and asked what they were talking about and whodaknownit, I had sat next to the guys who installed the lighting, all the light projections on the wall, and accent stuff and everything. Go me. I got the guys card. We stopped by Billy's home (he lives at a bed and breakfast near the central business district, very odd, but pretty cool. The little pool area has palm trees and stuff, it was very Louisiana) and then went to the French Quarter. I'm in love. I couldn't live there, but man oh man. It's all tight street and tall brick buildings and balconies. One of the balconies at an intersection had written in christmas lights "Peace Y'all". Only in the South. We went to Billy's bar and got a shot of something good, I don't remember what, but it involved a lime afterwards, and had chambord and vodka in it. After hanging out there a bit we walked Bourbon St. It was pretty early, so there wasn't too much activity, but there were people and all kinds of music. I got a Hand Grenade and delighted in walking down the street with a ton of alcohol in hand. By the time we walked back down towards the bar there was life and activity everywhere. I love cities. Billy's friend was working at his bar, fixing some moving lights, so we hung out with him for a bit, and had a Mind Eraser shot. And then- back on the road. We drove from 10 30 pm Tuesday to 9 pm Wednesday, when we got in to Alexandria, and stayed at Vanessa's mom's house. More later. I'm tired and should really do laundry tonight.