White Knight and Southern Fried Chicken

"White Knight"- our trusty steed for the next 21 days.

Well, you will be pleased to know we survived our first day driving on the wrong side of the road and there wasn't even a fight (thanks largely to the GPS Byron kindly loaned us).

We have named our Jeep "White Knight"and hopefully he will see us safely through the next 21 days of our road trip around the South. The driving is easy so far - a mix of interstate highways and country roads.

Today we drove north from New Orleans to a small town on the banks of the Mississippi called Vicksburg. Vicksburg sits high on a  bluff overlooking the river and is home to one of the most renowned battle sites of the Civil War. More than 17,000 Union Soldiers and 5000 Confederate Soldiers were killed here and we are going to the battleground tomorrow to learn more about its history. For more than five decades in the 1800s, Vicksburg was the centre of aristocracy whose wealth was based on cotton and lumber. Today, it relies largely on tourism, but if the main street is anything to go by, it has also felt the GFC in recent times - lots of closed shopfronts.

Great timing - these 100 year old azalea trees only bloom for 10 days.

We are staying at a fabulous B&B called Ahern's Belle of the Bends - www.belleofthebends.com - which overlooks the Mississippi. [Sue, the owner Mary does all sorts of craft including some beautiful paper cards - I will bring back a few for you to admire].

The other thing which Vicksburg is famous for is the best fried chicken in the South (although lots of other places also lay claim to this title). Anyway, we took the advice of the B&B owner Mary and tried the local family restaurant where all the locals eat. Let me tell you, it was superb - we all sat there and chewed the chicken right down to the bones. What the south lacks in wealth today, it makes up for in hospitality and food - its a friendly, finger-lickin' kind of place!

Daren and Logan admire the view over the Mighty Mississippi (note both visited the barber in New Orleans this morning)

A chicken dinner - you get two huge pieces of chicken, baked plain or sweet potato, a delicious side salad, bread, and unlimited iced tea for $15 a person. Dessert (apple pie or blueberry cobbler) is an extra $2 if you can fit it in!

Crossing from Louisiana into Mississippi - we have now visited 6 states: California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.