Day 8 Shreveport to Jackson

The hotel we stayed in at Shreveport seemed to be some sort of haven for partying youngsters, The group in the room next to us managed to keep going all night. Various voices shouted out “Oh My God” in shrill Texan accents at regular intervals throughout the night and then someone decided it would be a good idea to watch TV at 5am. So unsurprisingly we were awake fairly early and, if not well rested, at least ready to make an earlyish start on the next stage of our journey.

We’d decided to take the Interstate today as the I-20 was a direct route from Shreveport to Jackson. However there weren’t many opportunities to stop and take photos along the way. The ride was pleasant enough but unremarkable. The Interstate was mainly 2 lanes in each direction with a wide, grassy, and at times wooded, central reservation. There was also a wide grassy area to our the right before the trees started. This was quite reassuring as there seemed to be plenty of relatively soft landing places to go if we needed to get out of the way of marauding 18 wheelers and pickup trucks. We did pass a car wreck along the way at one point, which must have just happened because the State Troopers were still trying to clear the road. Fortunately, although the cars involved didn’t look like they would be going anywhere soon, there didn’t seem to have been any serious injuries.

One of the most exciting parts of the ride was seeing signs saying “Beware of Bears” along a 13 mile stretch of the road in Louisiana. We also stopped off to top up the tanks simply because we could do so in a place called Bolton, although we found it consisted of a gas station and little else. The best moment however was crossing the Mississippi River at Vicksburg as we neared the end of our journey.

We got to Jackson, Mississippi just before 4pm, after about 215 miles on the road, and were able to find our hotel in the downtown area with the aid of the satnav. The hotel itself is very upmarket, probably the best place we have stayed on any of our American trips. It even had valet parking although the chap said he wasn’t authorised to park bikes! It is, however, located in a very run down area of central Jackson. Normally “downtown” means lots of bars and restaurants but in this case it means the hotel, some high rise offices and a lot ot derelict buildings with some rather dubious characters walking about. Fortunately the hotel has a decent bar and a reasonable restaurant so we don’t need to venture any further.

The City of New Orleans

The hotel is right by the train station and as we sat outside in the sun, sipping a beer, we heard the station announcer giving the last call for the City of New Orleans, which was departing for Chicago. As this was the train Mark had hoped to see in New Orleans, he was off like a scalded cat over the road to catch a glimpse of it before it left. It was quite ironic that having failed to catch sight of it in New Orleans we encountered it by chance here in Jackson. 

Following that we retreated inside the hotel and got something to eat. We both started with fried oysters and then I had a burger and Mark had fried chicken. The burger was fine but the chicken apparently did not live up to expectations.

Feeling the need for some vegetables we asked for side orders of spinach and yams (sweet potatoes). The spinach came swimming in a cheese sauce and the yams, which are already sweet,  were covered in what appeared to be honey. The yams were inedible but I have to confess that I did rather enjoy the spinach. It seems to be a feature of American food that everything has to come smothered in some sort of sauce and the idea that vegetables can be served just on their own does not appear to have occurred to anyone. It’s remarkable that they don’t have a problem with obesity over here. 

We are due back in New Orleans by 5pm on Monday to return the bikes. It’s only about 200 miles from Jackson so we should have a relatively easy day. We’ve then got a night in NO before picking up the car and setting off on the second leg of the trip.