Just a short post today. I'm sitting in a coffee shop in the French Quarter just off of Bourbon Street--will follow with plenty of reflections on my time here tomorrow or Monday, but today wanted to quickly cover the 8 hour trek from Memphis to New Orleans on Thursday (as you'll see, I took the scenic route...how fitting).

I was on the road out of Memphis early on Thursday, heading south to New Orleans by sunset. On the advice of some friends, my first stop was in Oxford, MS, home of the University of Mississippi (affectionately known as Ole Miss). The town is pretty cool, and has all of the feel and trappings of the southern towns from John Grisham novels. Much of the town revolves around the goings on at the Universit, where freshman orientation was under way. I roamed around the campus for a bit, checking out the beautiful surroundings.

From there, I spent some time in the Square, checking out Square Books, a cool local book shop with a corner devoted to William Faulkner (he was from Oxford, MS). I picked up some books to do some reading on the journey (Faulkner's New Orleans Sketches, among them). It's my first time really getting into his work, and I really like the stream of consciousness style (no surprise there!).

Afterwards, I ducked into Larry's Barber Shop for a quick cut, and grabbed some lunch at Ajax, a local diner. I've never had better catfish in my life, and the squash casserole was amazing. The list of things I'm going to be working off for the next few months continues to grow...

From Oxford, I headed southwest towards the Delta region. It took me a bit out of the way, but driving across the flatlands near the Mississippi River across miles-long stretches of soy beans and cotton plants was pretty crazy. This was farm country, and it was cool to check out the little towns along the way (Clarksdale, Cleveland, Indianola, Yazoo City). But man, there are plenty of stretches where there's a whole lot of nothing but fields and straight road. Pretty drive, though.

That's all for now. I've been joined in New Orleans by two good friends and we've had some fun so far.  Reflections and stories to come.

DRB

PS--two quick sports notes.

First, golf is SO much better when Tiger is good.

Second, it's pretty remarkable--and awesome--to walk through the streets of cities and towns throughout the south and see UEFA Euro 2012 on every television (with most folks paying attention). I think it speaks volumes to how far the sport of soccer has come in the U.S. I know true enthusiasts would argue that there's so much further to go, but I still think it's great that more Americans are taking interest.