Road Trip Around the Gulf of Mexico

Arriving at West Palm Beach was a strange feeling. On one hand, we were happy: No more boat hitchiking! On the other, it was a bit strange. We had spent nearly the last three months constantly thinking about finding out next boat, being on boats, and where we would arrive next. Now that we were on solid land, things would be a lot different. No more would we have to rely on other people’s goodwill to get where we needed to go - we could just take whichever form of public transit that suited us best. While sorting out how to get places still takes planning and research, it is more within our control. This was both refreshing and kind of surreal.

Our first choice of transportation? The Amtrak train from West Palm Beach to Tampa, where we would spend some time vising our friend Olivia and her husband Morgan. Oliva is another Midnight Runners friend and was generous enough to open up her home to us for basically however long we needed it for. After so many months of never seeing anyone we knew, we were really looking forward to seeing a friend.

All of that said, it was also a bit complicated for us coming into the states. As much as we were excited about seeing our friend, we originally wanted to avoid this country because of various political things that were happening at the time. Particularly because Julie is Canadian, and many Canadians were feeling like going to the states was almost an anti-patriotic act. The way it all shook out, however, we didn’t really have a choice.

The first thing we had to do before going to Tampa, however, was go to the sea port customs office. Jo is French, and therefore he needed to present himself so that they could double-check his ESTA (the tourist visa that Europeans must have to enter the United States). We decided to run to the office to get a nice long run in after being on the islands and boats with minimal running opportunities. Just before we arrived, as we were heading over a bridge, a car pulled over beside us. A man rolled down his window and said hey, you know it’s not really safe to run here - it’s not a great neighborhood around here. We thought it was weird, since right before going over the bridge we were in a beautiful neighborhood with lovely homes that didn’t seem at all unsafe. We told him we were just going to the customs office, which was at the cruise port right on the other side of the bridge. Oh, okay, he said, and drove off. We thought most likely that it was the neighborhood on the other side of the cruise port that likely wasn’t the best, we did think it was strange for someone to pull over, tell you that you might be in danger, but not actually offer to help at all (as in, drive you the rest of the way to the destination, which was on his way).

Once we arrived at the customs office, we quickly realized that I, Julie, should not have actually gone up into the office with Jo. Jo first walked in and explained that we had just come off of a private vessel, and the woman over the phone who calls the boats once they’ve done their online check-in said that he needed to come here. The first officer nodded and asked to see my passport, when a second looked at me and, quite gruffly, said hey, we need to see your passport, too. Surprised, I explained that the woman on the phone said that I was good to go because I was Canadian and therefore didn’t need to be checked (this was back in February, mind you). The second officer very rudely told me that yes, I did need to show him my passport, and questioned me as to how long I was allowed to be in the country for. I told him 90 days in a 180 period with a visa, to which he replied No, wrong! At that point, the other, much kinder officer genlty redirected him, and that officer walked away. He checked Jo’s ESTA and passport as well as our boat information and then sent us on our way. One thing is for sure, we are certainly glad we’re not trying to enter the states on private boats now.

Once we arrived in Tampa, however, everything began looking up. We spent the next week just decompressing from our months of boats and island hopping, working, running, and enjoying sunny Florida weather. We took a day to go to the NASA Space Center, where we saw many of the old rockets that went to the moon, saw the launch sites, and learned about the past, present, and future of the space organization. We also got to see an old friend of Julie’s from university, Steph, who is now the head dietitian for the Philedelphia Phillies major league baseball team. They were at their pre-season training in Florida, and thanks Steph we got to go to one of their pre-season games.

From Tampa, we rented a car and started our road trip around the Gulf of Mexico. Our first stop was Louisiana, just in time for the last day of Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras was something that we both always thought would be cool to witness. New Orleans during the festivities is really expensive, so we actually stayed about one hour outside of the city in a motel, got up really early the morning of Mardi Gras, and drove in to our hotel in the French Quarter before they shut down many of the major streets for the parades. We started our day with the Zulu Parade. It started out really fun, with lots of incredible marching bands and really high energy. Of course, as the floats were going by, they were tossing out beads and this famous zulu parade decorated coconuts (made of plastic, of course). As the parade went on, however, they started throwing more things - toys, nick-nacks, stuffed animals, and the list goes on. It was if the look changed in people’s eyes, and the crowd suddenly swtiched from were enjoying the parade to I must catch as much stuff as I can, no matter who I trample in order to do it. From there, people went crazy. At the end of the parade, they even started throwing fairly expensive things over, like a queen bed comforter set, which I witnessed a man dive for, knocking over an older lady and tackling some other people in order to catch it. The comforter was completely busted out of its plastic case in the fight.

After that,we wanted to go see the main parade. Normally, that parade was supposed to pass right infront of our hotel. Unfortunately, throughout the morning the winds picked up to a point where it was becoming dangerous for the people up on top of the floats. They therefore had to reroute the parade and end it early, so we missed it. Walking back to our hotel was somewhat shocking: The streets were absolutely covered in plastic - plastic beads, mostly, plust packaging and all the other plastic-made things that they were throwing off of the floats. On top of that, the incredibly strong winds was whipping the plastic all over the city. Seeing all of that plastic strewn about kind of took the magic of the parades away for us.

The rest of the day, we spent in the French quarter, hopping around from party to party. The next day we spent actually visiting the city of New Orleans, starting with a run out to a beautiful park, eating classic Lousiana foods like gumbo and beignets, and touring some of the beautiful neighborhoods with their old homes and tall oak trees.

The next day we continued our roadtrip, heading out of New Orleans to our first stop: The Whitney House. The Whitney House is an old plantation home along the Mississippi River that is now dedicated to telling the real story of slavery, from the origins all the way to the present day struggles that the African-American community in the area still face. It wasn’t a lighthearted tour, by any means, but it was informative, very well told, and something that I think everyone, at least in the United States, should have the opportunity to do.

Now it was time to make our way to Texas, where we would be taking a bus from San Antonio to Monterrey, Mexico. We first, however, did a pit stop at Enchanted Rock National Park, where we spent a couple of days doing some camping and trail running. The running around the park was great - sunny weather, we saw some wildlife, including a rattle snake, and enjoyed time in nature after being in cities for the last week or so. The first night we slept in hammocks, which are actually more comfortable than you’d think. It was a bit unnerving at first, because as soon as the moon comes out, so do the coyotes - and wow, do they ever howl! At some points it was so loud you actually might think that they were right next to the campsite (don’t worry, they weren’t). The second night, it was quite a lot cooler. In fact, the park rangers even came around letting people know that the temperature was going to be quite low that night, to ensure that people were prepared for it. We slept in the tent the second night, to take advantage of shared body heat. Inside the tent the temperature was fine, but as soon as you went outside it was quite nippy! We decided the next morning to pack up and head out quickly, as we were too cold to stay there much longer.

We did a quick coffee break in Houston before finishing off our drive to San Antonio. From there, we bummed around the city for the day, waiting for our night bus to Monterrey. We ended up going to that restaurant where the waiters are purposely super rude to you by accident, but it was actually quite funny and a fine experience. They weren’t as rude as you would think, and the food was fine - not amazing, but about what you would expect from an American chain restaurant.

Finally, it was time to go - back to Mexico for Julie, and to Mexico for the first time for Jo.