Day 30 - Train from New Orleans to Memphis

This morning we had breakfast and lunch in our hotel in between packing. We travelled on the Amtrak City of New Orleans train known as CONO. As it is about a 9 hour trip we booked a Superliner Roomette in a double decker carriage - two seats facing each other with a picture window. The seats convert to the lower bed and the top bed folds down. Meals are included.

The first part of the journey was through the bayou. Anita thinks she saw two alligators where I saw logs - she is the one booked in for cataract surgery. Much of the time forest and undergrowth limit our views of the countryside. Our roomette is on the western side of the northbound train so we appreciate the cloud cover, except Anita thinks it is dark and spooky. She has watched too many movies involving train murders.

As we passed through Jackson I played Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash singing:

We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout, 
We've been talkin'  'bout Jackson ever since the fire went out, 
Yeah I'm goin' to Jackson, I'm gonna mess around, 
Look out Jackson town ... 

Beccy Cole and Adam Harvey do a great rendition of this classic.

Jackson is the capital of the state of Mississippi which is one of the poorest states of the Union. Most of our trip was through low lying land of Mississippi. We saw hundreds of damaged and abandoned buildings, probably dating back to 2005 when Hurricane Katrina devastated much of the state.