Today is one month that we've been on the road. So far, so good! ;o) I'm excited to report that Roger has started reading another book (The Descendants). He's on Chapter 3 already. We plan to go to the movie with Lois when we're in San Antonio.

We connected up with Brie & Ryan on Facebook chat again this morning . They had gone to the Killing Fields in Cambodia today (when we talked to them at 9 am, it was bedtime for them). They said it was devastating to see how people treated each other. Their guide's family was killed, and she (the guide) had tears in her eyes as she was telling them the story. Makes our hearts heavy to hear about it, but also makes us grateful for what we have. Tomorrow they take a 6 hour bus ride to Angkor Wat, where they will be til Feb 13.

Our plans today were pretty pale in comparison. We rode the street car to the Riverfront, then took a two-hour steamboat jazz cruise on the Mississippi. The Steamboat Natchez is the last authentic steamboat on the Mississippi River. The cruise left from the French Quarter at 2:30. While waiting to board, we were treated to a Calliope concert (steam passed thru a series of large whistles).   There was also a jazz bank on board, although they were inside and we mostly hung out outside to see the sites that accompanied the narration of the river sites and history.

Many people, including us, think that New Orleans is on the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, it is 135 miles upriver from the Gulf; 65 miles as the crow flies. The Mississippi River is 2,340 miles long (the second longest river in the U.S.) and 1 mile across at its widest point.

The Port of New Orleans is the largest port in the world. 9,000 freight ships go thru the port annually. At its deepest point, the water is 250 ft deep. The port is shaped like a crescent moon, which has resulted in the New Orleans getting the nickname the crescent city. The Crescent City Connection refers to twin cantilever bridges that span the Mississippi River.