The Coopers have disembarked in the United Stated of America. Hawaii was all I anticipated, beaches, palm trees and reefs, feel myself revisiting that place someday. Uncertain why we didn’t question the booking of the red eye flight to Seattle. Touched down on mainland US soil at minus 3 degrees. Seizing my puffer, my inner spirit super smug. My hardened English Northern hubby had not even packed a coat or jumper. His arrogance when we left Australia, I quote ‘She’ll be right’, encouraging the kids follow his lead. Being prepared was total victory, until the kids started moaning…….
The shock was soon diminished upon arrival at New Orleans airport. I sighed feeling haughty that we opted for Mississippi over Maine at this instance. Manoeuvring the hire car and driving at rush hour after our red eye flight is petrifying. 3 hours of seriously bad language inclusive of blaspheming, and sweaty palms #reiningintheblasphemingtoavoidcapitalpunishment. You do not realise how much you rely on your smart phone until you are stranded in a country without one #googlemapsIloveyou. Temporary accommodation once more, this time nextdoor to Trumps holiday home apparently.
Fast forward a month of no wifi and endless house hunting trips we secured a lovely home in Ocean Springs. This town calls itself ‘the city of discovery’, French explorers settled here in 1699 and it definitely has a European feel. Ocean springs is colourful, quirky and has a strong sense of community due to the folk who stood by each other after Hurricane Katrina.
It feels so wrong that I continue to struggle with ‘Southern Hospitality’ optimism and friendliness actually freaked me out a lot. Now this is purely a cultural thing that I admire about the part of the world I am lucky enough to explore. Admittedly I have some British reserve in there somewhere which amplifies my feelings. I have lived in some places where if people handled me as many times I have been touched, hugged, and kissed in the past month maybe wars would have broken out. Honestly I find it rejuvenating, and my girls sure do. How y’all today is now part of our lingo. Being grateful for peoples’ benevolence and taking their blessings will be embraced.
The restless notion to move and shake didn’t take long to kick in. Having a whole new country on my doorstep is like an endless invitation to the unknown. The fortune of February was visiting Louisiana, Florida, Alabama and Texas. We saw a lot of the I10 which is the Southernmost Interstate highway that stretches from the Pacific Ocean in California to Jacksonville in Florida. The road trips down under have crafted the crew to become well adept at zoning out, some of the usual games have resurfaced. Instead of guessing the oversized truck count in our game ‘oner, twoer, threeer’ we now have a game or ‘gun or no gun’.
We didn’t do much research, foolish or our saviour, still not sure which. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, I think if we had foresight we may have changed some plans….. Arriving at Houston Texas at rush hour under the shade of dark trying to find a hotel was taxing. The crazy we encountered was something else. I am now knowledgeable that Houston is in fact a big city. The ‘dead dogs’ I thought I saw lying around on the road side discarded by their owners are in reality coyotes. This stretch of the road is termed ‘The Bermuda Triangle of Traffic’. It is documented that 1.2million man- hours and $100,000,000 is wasted on this stretch of road each year.
The beaches continue to be white and sandy, across the boarder in Alabama but the drifts of the muddy Mississippi river finding its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico at New Orleans are finally faded. The ocean ooozes a sapphire glow in Destin Florida displaying glamour even in the winter. Here I become curious as to why there are gaps between the doors in public toilets, there seems to be very little toilet privacy in America……… I did ask doctor google and it is a thing. No definitive retort why though?
Texas was a real treat, I indulged my Science and engineering geek thanks to NASA. The hands down favourite was as always the alfresco merriment. In the words of John Burroughs of Country Living ‘I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my sense put in order’. The lone star state served up some classic cowboy brekkie and the hubster proved once and for all that he’s ‘all hat and no cattle’. This didn’t stop me from getting onboard with the local cattle!
Drive through, and fast food stores line our runway as we speed back to our home state Virtute et Armis. The black beast dwarfed as we cross the border, the general rule for Mississippians is to own a $80k home, $100k truck and a $120k boat. This means that even though it is the largest car we have owned, it is dwarfed by some of the locals monster trucks! Finding the energy to follow my mantra that ‘Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire’ I move in to March optimistic and realistic about the home-schooling the awesome-foursome. Work in progress number 1 is to remember to call adults Sir, Mr ‘insert christiaan name’ or Maam. Abbreviated Aussie lingo doesn’t go down so well. Mr David was taken a back when Ophelia referred to him as Davo. The adventure continues, bringing the land down under to ‘ole miss’.
ozcoopertravels 
Love following your travels, girls and Adam. I, too have visited New Orleans and Alabama, so can relate to some of your stories. Keep having wild adventures, we love living through them.
Perth is putting on it usual glorious summer, with ocean swims every weekend, and clothing minimal. Long bright sunny days, and fresh air, bring it on, I say. Miss you guys. Xxx
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Miss you guys too 🙂 Hope all is well in sunny WA. Enjoy the rest of the summer heat over there. Big hugs to you ladies Xx
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