2 in 1 day?!??!?! no way!!!

So in an effort to give less of a summary and be more entertaining (no where to go but up, right?) Paige and I are going to try and update the blog more frequently.

Today's second update will consist mainly of cataloguing the roadkill on the highway between Shreveport and New Orleans and describing the gangrenous foot of our New Orleans host.

First things first: there's a ton of roadkill between Shreveport and New Orleans. We saw raccoon, squirrel, cat, dog (so sad), gator, nutria, turkey, vulture, turkey vulture, deer, moose, snake, zebra, hippo, and a bull elephant. You know, nothing too crazy, but everything you need to make a simple swamp stew.

Speaking of swamps, the only other things between Shreveport and New Orleans are swamps. Lots and lots of swamps. Because of this, I decided it was not a good idea to camp between Shreveport and New Orleans. I'd hate for Emma to end up as 'gator food. So instead of camping we listened to the ever-uplifting voice of Ira Glass and NPR's This American Life for 5 hours as we made the push all the way from Shreveport to New Orleans.

Shortly before we arrived in New Orleans Paige received a text message from her grad school friend Dave, who we were planning on staying with, that said something to the effect of "I've been bitten by a radioactive spider and have started developing super powers that will turn me into the most lethal fighting machine ever to hit the Big Easy." Or something to that effect. The text message was actually more along the lines of "my ankle is swollen, scaly, bloody and oozing from a suspected spider bite...but don't let that deter you from coming." Not wanting to deprive a friend of our mothering company, we naturally followed his direction, nay his order, and sped into town.

We arrived in New Orleans to find but a shell of a man, hollowed from pain, limping out to greet us on an ankle twice as big as mine (which translates to about 16 times normal size). The poor guy's ankle started feeling weird last week so he went into urgent care on Saturday. Today he finally got in to see a doctor who's best guess was that he had a spider bite and gave him massive doses of antibiotics and pain killers. Dave's hoping for a miraculous over night recovery, but judging by the size of his ankle, I'm not surprised Paige has already had me map out the fasted route to the hospital. I'm pulling for the miraculous recovery and if not that, then miraculous crime fighting powers.

After Paige has exhausted her mothering instincts tonight, we're going to get up tomorrow and go for a run around Dave's neighborhood in the morning. If Dave is still holding steady, we're going to brave the crowds and check out the parade the city is holding for the Saints. If we're still conscious, we'll come back and I'll make Paige update the ol' blog for you.

We miss you all and look forward to seeing you soon.