MOTORMAN

Pininfarina Peugeot

We took a day out of New Orleans to experience the Great River Road’s great anti-climax. Venice, Louisiana, is a small town of around 200 people. Just a few minutes south of Venice is the place where the water the Mississippi has collected from nearly half the US on its journey through 10 states, flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The journey of each drop which joined at the start takes about 90 days. Frankly, it hardly seemed worth the effort, as nobody seemed to care about it. The only evidence that you have arrived at the mouth of one of the world’s great rivers is a graffitied beaten-up wooden sign that does not even mention the river.

The Mississippi is actually the second-longest river in the States as one of its tributaries, the Missouri River, is actually 160km longer, but they comprise the fourth-longest river system in the world — yet nobody seems to think it worth a mention!

Anti-climax aside, sitting in the Changes Restaurant in Venice, beside the great river itself, we were quietly pleased to have completed one of the most unforgettable road trips in the world.

Including detours to Nashville and the Alamo, the Cadillac never missed a beat. We dropped it off at Houston airport with an additional 6000km on the clock.