Day 1 - Home to Kansas City
Today we begin our journey to exciting Cajun Country and the deep south.  Overnight in Kansas City this evening.
Hotel: Drury Inn

Day 2 - Kansas City to Little Rock
Take a scenic drive with sweeping vistas of the lovely Ozark Mountain country.  We’ll stop for a light lunch in Branson before our afternoon journey to Little Rock, Arkansas.
Included Meals: Light Breakfast, Lunch       
Hotel: Hampton Inn

Day 3 - Little Rock to Natchez
Travel deep into the south to Vicksburg, steeped in history.  Tour the Vicksburg National Military Park , one of the best preserved Civil War Battlefields in America. It’s here that one of the Civil War’s most devastating battle took place, the focal point of the Union campaign to seize control of the great Mississippi and divide the Confederacy.  Tour the historic monuments, miles of reconstructed trenches, the restored Union gunboat USS Cairo, and the Vicksburg National Cemetery.  Visit historic Natchez, featuring immense plantations and magnificent mansions from the booming days of the cotton industry. Experience true southern hospitality this evening at a candlelight dinner in an elegant antebellum mansion.  This evening the Civil War will come to life at the Confederate Pageant performance.
Included Meal: Breakfast, Dinner 
Hotel: Country Inn & Suites

Day 4 - Natchez
A local guide joins us for the Natchez Pilgrimage Tour of Homes as we tour some of the beautiful antebellum mansions, which are more plentiful here than anywhere else in the United States. Tour Rosalie, built in the early 1820s overlooking the Mississippi River and once the headquarters of the Union Army.  See furniture, paintings, and clothes used by the very family that lived here for over 100 years. Visit the extravagant octagonal Longwood home, a National Historic Landmark and a site on the Civil War Discovery Trail. View the interior where construction was halted during the Civil War and never completed. Tonight enjoy a presentation called “Southern Road to Freedom”.
Included Meals: Breakfast

Day 5 - Natchez to Lafayette
After breakfast cross the Mississippi River and tour Frogmore Plantation, a 1,800-acre working cotton plantation from 1790.  Experience slave culture, sharecropping, & more.  Later motor deep into the heart of Cajun Country, an area first settled by French Acadian farmers.  Experience more of the heart of “Cajun Country,” immortalized in Longfellow’s epic poem, “Evangeline.”  Visit the charming river town of St Martinville and the famous Evangeline Oak, world famous and named for the heroine of the epic poem, which stands on the banks of the Bayou.  Visit Vermilionville, a restored Acadian village in the bayou with local folk in period costumes re-enact the colorful lifestyle of French settlers who moved here to escape British encroachment on Acadia. You’ll enjoy the live music!  This evening R & J Tours has arranged for a local couple to accompany us to Mulate’s, a cajun dance hall, for a delicious dinner and dancing.  Enjoy entertainment, good friends, and great conversation.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner                     
Hotel: Drury Inn & Suites

Day 6 - Lafayette - New Orleans
Travel the Old Spanish Trail, with mossy trees, swamps, and the misty, moody basin of the Atchafalaya River. Visit the beautiful Houmas House Plantation and Gardens on Louisiana’s historic river road.  Experience the original French provincial house, the mansion and carriageway to the grand home, described as “The Sugar Palace.”  Enjoy a delicious lunch and some time to walk through the beautiful gardens.  Later we will make our way to New Orleans and your hotel is nestled right up next to the French Quarter giving you opportunity to truly experience this exciting area.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Hotel: Drury Inn

Day 7 - New Orleans
Our guide circles the sights of the French Quarter, including St. Louis Cathedral and its adjoining Cabildo; Bourbon Street Jazz District, French Market Place, Pirates Alley, Garden District, and the bustling harbor front.  This afternoon we will take our swamp tour down the river and bayou area.   Your captain is a native of the swamps and fully narrates your tour.  Tonight board the New Orleans Steamboat, as we cruise the mighty Mississippi River for dinner and live jazz entertainment!  
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner 

Day 8 - New Orleans
Experience a jazz brunch served at famous Court of Two Sisters, where the food is great and the entertainment is grand.  Enjoy a leisurely day with time to stroll the French Quarter for a close look at the lush, hidden courtyards and wrought iron balconies the French Quarter is famous for.  You may have the option (at your own cost) of signing up for the New Orleans School of Cooking Class , visit the WWII Museum or take a relaxing carriage ride through the French Quarter. Stop in at historic Cafe Du Monde for the famous cafe au lait and beignet’s.  Later stroll along Bourbon Street as wonderful sounds of jazz and Dixieland music and delightful aroma of Creole and Cajun cooking fills the air. 
Included Meals: Brunch

Day 9 - New Orleans to Biloxi
Tour Fancy Faces, a ceramic Mardi Gras mask factory.  Learn about how each piece is molded, fired and decorated by hand.  Motor along the sparkling Gulf Coast to the city of Biloxi, a resort city famous for its shrimp and fishing fleets.  Take a cruise along the scenic coastline and learn first hand the art of shrimping.   Drive past picturesque harbors, Biloxi Lighthouse and the historic Church of the Redeemer.  Tonight stay at the Beau Rivage, perfectly placed on Biloxi’s sparkling beachfront. 
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: The Beau Rivage Resort           

Day 10 - Biloxi - Memphis
Travel to Memphis and tour Graceland, the beautiful estate of the “King of Rock-n-Roll”, Elvis Presley.  We will check into the Hampton Inn & Suites at Beale Street, located next to the Peabody Place.  Tonight visit famous Beale Street for a delightful dinner featuring southern delicacies.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Day 11 - Memphis to St Louis
After breakfast we will board a vintage 1950’s music bus and enjoy a sightseeing tour with live music performed by our guide.  You’ll hear your favorite Elvis songs along with entertaining stories about the king, his family, the Memphis Mafia, and more.  Visit Sun Studios, where Elvis walked in and was asked who he sounded like.  Elvis said “I don’t sound like nobody.”  Following our tour we will make our way to St Louis for the evening.
Hotel: Drury Inn
Included Meals: Breakfast

Day 12 - St Louis to Kansas City
This morning following breakfast we’ll discover St Louis with our local guide.  Motor through Missouri enroute to Kansas City where we will check into our hotel.  Relax and enjoy good company and conversation with our new traveling friends. 
Included Meals: Breakfast                          
Hotel: Drury Inn

Day 13 - Kansas City to Home
After breakfast we make our final stretch home.
Included Meals: Breakfast