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Ok, so, on the eve of my 4th month in the midwest I am finally updating!
Those last two days of driving to this great state were a baptism by fire. Last we left off I was moving through Alabama on my way to Louisiana. After the museum I got myself a cup of coffee and a diet coke and set my ipod to play "This American Life" (Thank you Ira Glass for getting me through Mississippi!). Mississippi is a hole. I'm sorry Mississippians, but really, i don't ever need to go back. I stopped at a Cracker Barrel for dinner just so I could say I had been to that state. Full belly and another cup of coffee later I was back in the car. I had probably been in the car for about 6 hours and was still going strong. i crossed over into Louisiana just as it was getting dark. I made a right turn right before New Orleans and started heading west again. At that point my leg was jiggling with excess caffeine jitters and I was belting out Cure songs to pass the time.
Once I hit Baton Rouge it was about 9:30pm and all of a sudden I start seeing lightning behind the clouds. Its just looking really cool. Then it starts going more often. Then I start being able to see the bolts. At that point I was driving on bridges over bayous so every time the lightning flashed I could see the water and the shrubbery. So, still driving, the bolts are getting crazy to where I can hear the thunder over my music and smell the ozone......and then the heavens opened up. Jeebus I have NEVER been in a storm like that before. I couldn't see through my windshield even with the wipers going full speed. I pulled off at the first exit cause I thought my little car was going to get swept away and tried to find a motel for the night. I stopped at a holiday inn and forded my car through their parking lot. I had a dinky little umbrella so I was pretty much soaked by the time I got to the front desk (and "by the time" i mean 3 seconds!). It was then I found out there was a conference going on and every, and I mean EVERY! hotel/motel was booked from right outside Baton Rouge to Texas. So I sadly make my way back to my car (ie run like the dickens screaming "its RAINING!!!!") where I hear the loudest boom of thunder yet and the whole exit (hotels, diners, gas stations) losses power. Ooooh boy. I hop back on the highway (fun fun) and try about 4 more exits until I get the LAST motel room (its a single, smoking room right across from a truck stop and casino) and bed down for the night. It was very exciting (read really scary).
Oh and btw, I went to steal one of the towels because I had forgotten mine and when I went to look for one I realized there were none....then i looked in the bathroom and realized there was no shower curtain, curtain rod, or nobs to turn the water on. Very classy joint. I was very happy to be leaving Louisiana the next morning.Hmm...I think something's missing......
Uhh......hmm....ok....I guess no shower tonight.
Just so you know, that was not my dirty washcloth. That was there when I came in. NASTY!
I left Atlanta aiming for Alabama. Now from what everyone has told me of Alabama there is absolutely nothing exciting there and well...for the most part I'd have to agree. However! I did some research before I left and found that in a little town called Anniston you can set your eyes on Hitler's silver tea service. I figured I couldn't pass that up. The place was about a half hour detour off the highway and I was totally surprised to find it was a really new and contemporary museum. I paid the fee and was in!
So basically I walk in thinking I'm just gonna run through the museum and try to find this tea set (like when you're at the Louve and all you really want to see is 'The Mona Lisa' and 'Winged Victory' so you just run through the corridors bypassing all the other schlock). When I actually get in, I'm stunned. I have never seen so many guns in my entire life! The whole collection was started by a man (Mr. Berman) who was totally into antique guns and weapons. I start out in the Wild West and there's just cabinet after cabinet of all these antique guns. I know, I know, i keep saying guns but wholy jeez there were A LOT of them! And some of them were really neat! you could see the evolution of what worked and what didn't. Cool! After schmying through for a while I decided it was time to find the pièce de résistance. I wander upstairs, turn a corner, and BAM! there it is, all shiny and stuff. Its sitting in front of three whole cabinets of Nazi memorabilia. I do have to mention that Mr. Berman was a US soldier and the rest of the exhibit contained all sorts of other military artifacts like uniforms, medals, gas masks....guns...so it was pretty neat overall. Definitely worth the detour. (see the pics below).
The rest of Alabama was non descript. I did stop at the only Mercerdes Benz factory in the United States and found it to be especially lame. Very skippable unless you get there at 9am and can make the factory tour. Ha. I pretty much spent the next 10 hours in the car barely making it to Louisiana in a freakin monsoon. But that will have to wait for the next post.
Heart,
DiG
They do dare.
And here it is. Notice on the very left, there is a pair of scissors. Those were very important grape cutting scissors. No joke, they are for cutting smaller grape bundles off the bunch. Hitler was so classy....
Would you like some brass knuckles with your gun?
Oooh....losts more guns...weeee!
I made it to Georgia in the afternoon without much trouble. I was starving and totally crampy from driving so I hopped on my bike and found a yummy noodle place (ok, mona tipped me off :). Afterwards, I road around Emory's campus and tried to get lost in the gorgeous Highlands. I was a little too successful and the only thing that saved me from having to call Mona was the dead possum in the road I saw on the way out. ("oh wait, I'm going the wrong way! I already passed that dead possum once before...."). I finally got back and met up with Mona and we headed out to the bars. First stop was trivia night with the Superfriends. They took second place, but even more important, they beat the League of Villians. Woooh!! From there we met up with two more of her friends for fantastic pizza. To finish off the evening we headed over to the Clermont Lounge. Nothin' ends a night like naked girls on a bar with motorcycle dudes singing karioke in the background. Thanks for the dollar bills, Connor!
heart,
DiG
man, they do it right at trivia night! that bong looking thingy was full of BEER! Its the size of a small monkey.
yay! dancing girls!
Well lets see...I'm into day 3 of my trip. It took forever to get out of VA but the ride was spectacular. The hostel that I was supposed to stay at in Knoxville turned out to be wicked sketchy. We're talking by an underpass, the greyhound station, and railroad tracks. Not to mention it looked totally deserted in a Bates Motel kinda way. Had I stayed there it seemed like it would have been a repeat of the night Esti and I spent in a "trailer park" in Idaho, but this time I didn't have a maglite to clutch under my pillow. I decided this was not the best place to bed down, high recommendation from hostels.com or not! With some help I found myself a nice hotel to stay in....or so I thought. I got to my room and hopped on the bed and immediately noticed the pervasive smell of BO! The pillows smelled awful! I found two that weren't so bad and promptly became unconscious (9 1/2 hours of driving will do that to a girl). I woke up the next morning with nice little bites on my ankles! ooh fun! And then, when I went to the continental breakfast I was accosted by the hotel staff who I guess thought I was some chick who just wandered off the street. Its fairly unpleasant when the staff ask you 4 times what your name and room number are and when you ask them what the problem is they just stare at you. Hmmm....last time I stay at a Clarion Hotel.....although it might have had something to do with the fact that I pocketed a bagel for later....but thats not the point!
Aaanyways, I got on the road pretty quickly from there and made it to Mona's in Atlanta where the fun began!
more to follow!
heart DiG
My Car In Tennessee! Scenic Overlook!
You can't really see it but that spider traveled with me all the way from Baltimore to at least Tennessee....I don't think he made it to Georgia
