Saturday, July 18, 2009

Greetings from Georgia!

Jonesboro, Georgia, to be exact, a little south of Hotlanta.

We went around Indianapolis, around Louisville, around Nashville, around Chattanooga, and right through the middle of Atlanta. It was a pretty good trip, despite a couple of slowdowns due to construction. We stopped at a rest area near Seymour, Indiana (home of John Mellencamp) to have a pick-a-nick and I swear, I've never seen such a busy rest area. People were pick-a-nicking right and left! I wondered if this was an indicator of the economy...are more people packing a lunch to take on the road? I don't know, but it was a really nice rest area with lots of tall trees.

We also made a pit stop at a rest area north of Chattanooga that was just gorgeous. It was right on Nickajack Reservoir, a lake formed by the Tennessee River. I got some cool pictures, but after settling in for the evening, we discovered that we'd both forgotten to bring our camera cables! D'oh! We'll pick up another one as soon as we can, but tonight I have only a picture I found on the Net.

Kudzu It's great to be back in Georgia, the land where kudzu turns the trees into menacing alien life forms. When we got off at the exit where we decided to spend the night, we rolled down the windows to feel the hot Georgia summer night...ahhh...and when we drove by the trees, I could hear the cicadas. It reminded me of our place up in the mountains. I hated to have my windows closed at our house, so I closed off my bedroom and opened both windows so I could hear the cicadas and night sounds. The rest of the house was air conditioned, but I loved having my windows open. Like I told Ken, my leather purse and belts got moldy, but I didn't care! Hearing the cicadas tonight made me smile. It's a very comforting sound to me.

We hope to get on the road by 9 tomorrow and get to New Smyrna Beach by around 5 PM. We made it over halfway tonight, so that seems doable.

We listened to NPR almost all the way--are we getting old? Geeky? Excuse me...geekiER?--but apparently Walter Cronkite died sometime this evening. We didn't hear about it until we signed on. A great loss. R.I.P., Mr. Cronkite. On a happier note, Happy Birthday to David Letterman’s Mom. She’s so adorable!

It's been a long and tiring day. I'll do a little checking around and then it's off to Snoozeville!

11 comments:

  1. Hard to believe that doing 7 mph over the limit the whole way down would make me the slow one on the road. Not a bad day all in all :o)

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  2. Glad to hear that your trip has started off well.

    Keep us posted...

    XOXOXOXO

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  3. Now you are pretty close to our part of the South. Have a nice trip. Sorry that I have been so behind in my blog reading. Helen

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  4. The cicada's almost always made me think of some horror or doom was impending. You are better than me on that!

    I can't remember not listening to NPR. When I was an amateur boxer, one of the trainers that we would drive with, always found NPR stations. Between that and CBC Radio 2 (for the coolest music), and old WDET here, I have been a NPR fan. It makes me feel unique ... I guess that is a fancy word for nerd (not smart enough to be a 'geek'!).

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  5. Jonesboro is where I lived most of my life. My son Cody still lives -near there - in riverdale. I'm concerned about your choice of hotels - there's a brand new marriott just a few exits down - but I suppose you'll be ok. Jonesboro's claim to fame is being home to Gone with the Wind... home of Tara... and the two football stadiums in the county are named Tara and Twelve Oaks after the two plantations in GWTW. The funny thing is... as the population of the county has shifted, all the other references to the old south have been systematically removed and replaced with MLK this or Rosa Parks that... but the names of the two stadiums remain the same. My guess is that people who care to anti-dixify things haven't read/watched GWTW and don't get the symbolism.

    Have a safe trip! Mind the speed limit in Cordele.
    *hugs*
    heather

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  6. Kudzu!

    My fiercest competitor.

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  7. Isn't kudzu just the weirdest stuff? You could do a whole post on nothing but that!

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  8. I can relate to cacadas and kudzu, take me back home to KY. Have a safe and fun trip.

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  9. Great to know the trip has gone well, so have a great time!

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  10. Hi Beth,
    I know what you mean about nice, hot Georgia nights. I like them, too.
    Best,
    Marty

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  11. that kudzu is awful....we saw it in Alabama and said WTH is THAT!?

    i am glad you two are there and happy....can't wait to hear your stories. XO

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