We woke up to another rainy, crappy day and thus decided not to get back on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Instead, we are taking major highways to get to spend tonight with my friend Jenn in Philly.

The return trip has been less fun and less interesting mostly due to tornadoes, a ton of rain, having to stay in hotels, raised anxiety levels due to the accident, and long days of driving. Nickel and Dimed is proving to be an interesting read as well as sad and thought-provoking. We’re nearly done with it and I’m looking for other good read-aloud suggestions. It appears non-fiction works better than fiction. I’ve already read The Tipping Point and Fast Food Nation, both of which I think would have been good reads. If you have any suggestions, leave me a comment or email me.

I’ve only been to Philly twice before, once during college to visit my boyfriend-at-the-time and once two years or so ago to visit my brother in law, both in UPenn. My friend Jenn is also working at the school where she’s a PhD candidate in Art History. I wonder if everyone in Philly is somehow or another connected to UPenn?

We made it to my friend’s house on time and spent a beautiful night with her. To top it of she sent me on my way with three books. Anywhere I can stay for free and walk away with books is magic to me.

Gas: $10.99@1.39 and $7.27@1.41
Toll: $7.00
Miles on the car: 5802
Lodging: Marion, NC Days Inn @ $42.63
States: NC, VA, DC, MD, DE, PA
Sites: well we took 40 to 85 to 95 so we saw pretty much interstate highways all day long.

I spent the entire night listening to the storms and the airplanes. In the morning it was still raining and tornado warnings in the area resumed.

We attempted to go to Mud Island but the rain was too strong and the best part of what’s to see is outside so we decided to skip it and drive to Cherokee National Forest.

Halfway through the trip, we got tired and decided to skip Cherokee Park and drive straight to Knoxville or the Great Smokey Mountains. We decidedto camp around there, or stay in a hotel and get on the trail first thing in the morning.

Since the accident we’ve both been pretty nervous about driving which makes days like this, where we drive mindlessly all day, really frustrating and taxing. Today’s been a pretty bad day since it poured pretty much all day and we didn’t stop to see anything. We’re both sort of grouchy and tired. I don’t know if it’s simply an effect of driving for so many days or just today’s bad conditions. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.

Gas: $12.17@1.37
Miles on the car: 4962
Lodging: Memphis airport Travelodge @ $46
States: TN
Sites: drove all over the state of Tennessee but didn’t stop for sight-seeing

After a short detour we made it to Baton Rouge in the early afternoon. We went straight to the theater and bought tickets for the Matrix and then shopped for a hotel; there appear to be no camp sites around Baton Rouge. We settled in and ran out to play mini-golf which happened to be right outside our hotel.

The movie had strong visual effects but wasn’t as interesting as the original. My theory is that in the first movie we find out about everything along with Neo so it’s as if we’re with him and experiencing his journey along his side. In this movie we’re observers on the outside. There are some amazing fight scenes and the duplication trick is neat. It gives the viewer a lot of thought-provoking theories and it ends with a huge cliffhanger. If you go to the movie, make sure to stay all the way to the end because the preview of the third movie is right after the everlasting credits.

In the morning, we went to downtown Baton Rouge to check out the magnificent Capitol Building which is the tallest in the country and has an observation deck on the 27th floor. We really liked Baton Rouge; it’s very green, quiet and pretty.

We then drove to Avery Island to see the Jungle Gardens. The gardens are private property owned by the Tobasco sauce company. There is a bird sanctuary and a ton of alligators, turtles, frogs, and fish. There are beautiful sunken gardens and a buddha. The place is truly magnificent.

We’ve decided to go back up through Arkansas and Tennessee and pick up the Appalachian Trail from there so we’re now on the way to Arkansas and will probably camp around Shreveport tonight.

The bookreading has become a challenge. Neuromancer proved too hard and the second Bridget Jones too stupid. We’ve switched to Nickel and Dimed.

Gas: $10.51@1.35 and $11.33@1.41
Toll: 50cents in Avery Island
Entrance: $12.00
Miles on the car: 4050
Lodging: Microtel Hotel around Baton Rouge @ $51
States: LA
Sites: Baton Rouge, Jungle Gardens

We made it to New Orleans on Monday night around 9pm Lousiana time. Since we’ve been driving and not flying, we totally didn’t remember the time change. In Alabama, we stopped to look for a AAA store so we could get a guide for New Orleans and when we finally found the place our car said 5:15 and the door said they closed at 5. We ran in and felt thankful they were somehow still open. Only after we got all the books and maps did we realize that it was actually 4:15 in Alabama and they were supposed to be open all along.

On Saturday night when we stayed in Adel, Georgia we asked the Days Inn checkin how much the rooms were downstairs (the ad we saw said rooms were $35 upstairs) and she quoted $45. When we asked what the difference between the upstairs and downstairs rooms were she said ‘Stairs.’ I kid you not. She said people are willing to pay ten bucks more not to walk up 8 steps.

We arrived in New Orleans late night and went to town right after setting up tent. The mosquitoes at the camp site were vicious so we did everything extra fast. We drove right to Bourbon Street and Toulouse and parked our car at the Ramada. We walked up and down Bourbon as I tried to get used to the overwhelming stench of liquor and vomit. My first night in the French Quarter didn’t leave me very impressed. I thought the houses were pretty but the odor was too strong and there wasn’t much to do for a non-drinking female. We used the side entrance of Ramada as a sneaky way to get access to a clean bathroom after a delicious Gyro meal. We then drove to the camp ground at 1:30 after having been awake for over 19 hours because we’d gotten up at 6am for Jake’s brother’s graduation.

Gas: $6.47@1.21 in Georgia, $4.64@1.42 and $12.18@1.29 in Alabama
Miles on the car: 3500
Lodging: one night at Days Inn in Adel, Georgia @$35, one night at the Shellmont Inn in Atlanta, one night at the New Orleans East KOA camp site @$24
States: GA, AL, MI, LA
Sites: Atlanta, Montgomery, New Orleans

We finally made it out of Florida! Our car was ready at around 3pm. It looks almost the same as the original but my inquisitive eye did catch glimpses of glitches it the paint. There is also a tiny sound when you turn the car slightly. Other than that we’re good as new. We made it all the way up to Adel, Georgia last night where we stopped for the night at a Days Inn for 35bucks. The funny thing was that if we took a room downstairs instead it would have cost us 45bucks. We asked her if the rooms were bigger or safer downstairs and she said that the only difference was the stairs. We got to bed at 10:30 after filling up the tank for $15.62 at 1.69 a gallon, Jake was really sad to see gas for $1.19. We also saw a hotel for 15bucks a night. Both were in Georgia which is officially the cheapest gas and lodging we’ve seen so far.

We spent yesterday reading Catch Me If You Can (I read aloud while Jake drove). While it isn’t a literary accomplishment, it is astonishing how much the guy got away with and a really neat story since it’s true. We also tried to name all the state capitals which wasn’t a very successful attempt (nerds, I know).

We woke up at 6am and got back on the road as our first commitment in Atlanta is today at 10, which we should make if there are no problems on the road.

I can’t tell you how glad I am to be out of Florida!

I know it’s been almost a week since I wrote. We spent Thursday and Friday nights in Coral Gables and here’s what I had written on that:

After two nights at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables we’re finally back on the road again. It turns out jazz festival is going on in New Orleans so we picked a good time to go. Leg two of out trip has officially begun and I can’t say I’m sorry to leave hot HOT Miami.

We did get to see beautiful Daphne and awesome Rony for brunch and we’re on our way to meet with Ryan who’s a good friend of six. We also got to hang out with Jake’s family so it was a well-worth two day stop.

On the way to Ryan’s we got off the highway to get gas and some guy rearended us. Which meant that our brand new car was smashed and we had to wait here till Monday to find out what we were supposed to do with the insurance. On Monday we took the poor car to a shop and the guy said it would take a week to fix it so we’ve been stuck in Lantana, Florida for the last five days. Lantana is in Palm Beach County which isn’t the worst place to get stuck but we’re both so bummed about the car that it wouldn’t matter where we were.

After giving our car to the shop and renting another one, we decided we might as well have some fun. We went to see the Lion Safari and watched both X2 and Bend It Like Beckham which were both really good. Though I would completely have prefered not to have crashed the car and to be in New Orleans now. Major bummer.

More updates will come as soon as we’re back on the road by Friday, if all goes well.