We spent the night in a semi-fancy hotel due to yesterday’s bad mood and we took our time eating breakfast and checking mail.
We then drove towards the Great Smokey Mountains and Blue Ridge Parkway. The mountains are so tall that it’s completely thick with fog up at the peak. I drove most of the way but handed the seat to Jake at the peaks so he can drive us through the smoke.
The Blue Ridge Highway is very curvy and quite steep thus making it hard to go faster than 40. But the path is surrounded by mountains, tall trees and wildflowers. It’s certaily worth the trip.
After a long and slow journey through the winding roads of the Parkway we got to the campsite and decided it was too rainy and way too cold to camp. We took the next exit to a city (which turned out to be Marion, NC) and checked into the Days Inn. We’re now watching Liar, Liar on TV. The weather situation sort of sucks. We are planning to spend tomorrow night in Philly with my friend Jenn. The night after that should hopefully take us back to Boston.
Gas: $13.69@1.63
Miles on the car: 5246
Lodging: Knoxville, Clubhouse Hotel @ $80
States: TN, NC
Sites: Great National Smokey Mountains Park, Blue Ridge Parkway
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
The highway to Shreveport (I-49) was completely empty and perfectly straight so we were able to maintain an average of 80m/h all the way to the camp site. Since the beginning of the trip, last night was the first time we got to a site when the attendant was still around. We set up tent, started our laundry, and drove to a drive-in, Sonic, for some yummy food. The place was overtaken by cheerleaders so we had a long wait but were able to make it back to the camp site in time to see the lunar eclipse. It was magnificent.
We then drove to Hot Springs, Arkansas; the home of ex-president Clinton. The Hot Springs National Park was windy and thick with trees. The road up reminded me of the curvy Praslin roads in the Seychelles. Unfortunately it started pouring rain so we couldn’t see the springs and decided to drive through Little Rock before rush hour.
It poured all the way to Memphis, Tennessee. We kept hearing tornado warnings on the radio but made it to Memphis at 7pm or so. We spent some time shopping for hotels, since camping in the heavy rain was out of the question. We found a travelodge for 40 bucks, checked in and went to the movies. Off to see Down With Love.
There were only six of us in the theater. I assume that had something to do with the Matrix playing on 4 screens and Xmen in another 3. In the middle of the movie, lights went out for a second and the generator kicked in. About four minutes later a theater personnel came in and told us all to go to the lobby because the tornado looked like it was coming our way. We waited in the lobby for about twenty minutes when some official announced the tornado had passed us and the movies would resume. We finsihed the movie and drove to the hotel. I saw some of the brightest and biggest lightning I’ve ever seen on the way back.
Gas: $10@1.35
Miles on the car: 4509
Lodging: East Shreveport KOA camp site @ $20.36
States: LA, AR, TN
Sites: Shreveport, Hot Springs National Park, Memphis
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
The next morning, we slept till 11 and the drove back into New Orleans. We parked the car and walked around the French Quarter. We ate at a New Orleans style restaurant where Jake tried alligator meat. It started pouring as we walked towards the St. Louis Cathedral and the guy approached us and tried to get us to buy hats for Meals on Wheels. We gave him a small donation instead and he gave Jake a book about George Harrison. The rain ended about and hour later and we decided to spend the night in town. We booked a hotel, left the car and took a streetcar to the beautiful Garden District. The contrast from neightborhood to neightborhood is vert stark in this city. The French Quarter seems noisy but pretty safe but right outside the area got sketchy, then we get to the garden distirct and the million dollar houses are breathtaking. We saw an all-girls private school where a science teacher was raising three ducks and I kept thinking how unusual it must feel to live in this town.! The streets are lined with men giving tourists beads and then asking for money. The cemeteries are above ground to prevent the graves from flooding. They look quite haunting this way.
We spent the night on Bourbon street again. This time we drank (the hurricane was quite tasty and the hand grenade was too strong) and by then the city was growing on me. We got to our hotel quite late, aching everywhere from all the walking and collapsed in bed.
We’re now back on the road to Baton Rouge, taking the scenic route 18 right along the Mississippi River. The Eggers book was too uninteresting for Jake so we’ve moved on to Neuromancer and plan to watch the Matrix somewhere in Loiusiana tonight. When you’re a geek, you’re a geek all the way.
Gas: $10.09@1.33 in Lousiana
Miles on the car: 3538
Lodging: Hotel Provencial in the French Quarter @$93 including parking
States: LA
Sites: the French Quarter and the Garden District in New Orleans, Baton Rouge
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
After two days and endless amount of graduation ceremonies later, we’re back on our way to New Orleans. If all goes well, we should make it to New Orleans tonight.
We spent our night in a small bed and breakfast called Shellmont Inn and watched 15 Minutes which was much more violent than I imagined it would be. We drank, ate and chatted with Jake’s family but didn’t go around Atlanta at all so I have no pictures to show for the last two days. We did however get gas at 1.21 much to Jake’s delight. Atlanta was quite hilly, very green and sunny but breezy. All in all, it seemed quite pleasent.
We’ve finished reading Catch Me If You Can and have moved on to You Shall Know Our Velocity by Eggers. I’m also reading Look At Me by Egan during times when my jaw is tired from reading out loud. Maybe we’ll buy some books on tape for the next trip (though they’d have to be on CD since we don’t have a tape deck in the car).
We’re now on 85 south going through Alabama. The roads are very green and somewhat empty. Even though the highways mean faster travel speed, they don’t provide the solitude and entertainment of the smaller roads. On the way up from Florida, we took a small route and saw many cows and wide open roads which were beautiful. We saw ten cows huddled around a sign “Beef, it’s what’s for dinner.” Thankfully, the cows can’t read!
Now that we don’t have any set deadlines till the 25th, I’ll try to take more pictures in the side roads and stop to talk to cows. The pictures I’ve taken so far can be found here. I tested it a bit but not heavily. If you find a bug please leave me a comment (the comments get forwarded to my email) or drop me an email. Thank you!
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!
We’re still stuck in West Palm Beach. We went to the car shop today and the car may not even be ready on Saturday. He said Saturday or Monday. Jake’s brother is graduating on Sunday in Atlanta so if we don’t get the car on Saturday we have to rent another car (our current rental is in-state only) and drive up there and come back to pick up our car. That would be a major bummer. I am just hoping it won’t have to come to that.
In theory, I am aware that Palm Beach isn’t the worst place to get stuck in the world but the fact is both of us are really upset about the car and don’t seem to be in the mood to do anything. I have a million things to do in the hotel room alone: I can read the 40 books I brought with me, I can organize and post my pictures for the last week, I can start working on my novel, I can email friends to whom I owe a reply. Not to mention, I can hang out at the pool and just relax.
But I won’t do any of those.
I also won’t go to Disney World, which I adore. Or anywhere else that might be fun in this huge state. Yesterday Jake had to drag me to the movies or I wouldn’t have gone there either. I am simply determined to be in a bad mood.
Stupid? You bet!
I’m just frustrated and scared. I keep worrying we’re going to get into another accident. I am freaked out constantly. I am even wondering how we will do the big trip on August if we get in another accident. Now that someone hit us I keep thinking it will happen over and over again.
Crazy? You bet!
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.
My friend Ashlie was staying at the Ritz Carlton so we ended up going from camping it to the Ritz, quite a change! After a delightful night of chatting, showering and charging up all our electronics. We awoke fresh and recharged. We ate from the delicious buffet, hugged her goodbye and we’re on the way to the Everglades and then to Miami.
As soon as I opened the AAA tourbook for Florida, I realized that our everglades plan was badly made. We drove around for 45 minutes, saw some really neat grasshoppers, and then scrapped the plan and went right through the scenic route 41 to Shark Alley and walked around. We saw alligators, turtles, gar fish, a cormorant and a snake. It was indescribibly beautiful.
We are now back on the way to Coral Gables, at this point less than 30 miles away. After last night’s fancy hotel today’s famous Biltmore might not even look that fancy.
We’re officially in Miami now which makes this leg of the trip over. The next leg is Florida to New Orleans starting Saturday morning.
Gas: $9.32@1.61
Miles on the car: 2144
Breaks: 1
Valet: $7.00
Toll: $1.50
Camping: 0!
States: FL
Sites: Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park, Coral Gables
We’re down to the last two days. The first event for the wedding is at 9pm tomorrow night. We appear to be on schedule but I am never too confident about my abilities to calculate travel time using a map.
Last night’s camping was awesome. The ground was on a swamp. We got there in daylight, setup camp and went into Charleston and walked around. Charleston is beautiful. With small colorful houses and cobblestone side-streets it looks like a small European village. I didn’t get to take any pictures because it was late night by the time we got there.
I slept so hard that I didn’t even wake up once in the middle of the night. Which is a huge accomplishment for me. We got up around 6:45 and watched the ducks that were completely unfazed by our existense and approached the tent with confidence. Racing to avoid the mosquitoes we got ready and got right on the road at 8am, the earliest we’ve been on the road in the last four days.
It was my turn to drive so I drove us down to Savannah which I think is the most beautiful American city I’ve ever been in. We took an hour and a half break and walked around the city and its amazing parks. I’d been down here with Jake’s family two years ago but that was the week I’d had an MRI and found out about my herniated discs so Jake and I had had to fly back to New York. The three hours we’d spent in the city had been enough for me to know that I wanted to come back.
Today’s plan was to go to Jekyll Island and camp at Daytona Beach but we ended up zooming right past Jekyll island because I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t tell Jake to get off at the exit. Thanks to that we changed our plans and decided to drive to Naples where my friend Ashlie happens to be and staying in her hotel room. Finally a clean shower!
Gas: $6.10@1.39 & $12.41@1.49 & $6.86@1.52
Miles on the car: 1966
Breaks: 3
Bagel lunch: $1.35
Parking: $0.50
Camping: $15.00
States: SC, GA, FL
Sites: Charleston, Savannah, Naples
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projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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