Road Trip USA - Day 5: Knoxville,TN to New Orleans, LA

Date: 28 Jul 2002

Day #: 5

Miles Today: 642

Start: Knoxville, TN

End: New Orleans, LA

States Today: Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana

Total Mileage: 1,682	Total # States Visited: 13
Points of Interest:

I woke around 7:30 am, checked my email and packed up before leaving at 9 am. In just over an hour, I've seen a dead raccoon, dead deer, and dead skunk. Even dead, that skunk smell lingers. There was an accident in the opposite-bound lanes of I-75 about 30 before I crossed into Georgia.

Accident in the side mirror

No road trip through the South is complete without gigantic crosses.

The kudzu lets you know you're in Georgia.

I crossed the TN-GA state line at 11:49, and the GA-AL state line at 12:09. For lunch, I had a subways sandwich that I bought in Tennessee and ate in Alabama. After lunch, I took a short break on the side of the road, where it was 97 F degrees in the shade.

I only passed one accident on I-59 before stopping into Tuscaloosa, Alabama to refuel. I don't need a thermometer to tell me that it's hot and humid. I crossed into Mississippi about ten minutes before 4pm, and Dueling Banjos just happened to be playing on my radio. My odometer turned over 20,000 miles at Waynesboro, Mississippi.

This is what driving on highways in the South looks like.

There has been this one car with New York plates that I've been in an ad hoc convoy with since at least Chattanooga, Tennessee. Right around Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the driver of the car literally waved goodbye to me before she took the next off-ramp. It's nice to know that you can still find that unspoken bond between fellow travelers.

It's now 87 degrees and 70% humidity, with flashes of thunder and rain. At 5:33pm, I passed a car off the shoulder of the road covered in grass and leaves, like it slid off and was abandoned. A minute later, there was the head of canine animal (coyote?) on the ground. Kind of odd.

Crossing Lake Pontchartrain

I arrived at Sarah's at 7pm. Sarah and I went out for dinner in the French Quarter. Gumbo and jumbalaya for dinner, followed to Café du Monde for beignets and frozen coffee. Our waiter at CdM was really weird: he moved our table, gave us someone else’s refused pastries, mumbled, and then stood uncomfortably close while we ate. Whatever.