Vacation 2010 - Day 1

My day began real early. In fact, I never went to sleep. The whole day was dedicated to traveling from Point A (Berwick, LA) to Point B (Bristol, VA).We left Berwick at 5:10 AM, arrived in Schriever at 5:40 AM to pick up my friend, and left Schriever at 5:50 AM (10 minutes ahead of schedule). I thought - this is going to be great! We got 5 minutes down Hwy 24 (headed for Hwy 90), and we saw "blue lights" a flashing. O goodness, a wreck. Well, there were several cops there and one was directing traffic across the bridge and back to Schriever....so much for leaving ahead of schedule. We had to take another route, but I was going to stay positive....now we left on time!

On our way!

We zipped through NOLA - no traffic - miracles do happen! An hour and a half after leaving Schriever, we were crossing the Mississippi State line. As we approached Hattiesburg, we just had to stop for a second (*sniff - both my friend and I are graduates of Southern Miss). It just didn't seem right passing through and not stopping, so we filled up with gas, took a potty break, then we were off again. (*Side Note: we had construction on and off the whole day through LA, MS, AL, GE, and TN. We would ride for 30 minutes going 70 - making good time, only to have to slow down to 55 in construction areas.) Right after crossing into AL, we decided to stop for lunch. We stopped at a very nice Rest Area (mile marker 39), took a potty break, unloaded the van with lunch, and sat down at a picnic table at the top of a hill shaded by a beautiful oak tree. As we unpacked, "K" said, "Mom, look!" The cutest squirrel ran right up to her like her long lost pet. We had not even taken a bite of food yet, so "K" threw him a Doritos. He grabbed it and ran up in a tree to eat it. When he was done, he ran back for seconds. This time, she thew him a Cheese Nip cracker. He literally turned his nose up at the cracker, so she threw him another Doritos and off he went to enjoy his cheesy snack in his tree. Hilarious...it was obvious this squirrel had been fed quite often by humans as the one near my house run as soon as a human shows up. Below is our little friend.

After lunch we decided to continue on through AL and stop at the AL/GA border for gas. You know, we you are driving on a long trip, you begin to look for interesting things to keep you occupied. Like, around Birmingham, AL they have the biggest car (Mercedes Benz) assembly plant I have ever seen. HUGE. Made me wonder if luxury cars are selling, or is this HUGE plant laying off workers to cut corners? We also drove through Hoover, AL. Again, my mind was running  crazy. I wonder if they make Hoover vacuum cleaners in Hoover, AL? Maybe the town is named after President Hoover - then I couldn't remember his first name, so that drove me crazy for a while. Then, you could tell I was bored to tears....I started looking at the price of gas. Of course, I sneered at the BP stations set at every exit. I envisioned my self walking into a BP gasoline station, slapping my license down on the counter, and telling the cashier that BP is now owned by the residents of LA, so fill -er -up.....free of charge to any LA resident for destroying their beautiful state. Now that led me to start looking at the price of gas. I'm like, the gas is much cheaper in AL than in LA. Come to think of it, it was cheaper in MS. I start thinking ....about what I paid for gas so far on the trip. I filled up in Berwick, LA for $2.65 a gallon, Hattiesburg, MS for $2.54 a gallon, and now I was in GA filling up for $2.49 a gallon. I'm like my Kindergarten students......I SEE A PATTERN!!! Those dirty, low down, I don't know who to blame people.......The further north you go, the cheaper the gas gets!?!?!?!?!?!? WHAT? Whooaaaa Nelly. Wait up...I'm from LA - a major oil producing state and I am paying more for gas than MS, AL, TN, and GA. I am spending the night in Bristol, VA and I have yet to see any gas station sell gas above $2.59...Ok oldest son, I want you on this...pronto! Why is Louisisana - a major oil producing state, a state that has been abused and misused by BIG OIL companies....why are the people of LA paying more for gas than MS, AL, GA, and TN. Is it state taxes? Who is the scoundrel? She what happens when you drive for 13 hours. I have 6 hours of driving tomorrow - I'm hoping my "thinker" will "chill out" a bit. Phew. Ok, now that I have delegated that research out, I feel better. Once we hit TN, the brakes came to a screeching halt. Wow! Chattanooga, TN is a little town set in the middle of some very tall mountains. It is growing by leaps and bounds, but there road system is archaic. Gosh, we were stuck in traffic for an hour trying to get through that little town. Put up behind, but the scenery was beautiful. As we approached Knoxville, "K" and I was struck by the beauty of the Smokey Mountains. We took pictures (below), but they do not do them justice. Picture cannot capture there true beauty. As you can see, they quite a ways off, but you can see the fog hanging over the mountains, which is where they got their name. We were on a mission to get to Bristol for the night, so we couldn't stopped, but I am always in awe of the beauty of our environments. We stumbled into Bristol - exhausted and hungry. We are down for the night. Enjoy the pics below and I will post more tomorrow night!