Alpharetta - Wednesday - On the Road

East then south it is!

For the first leg of this trip, we chose a route that took us through Somerville, Tennessee, then through LaGrange, Grand Junction (home of the National Bird Dog Museum), and Middleton. This east-then-south route is 14 miles shorter than the south-then-east route through Memphis, but, in theory, takes 20 minutes longer.  What's 20 minutes when the choice is between (a) quiet, rural scenery and (b) staring up other people's tail-pipes?

A right-hand turn at Middleton sent us south to Walnut, Mississippi, where we picked up Hwy. 72. This highway runs all the way across the northern ends of Mississippi and Alabama. It is pretty country, hilly and green.

About 10:30, we crossed the Alabama state line. The soil here is a funky red color, like crushed bricks, but it grows corn, wheat, and cotton just fine. On one side of this highway, east of Tuscumbia, the winter wheat is starting to turn golden (it’ll probably be ready to harvest in a month), and on the other side, the corn is just getting started.  

We reached Huntsville around noon. Huntsville is all about NASA and the space program. There’s a “Space Camp” here where kids who are interested in space travel can come and pretend to be astronauts in training. All that Joel and I are interested in right now is a hamburger.

Around 2 p.m., we went through my favorite place, Fort Payne, Alabama. It’s a small town that lies in a valley. It is the home town of the country band, Alabama, and there’s a museum in their honor on the main drag. There’s also a little corner park that boasts statues of the four singers. Fort Payne is (wait for it) the sock capital of the world, and the last time I was here it had its very own Sock Museum. Graham, I so much wanted to get a picture of the Sock Museum for you, but it has either been moved or has closed. I shall investigate this further tonight, when I have internet access. A few miles outside of town is the Little River Canyon and Falls. The river originates on Lookout Mountain, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. There’s a scenic highway along the canyon with some absolutely breath-taking views. We did not take that drive today, but we did stop at the Falls and walk down to the water’s edge to take some pictures. It was as we returned to our car that I realized that I did not bring the USB cable to transfer the pictures from my camera to the computer. When we get to Alpharetta, I may look for a transfer cable that I can keep in the travel bag.

3:11 p.m. – Welcome to Gawgia. We just passed Gaylesville and are headed to Rome. When we get there, we intend to do as they’re doing. *snicker*

3:30 p.m. – We are in serious trouble!  The camera says the battery is about to go dead, so I plug the AC/DC converter thing into the cigarette lighter, and nothing happens. Worse, when the computer says ITS battery is about to go dead and I plug it in, nothing happens. I change out the fuse on the converter, nothing happens. The camera, I can live without for a few hours. However, we are navigating these Georgia back-roads using the computer’s map program, and if it goes down, we’re in trouble. I dig in the glove box for the old, hated, screaming GPS unit, hoping it can get us where we need to go. I despise this thing. It is so…demanding. At least the computer map program doesn’t back-talk or complain.

6 p.m. – We finally arrive at the hotel. The GPS unit took us around the world and back, but we’re here. And hungry. And stressed. We need food. We need tequila….

12 a.m. – What a nice evening it turned out to be. We ordered carry-out pizza and delivered it, along with a bottle of tequila, to the bride’s parents. We ate pizza and drank margaritas (hey, it was a bi-cultural meal) on the patio in the cool of the evening. Nice.

On the agenda tomorrow, errands and errands and errands, one of which includes a trip to the computer store for a new AC/DC converter and a camera transfer cable.