Travel Archives

May 16, 2014

Warriorettes Hit Florida

I got Road Warriorettes Anne and Curator Jessica over the Florida line without too much difficulty. I’m tired enough, though, that I told ’em the best gift would be for us to check into a joint without a WiFi connection so I’d have an excuse for not filing

Anne suggested we name this the No Bad Food Tour, because we haven’t had a single bad meal. Part of that is from stopping at places I’ve discovered over the years, and part is from our rule of thumb: stop only at locally-owned restaurants that have a bunch of cars in front of them.

Cypress Inn Restaurant

It’s been at least 20 or 25 ars since I ate at the Cypress Inn Restaurant in Cross City. I don’t remember if I was covering a flood or a hurricane or if it was on a vacation trip with the family.

I had the seafood platter that was every bit as good as the shrimp and oyster combo I had at a fish camp in Gastonia yesterday. The oysters weren’t quite as big, but everything on the plate was tasteful. Anne had a ribeye that was tender and had good flavor. Jessica was craving a big, greasy burger, and got her wish fulfilled.

It won’t be another 25 years before I go back. This moves up to a prime spot on my list.

We’re going to try to get into West Palm Beach early enough for Anne to wrap loose ends before she leaves Florida for her home state of Texas. Gonna miss her.

May 14, 2014

A Rainy Night In Georgia

My Road Warriorettes, Anne and Curator Jessica, don’t understand that a man has strong biological needs: the primary one being lots of sleep. Against my better judgement, I was convinced to set my alarm for 8:27 a.m. and not the usual 9:37.

I have other photos of our Beckley, West Virginia, to Athens, Georgia, leg of our trip, but they expect me to get up early again tomorrow, so the rest of the pix will have to wait.

The sky opened up

We’ve had good weather up until the last 35 miles, when the sky just opened up. Traffic wasn’t too heavy, and Rain-X kept the windshield clear (Anne is a great window washer, but Curator Jessica is going to require some training), so I didn’t mind the deluge.

The first place we checked out in a line-up-the-animals-two-by-two downpour was full, but we heard of another one on the other side of town that was even cheaper (and perfectly acceptable).

On the way to it, we spotted what would have been a really nice shot of lights on a glistening street, but I couldn’t grab the camera before we were past it. In the confusion, we missed 0ur turnoff and had to make a U-turn. Since we had to go back anyway, I decided to check out our rainy night in Georgia.

I don’t know if it’s as good as what we saw on the first pass, but it’s good enough to let me go to bed early. You can click on it to make it larger.

May 6, 2014

What Is the Green Stuff?

Mother and I were cruising around Allenville for a followup on an old story when we started passing field after field of green stuff. She thought it might be wheat, but she wasn’t sure.

I divide the world into two classes: food and feed. Food has feet or fins. If it doesn’t have feet or fins, then it must be feed for food.

So, what were we looking at? You can click on the picture to make it larger.

Travel update

Got a late start leaving Cape Monday, so I didn’t make it east of Louisville as planned. I stopped at a rest area with a decision to make: do I take a 22-minute nap and push on, or do I search to see if there is any lodging nearby. I selected Door Number 2.

There was a motel five minutes away in Ferdinand, IN. It was sometime around midnight-thirty (more about that in a minute), so I decided to stop.

I earned one discount because of the alphabet soup of travel organizations I threw out (I didn’t actually SAY I was a member of them; I just asked if they cut prices for them. I got another reduction by pointing out that I was the last person they were probably going to see that night, and I got another cut by being a member of their chain’s organization.

Time is a little confusing

Just before I headed to the room, the desk clerk said, “Time is a little confusing here. The motel is the the Eastern Time Zone; your cell phone is going to show Central time because the dividing line is the Interstate.”

He wasn’t kidding. My cell phone alarm went off at 9:32 a.m., but the motel’s alarm clock said 10:30. Must be tough to live around there.

I got into Athens in time to have dinner with Curator Jessica. She says I have to put on my shoes and pants tomorrow for a 3-hour oral history interview with the Ohio University School of Media Arts and Studies. Jessica is supposed to be asking me questions about what it was like to have gone to college shortly after the earth’s crust cooled. They told her that we don’t have to fill the whole three hours, but Jessica said, “I don’t think he’ll have any problem talking that long.”

April 2, 2014

Is Winter Over?

I rolled into Cape Girardeau not long after dark-thirty, got the van unloaded and the computer gear set up.

On the way up, I stopped for a 17-minute nap in the first Kentucky rest area on I-24. When I got out to stretch my legs, I noticed that the trees were blooming and some flowers were popping out. Birds were chirping and some bees were making their rounds. Does that mean I dodged winter?

Kentucky photo gallery

Boaters and fisherfolks were taking advantage of the super weather in the Land Between the Lakes area. All of us who hold our breath going over this bridge will be happy to see this construction projection finished. And, finally, I just had to pull off the road near Wickliffe to capture the sun setting over the Mississippi River bridge near Cairo. Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move through the gallery.