American Road Trip: The South

Southerners love clichés, bless their heart. People from my small town in North Carolina like to say that if you blinked while you drove through Newton you would miss it.

I arrived to the town of my origins like the prodigal daughter returning--after five years away in London, England. I was citified, persisting in my lesbianism and to top it all, It was Christmas, 2017. I was single, depressed, silenced, and restless. What I did not expect was the overwhelming sense of freedom I felt before me and I had just got a Subaru and I knew my dad lived in the outskirts of Los Angeles. After a month of deliberating my options I made an executive decision--road trip to California.

This was not the first time I had driven all the way across the USA, but it would be the first time I would do the journey solo. And I'm a feminist, but lezibehonest...I am a 5,4, 110 pound, babyfaced, 28 year old woman... I was terrified to do the journey alone, but still not deterred. Because it was the dead of winter I decided that it would be better to make the journey taking I-10, instead of the I-40 I did last time. I-10 stops through New Orleans, San Antonio, Tucson and Joshua Tree National Park--because I figured this route would be warmer and unlikely to see snow.

In the final hours before I would leave Newton once again, perpetually on the move for the unknown, an acquaintance from High School, Ashley, told me she could come with me. Ashley is married, has two little boys but was eager for a break and I was grateful for the company! We set out on January 20th with our gps set for New Orleans.

It had heavily snowed in North Carolina a few days prior to our sporadically chosen leaving date and so as I drove with my tepid coffee to pick up Ashley from her house I had to be careful for black ice on the roads.

The above man is Cameron, he is a cool guy married to my best friend Britney. Britney and Cameron are the reason why I met Ashley so...it all connects.

Anyway, I picked up Ashley and waited inside talking to her husband Aaron and chasing her youngest son around the house while Ashley gathered her things and made sure she had everything. I wondered quietly to myself if Aaron minded that I was gay or worried that I might hit on Ashley. I hoped not. But these things always cross my mind. I wanted to convey to him the deep sense of sincere gratitude I felt that he had approved of Ashley coming with me even though that would mean he would have to solely look after the boys, but we just made idle small-chat after an initial "thank you very much" was offered.

And then Ashley and I were on our way. Heading down Highway 321 to I-85 South towards Atlanta, Georgia.

The sky was a bright azure, cloudless blue that held promise of good things to come. I asked Ashley to google "Top Cheap Eats in Atlanta". And we listened to my Premium Spotify account that I had conveniently signed up to a free trial of a few days before our journey. It was not long before we crossed the state line to South Carolina.

I'm the one on the left. Hello!

And then shortly after traversing the corner of South Carolina, we were in Georgia.

Anyway, we finally rolled up into Atlanta and it was hot as hell. A sign of things to come!

I think the above Instagram filter really "highlights" the heat! Atlanta is pretty okay. Hot, modern and with lots of brick buildings, brick houses and brick walls.

Sneaky, unglamorous shot of an Atlanta street.

Ashley found a nice cheap eats restaurant on an online list. The restaurant, called Eats, was known for selling soul food. But my on and off again vegetarian/veganism made me feel guilty enough to stick to just ordering a bunch of vegetarian "sides".

It was pretty tasty. I definitely had guilty food envy for Ashley's meat, which looked SO good. After Eats we jumped back in the car and carried on down I-85 towards Montgomery, Alabama.

Yes, we do eventually get tired of stopping for the signs...but not yet.

At Montgomery we switched interstates and headed south towards Mobile, Alabama driving straight through the heartland of the state. The thick forests of trees we had been bypassing the entire way south thus far, started to thin-out, with dried-out and deadened moss hanging off many of the spidery trees. There started to be signs of swampy-ness, and let's just state now that Montgomery is...very, very small and looks a bit tired, with old wooden buildings that look like the perfect setting for any Tennessee Williams play. Driving through Alabama took the rest of the daylight and we arrived in Mississippi by nightfall.

It had been a long, ten hour day by the time we rocked up in New Orleans at around 8pm on a Saturday night! On the way there we had used Trivago to book a hotel in the city, we decided on the one that cost the least...which as it turned out was a terrible, terrible, terrible idea...read the next post with caution as it is pretty unsettling what unfolded that night in the French Quarter of New Orleans!