Emily Winck's Blog

After a wonderful breakfast (waffle number one of the day for Ryder), we pulled out into the pouring rain, which continued for the next six hours. In the meantime, we left Alabama, visited our first gas station in the truck, and passed through Mississippi. We crossed the great Mississippi (in the rain) and I stepped foot in Louisiana for the first time!

It stopped raining halfway through Louisiana, and Ryder wanted a break from driving, so I got to experience the thrill of driving a 16′ truck while towing a car. It’s not so bad if you’re going straight on a smooth road, but turning corners or driving over potholes is a little nerve-wracking.

Activities for the day included reading Dave Berry, Demetri Martin, nibbling on Nannie’s nuts and bolts, and watering our car plant.

Waffle number two for Ryder was dinner at the Waffle House. Waffle House’s waffle won out over this morning’s, in case you were wondering. We recently learned that California has no Waffle Houses, so Ryder is trying to get his fill on this trip. I made a rule of no more than one Waffle House visit per day.

We realized late in the day that we had forgotten to keep track of which state license plates we’d seen on the trip. This is a family tradition from every road trip to North Carolina that my family took growing up. Here’s our map after 4 hours of looking (in the dark):

Day 2 Stats:
Miles driven: 623
States visited: 4
Sight of the day: four egrets wading in the waters of Louisiana
Snack of the day: Ryder’s three year old jawbreaker. He claims it was still good.

Thanks to several fabulous friends, we had our 16′ truck loaded up in a record-setting 3 hours. After our last meal in Atlanta, we finished cleaning out the apartment, packing all the odds and ends into our car, and making sure we didn’t leave our three boxes of snacks behind. We were trying to get back to the truck rental place to have the guys there help hitch up our car, but they were already gone by 3:50… what do they think it is, New Year’s Eve or something? Fortunately, when we had picked up the truck that morning, they had showed us how to attach the car dolly and car. Ryder got only slightly greasy while hooking it up, but he must have done a good job because we’re in Alabama and the car’s still attached.

After getting the car hitched up, we hit the road around 4:30pm (EST). Several thrilling surface roads later, we were on the packed Atlanta highways for the last time. Our itinerary is mostly “see how far we feel like driving in a day” with a healthy dose of “Ryder starts his new job on Monday” and “it sure would be nice to have a day or two to unload the truck before Ryder starts said job.” We think it will take us 4 or 5 days of driving, given that we have 2,575 miles to go and the “speed limit” on the car trailer is 55mph…

Today was a “bonus” day of driving — since our apartment is empty and our keys are turned in, we figured we might as well start driving and ring in the new year in a random hotel in Alabama or Mississippi, whichever comes first (I think it’s Alabama).

We’re taking suggestions for ways to entertain ourselves while we drive. The person with the best suggestion can come ride a leg of the trip with us – the gentle ride cab seats 3!! You won’t have any legroom, though, because you’ll have to share with our snacks.

Day 1 Stats:
Miles driven: 202
States visited: 2
Sight of the day: the empty apartment (sniff, sniff) or… fireworks over 1-20 at 6pm. (Happy New Year?)
Snack of the day: Krispy Kreme donuts, with a glass of Chardonnay (Happy New Year!)