Road Trip 2007 – Part 1

With Labor Day rapidly disappearing in the review mirror, I think it's time to start off on a tale that involves both Labor Day and rear view mirrors.

Labor Day Weekend 2007, I set out on a little road trip.  Or not so little.  It turned out to be about 2,700 miles over the 10 days.  In the car, alone*.

The plan for the trip was to first drive from Chicago to Birmingham, AL to visit MFF and her daughter for the weekend, then on to New Orleans for a day, then on to visit my old roommate and his wife in Houston before cutting diagonally across the midsection of America back home.  All without GPS or Google maps on the Blackberry or anything.  Just me, Rand McNally, and some printed maps.

I took that Friday off, and was wheels turning on my way to Birmingham at 5:00 am to beat the traffic thru Chicago and thru northern Indiana.  It's actually a pretty straight shot down there on Interstate 65 thru Indy, Louisville, and Nashville.  But it is an 11 hour drive.  Good thing I loaded up on CDs before taking off.

Just out of "the region" of northwest Indiana, I passed one of those little Geo/Chevy Tracker deals that was top down with a bike in the back that had a plastic grocery bag wrapped around the seat.

I blasted around Indian-No-Place in no time, white knuckled a little on the high bridge over the Ohio River that was filled with construction, and made it to Nashville for a late lunch, and called MFF.  She was at work, and wouldn't get home until about 5:30, so she told me to stall a little.

When I entered Alabama, the first rest stop had rockets.  (NASA is just over in Huntsville)  I stopped, stretched my legs, and took a few shots.

After burning off some time there and in Nashville, I got to the north side of Birmingham at 4:30, just as all the traffic of people heading down to the gulf coast hit the road.  That's when I looked over and saw it.

There was that Geo/Chevy Tracker with the bike in the back, about 9 hours after I first saw it.

I had a great time visiting MFF and here daughter Sydney ("the Beans") that weekend.  We went to the local water park / amusement park, Alabama Adventure on Labor Day, and that evening, the Beans lost her first tooth, so I got to help play tooth fairy.

And here are some pictures, because the kids is so dang cute.

But time ticks on, and Tuesday, they headed off to school and I headed off to New Orleans.  (To be continued)

  Showing the gap.

MFF would kill me for posting this picture if she read my blog.  We had been at the water park all day, so she is covered with sunscreen and has been drenched all day.

The special tooth box.

* Probably 200 miles of it I had someone in the car with me.