Vacation 2006--Day 5 (AKA day from hell)

What a bizarre day. I'm so freaking tired, but I'll try to cap the highlights of the day.

Woke up. Went to breakfast at someplace called the Oakwood Cafe in downtown Dalton. It was good and cheap. Went back to the visiting homestead to pack up our schtuff and hit the road. We got to Atlanta about 12:30 and met Peter for lunch. Actually we met at St. Phillip's Cathedral for a look see then had lunch across the street at Fellini's. Slice of spinach and mushroom pizza with a salad. Works for me!

This is where the day went to hell in a handbasket. We left Peter to head off to Chattanooga while we were gonna go down to the Coca-Cola museum. Bah-hah-hah!!! We took Peachtree Rd all the way downtown. That wasn't too bad. The Boy and I had lots of fun verbally jabbing each other in the car. We FINALLY got down to MLK street, pulled into the garage and parked, and set out for the museum. Whoa, did we go the wrong direction! We came up the escalator in the middle of ghettoville. We knew it was close, but we started off going in the opposite direction. I was a little freaked out, and I could tell Boy was not happy. We eventually stopped and asked the most normal looking person we could find where the place was. We were only about 2 1/2 city blocks away. [Oh ya, by the way, I was wearing jeans and a black tee, and it was 105 degrees in downtown Hot-lanta.] When we got to the place with the flashing Coke sign, there was a line out the door to get in. We were told it would take ~45 minutes of waiting to get in. Nope. We were having none of that. We had to get to Jackson, MS before dark. So...we hit the road.

Do things improve here? Good Lord no. When we were at the 15 mile marker on I20 (meaning 15 miles from the GA/AL border), the highway stopped. Not slowed down, not stopped then started up again, stopped. It took us a good 30 minutes to go the one mile to the next exit. I got out the atlas and found an alternate route. Bah-hah-hah!!! So did half of the other people from I20. We got over to this other road and went about 5 miles before it slowed down to a crawl. With a CVS looming on the horizon, we gathered strength to go and get nourishment from the drugstore. Thank goodness for Dr. Pepper, beef jerky, and Dove chocolate! We got back on the slow road thinking most people would take the next turn to get back to I20 and we'd keep going to another road a few miles further. We got another 2 miles down the road, and it came to a dead stop. After sitting for 10 minutes, we turned around and took the original hwy 100 to get back to I20. ARRGH!!!! Anyway, long story short, it took 1 1/2 hours to go about 4 miles. Needless to say, we were well off our Jackson by nightfall schedule.

When we stopped for gas outside Birmingham, we switched driving duties which meant it was my turn. It had been raining for about 30 minutes at this point, but it was only drizzling instead of pouring. I drove us about 3-5mi down the road when I came over a blind hill. Guess what? Yes boys and girls, I got pulled over by an Alabama State Trooper. Double damn. He called me out of the car which had never happened before. Then he told me to sit in his car while he wrote the ticket! I knew I was a dead girl. As it happened, when he called in my license and heard that there was a clean record and he saw how absolutely adorable I am, he gave me a written warning. Oh ya, the details: I was caught going 90 in a 70. I know I know! I drove the rest of the way to the motel with the cruise control set at 73mph.

So now, we are all checked into a motel in Meridian, MS. We never would've made it to Jackson and still been awake. What a nightmare of a day. Thank God for Italian Rosso from Montalcino. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm! G'night!