Travels Across the Country: Part 2
Day 8
After being “Back Home Again in Indiana,” we made our way from the Hoosier state toward the Buckeye state. Our first stop was Dayton, OH. We ate brunch with Ty’s longtime bestie, Kathryn, and her husband, Andy. We toured their new home and we were awe-inspired by all of their exemplary renovation work and also by their impeccable interior decorating! It was very cute! We all had brunch at “The Original Pancake House,” and they gave us a quick tour through Dayton’s suburbs. After some big hugs all around, we got back into trusty Sakura and made our way toward the Southland. Big clouds on the verge of bursting devolved into mostly gloomy, rainy roads all of the way through Kentucky and Tennessee. Ty pointed out that the Appalachian mountains down the I-75 route are not as pronounced as the same mountain range down its I-65 counterpart. Regardless, the 12-hour jaunt down to Georgia was easy enough and the traffic was light. Before we knew it, we made our way to my hometown of Adel, in South Georgia. We arrived to our hotel suite just after midnight EST. We showered off the long day’s road home to GA and we both slept easily on our first night in the beautiful Peach state.
Day 9
We rolled into Adel with Georgia on our mind after a long day’s haul through Dixieland. We enjoyed a solid night’s rest in our Hampton Inn suite and we both awoke energized and ready to see my family. We made our way through the country roads of Adel toward my childhood home. We were greeted at the door with jubilant hugs from my mom. We spent the morning catching up. After my brother and dad returned from Sunday service, we all went to eat at “Texas Roadhouse” in Valdosta. Later that day, my parents threw us a “Welcome Home” party at their house. My closest childhood friends as well as my extended family attended, coming from all over South Georgia. My dad grilled us some super yummy burgers and delicious hotdogs. All of the toppings were available and so, too, were some awesome gluten-free snacks. There was also some yummy cake and ice cream for the youngins.
The weather was beautiful and the day passed by way too quick. We spent the evening at one of my friends, Amanda and Josh’s home. They had just recently built a large new entertainment deck onto their house. It was perfect for hanging out and we caught up on everything that has been happening over the past few years. Once the evening wound down, we returned to our hotel room and slept like moss on a swampy summer log!
Day 10
The next morning, my mother made us a heavenly keto pancake breakfast. We all went out to “Don Julio’s Mexican Restaurant & Cantina” for lunch. We enjoyed some excellent street tacos and we all gabbed away. For dessert, my family took us to the “Burton Brooks Orchard” just outside of town. Peach season is at its peak in late July. Ty gobbled-down fresh homemade peach ice cream and I inhaled a luscious peaches-and-cream homemade shake. Everyone was all smiles and the peaches were as juicy as always.
Day 11
We met my friend, Tori, for lunch and chatted away the afternoon. Then we meandered back to my parents house for a while before we had to say our goodbyes. That evening, we hung out at Amanda and Josh’s again. We contemplated ways to somehow get our Peaches to the Golden state. We watched baseball and looked-up a “Padres v Braves” game at Petco Park in San Diego. Our time in SoGA came too soon to a close. Before we knew it, we were reorganizing our luggage, yet again, and preparing for the final leg of our trip— back to California. Our time in GA was peachy keen; full of loving family, wonderful friends, and lots of hugs!
Day 12
After a stupendous South Georgia homecoming, we woke up with the sun, stocked Sakura with some complementary continental road snacks, stowed our dependable luggage, and we got back on the road. We began heading back to our home in Southern California. I-10 took us all of the way across the Florida panhandle. It cut us all the way through Alabama and then we quickly traversed Mississippi. The weather was off-and-on again showers— and with absolute intensity when on-again! So much so, we experienced our second hairy moment on the road somewhere in the Magnolia State. Ty asked, “What is this person doing?!” after a truck in front of us suddenly changed its speed— and direction. As quick as the words left Ty’s mouth, we both learned what exactly that truck was doing— because we, too, started to hydroplane. We stayed hydroplaning for a solid quarter-mile along a very long concrete bridge. Thankfully, Sakura stayed the course, and nevertheless we championed our way thru all of the crazy rainy nonsense. We soon reached a much more sunny Louisiana.
Our next Airbnb was a studio apartment over a pizza dive on St. Charles Street not too far from the famed, Bourbon Street. NOLA took us both by surprise. We each have heard, admittedly, mostly “horror” stories of a huge, very dirty city with aggressive residents and rude, drunk tourists. Well, our experience was the absolute opposite! We fell in love with New Orleans!
We ate lunch at “Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar.” It was the perfect first stop. We enjoyed the house specialty— chargrilled oysters. So much so, we ate two dozen! I chowed down on a couple of grilled shrimp skewers, too. Ty had two rounds, too,— of a NOLA IPA! I found my happy place with New Orleans’ incredible and delectable sea food!
After we traipsed more through the Crescent City and we found dinner at “Pier 424 Seafood Market.” As we waited for seating, we enjoyed some outdoor drum beats and we “people watched.” Regarding dinner, scrumptious is an understatement! That said, the chef did sneak in some “can?” vegetables. We will just blame that fine dining faux pas on the pandemic.
After dinner, we meandered the bustling French Quarter streets and shops. We wandered our way through residential areas, and later that evening, we roamed our way into the LGBTQ+ district. We checked out a few of the local queer bars and dives. We eventually made ourselves at home in “The Corner Pocket” bar, “where the boys proudly dance on the bar!” We had a blast! After an incredibly New Orleanean night out on the Mardi Gras town, we Über’d our way back to our little flat atop a NOLA pizza shoppe. On the way, the Über driver and we jammed to some dance pop music. It was a lot of smiles and laughter! We slept like voodoo dolls that night.
Day 13
The next morning, as early as ever, we were back on the road— and Lone Star-bound! After a rambunctious day in NOLA, we traversed alongside a Southern storm front all of the way into Texas. We found recess from the rain in Houston, where we stopped for lunch. We ate at a craft foods and microbrewery. We both had some super sapid soft tacos. Ty, of course, imbibed a local IPA. It was all so good! Houston was looking great, too! Our next Airbnb was at a bodacious bungalow near the Alamo. As we rolled into San Antonio, so, too, followed the stalking thunderhead. Rain soon became relentless. Albeit super lucky to have had such great weather for so many consecutive travel days, we certainly met our match in Texas. We attempted to stroll the Riverwalk, and we had tickets to remember the Alamo, but San Antonio is very much a “walking city.” That does not bode so well for tourists when accompanied by abhorrent thunderstorms. So instead, we went back to our colorful Mission City bungalow and we threw ourselves a Texas-sized party for two!
We DoorDashed an out-of-this-world dinner from “54th Street.” Ty even found an IPA “just for him” in the fridge! Perhaps it was because of the storms, but the next DoorDasher took our San Antone froyo order way out into the boonies before realizing that they had inputted the wrong address into their GPS navigation. Thankfully, the Airbnb hosts had our sweet tooth covered, too. There were frosted mugs in the freezer— and sorbet at the ready! Ty fashioned us some dessert.
Storms-be-damned, we had a great time in San Antonio. The seemingly doomed to lackluster evening was instead exactly what we needed. It was restful and rejuvenating. Perfectly so for the next day’s 18-hour drive home to San Diego.
Day 14
Thankfully, we awoke the next day to drier times. Albeit the clouds were still Texas-sized, they kept us dry and provided for some interesting views along the way. The travel through Texas highways was blissful and our remaining trail was blessed. Soon enough, the buttes returned and the grassy knolls faded into mountainous foothills. West Texas took us home. We stopped for a late lunch in El Paso. We were wanderlust by the unsuspecting beauty of “El Chuco.” We have heard it referred to as an artist’s town before, but oh-wow, even the busy highways and byways were painted pretty in pastel! We ate at “Ripe! Eatery.” I enjoyed a juicy, lettuce-wrapped bacon steak burger. Ty chowed-down on calamari tacos and— yup, one more local IPA!
We think we will have to stay a night in El Paso when we make our next trip East. Clearly, we stumbled upon a great secret in The Border Town and we both want to explore it further. From El Paso, it was 10-and-a-half hours along 700+ miles still to go. On the way home, we knocked-back gas station 2/$3 liter bottles of Aquafina and we munched on the various gluten-free snacks provided by our mothers. We also finished-off the large order of sweet potato fries we got at “Ripe! Eatery.” As we crossed into the California Republic, our lovely lady greeted us with one more spectacular holiday sunset.
We cruised home, winding our way through the nightscape provided by the shadows of the Anza-Borrego mountains. While Dave Matthews strummed along with Tim Reynolds over Sirius-XM Radio, we appreciated some of our new memories that we made with our family and friends. We arrived back home in San Diego just after 11:30 PT. We brought in all of our belongings, and we quickly fell into our bed— sleep overcame us!
Thank you, Patti, for so many new memories in your memory. And just like you, we cannot wait to get back on the road!
