Feb 02, 2010 - KY to GA

Left Richmond just before 7:00 AM with rain falling and temp around 34 degrees. Once we got up into the mountains the temperature dropped to 32, and we came up behind salt trucks several times, but no problems, traffic flowed along smoothly, no accidents, and no ice. Once we got down out of the mountains, the temp started to climb a little bit, and eventually hit 50 that afternoon. When we got close to Atlanta, the fancy schmancy traffic info billboard system told us that traffic was moving at full speed through Atlanta, so Beth said the heck with that sissy bypass, and took the pod right through downtown I-75 Atlanta. All 8 lanes of it – and that’s just the southbound side. Actually it went pretty well, at least what I could see through my fingers, because I had my hands over my eyes most of the way. Afterwards she said she felt like she’d passed some sort of a milestone, and every other driving experience from here would be relatively easy. It was like she’d been on our boat and we’d just rounded Cape Horn – once you’ve done that, it’s all down hill.

We spent the night in Forsyth, GA at the KOA on the I-75 access road. The folks there are very nice, and the campground itself is nice too, with a camp store, fishing pond, firewood, etc. They’ll even make you a pizza and deliver it to your campsite if you want. There seems to be a fair number of seasonal campers here, too. But it’s REALLY close to I-75, and the traffic noise never ends. So although it was a convenient place to spend the night, I’m not sure it would be my final destination.



Whistle Stop Cafe. Denied!



Not too far from the campground is the tiny town of Juliette, GA, and the Whistle Stop Café, setting of the movie Fried Green Tomatoes. We dropped off the pod and headed to Juliette so I could get me some of those tomatoes, but unfortunately, we got there just as they were closing up for the night, so all I got was a few pictures. The temperature the next morning was 34 degrees, but we were perfectly comfortable all night using a small electric heater and wool blankets.

The little pod is a real attention getter; it’s been a conversation starter with folks at almost every rest stop and campground so far. Most people think it’s cute as heck, but even though they don’t say as much, I think there’s a few who wonder how we could possibly cram all our junk into that dinky thing. There’s a few other campers headed to FL who are on similar schedules to ours; for the last few days we’ve been passing each other on the expressway and waving to one another in the rest stops along the way.