Oh, Atlanta

On Sunday I drove south with my mom and daughters. The reason for the trip is both heartbreaking and joyous. I’ll talk about that a little later, I haven’t been able to put words to it, yet. I was able, to make some observations about being locked in a car for 11 hours with my mother and the giggling goofballs.

Things I’ve learned in the last two days:

• It’s a lovely trip driving from Ohio through West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
• The warmest place on our whole trip was a little pocket in the mountains of West Virginia: 52 degrees. It’s to be in the 60s today, though. Yeehaw!
• I love the Virginia landscape.
• About hour 10, weary travelers begin to get grouchy. They over think simple directions. They get lost in the dark and the only thing that can save them is the voice of a relative … even though they have directions, a map and tracking GPS.
• Driving 750 miles south is lovely; driving I-285 around Atlanta in a blinding downpour is abhorrent. I actually felt my heart stop at one point, but luckily it started gain. And the sheet of water that blinded my windshield for 2.7 seconds quickly dissipated. Holy Moses it was terrifying!
• I couldn’t handle the stress of driving in such traffic twice a day, every day. I don’t know how my sister does it in Nashville. I don’t know how my cousins do it in Georgia. Take me home, country roads.
• I was introduced as the Yankee cousin. But I passed the Pecan Test. By the way, how do you say P-E-C-A-N? According to the folks north of Atlanta (I called them Yankee Georgians), it’s [pee-con] not [pee-can]. But as my cousin’s hubby said, “I’d eat either one.”
• My daughters rejoiced that our hotel had a pool.
• Sweet tea is sooooo good.
• There’s nothing better than picking up where you left off with people you haven’t seen in ages.
• And the No. 1 thing I’ve learned on this trip:

Cousins are the best.

But I already knew that.

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