Our (upcoming) road trip across the Mason Dixon line and then some.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Not that I will be missed probably, but I will be off the boards for eight days starting tomorrow. My family and I are going to Florida. I’m not going to post during the entire vacation. :frowning:

We will be taking I-65 starting in Kentucky and then down through Alabama. Dopers that live on that particular highway, any trouble spots I should watch out for on the way down? Any tips for a Yankee’s road trip through the land of Dixie? It’s been a long time since I’ve made this drive. Let me know about any problems we might encounter (and good things we absolutely need to see) along the way. Thanks in advance!

2

Hello - llo - lo - lo…

Seriously! Any travel advice from Southern Dopers would be appreciated.

I’ll miss my daily dose of SDMB!

Peace.

3

Well, I don’t know the route you’re taking, zactly…

But I make it a point to stop at all the wineries and cool roadside things along the way.

4

Yeah, with all due respeck, your itinerary leaves a lot to be desired, so far as getting requests for info. Your only mentioned route (with no destination) was I-65, which will end up in Mobile AL and never touch FL.

Or maybe that’s where you’re actually headed, and they’re just telling you it’s FL. :smiley:

5

Sorry for being non-specific… definitely one of my weaknesses.

I-65 to 231 (in Dothan) down to Rte. 10 - east to I-75, then south… I think we’re leaving in about 1/2 hour!

Bye

6

Will you be coming through Cincinnati? Take a look at the Victorian houses. They’re everywhere! Great German food, but go for the Skyline chili. It’s wonderful. (They put chocolate in it.) Then make a bakery run before heading South again.

You’ll be driving through Bluegrass horse country in Kentucky.

As you pass through Nashville, notice that one of our buildings looks like a big phallic symbol and another looks like the head of Batman. You will be coming within a couple of miles of me. Wave as you pass!

Nashville drivers are not known for being courteous. We practice offensive driving so take it easy. Birmingham takes even more concentration. Just don’t judge either of us by what you see from the interstates, please.

If you are taking children with you, tell them to look for a rocket on the roadside when you are getting close to the Tennessee-Alabama line.
If you go through Eufaula, Alabama, take the time to drive the Main Street. It may be just about right for the azaleas, and they are beautiful if they are in bloom and the houses are pretty anyway. It’s a very small, sleepy Southern town.

Cracker Barrel Restaurants are a traditional place to stop for Southern cooking. I like their country fried steak – also known as chicken fried steak. They serve grits too. If you put sugar and butter on grits, they are at their best.

In Florida we liked getting off of the interstate and taking the state road. Not much traffic and every now and then there would be something on it like a store.

Don’t be fooled by the way people talk. Some of us are stone dumb. Some of us aren’t. We all sound pretty much the same.

If you actually hear anyone say the words “that there,” used together, I would like to know about it. The only time I’ve known it to be used is when some Doper is trying to ridicule Southerners.

Drive carefully! It seems to me that the area around Fort Walton Beach may have been a speed trap at one time. You might check the AAA website to see what they have to say about it.

Have fun and enjoy the warm weather! Tennessee is already beginning bloom so everything South of us should be.

7

Ah driving I-65 through Alabama.

The 224 foot tall Saturn 1B - If you miss this, you’re asleep. It’s freakin’ huge!

Ave Maria Grotto - Cullman - Really cool to see what monks do with too much time on their hands. Miniature models of just about everywhere that’s NOT in Alabama.

Down Town Birmingham - insane, just be careful.

The Anotomically Correct Peach - exit 212 Clanton, big ugly water tower - Stop at exit 205 and go to Durbin Farms or Peach Park for really REALLY great peaches in the summer. Now? everythings closed, except fast food. Sorry.

Montgomery - I-65 to Hwy 231 - easiest to come off on the Northern Boulevard exit on the the Northern Bypass - the bypass *almost * circles the city, but not quite. You will be following this - past the Hwy 231 N exit, past I-85 - to Hwy 231 S toward Troy and Dothan. If you’re hungry, stop at Dreamland BBQ for great ribs. And that’s about it. But believe me, ribs and white bread are mana from heaven. Trust me on this one.

Troy - pretty little college town, stopping isn’t necessary

Dothan - The peanut capital of the world - ehh not so much in the spring

OK that’s Alabama - It’s beautiful now, everything’s beginning to bloom. Y’all come!

8

Just wanted to revive this thread to thank my fellow Dopers for their replies. Of course, the really cool stuff that was mentioned, was not seen until after our return, thanks to the ambiguity of my original post. The good news is, we saw a bunch of cool stuff anyway! The huge rocket was a great treat and coincided with grievous needs to go to the bathroom (it’s stationed at a rest stop). you’re right… it’s freakin! huge! My daughter loved it. We stood under the flame thrower rocket parts and observed the massive amount of puerile graffiti painted thereon. My s.o. dared little ggurl to climb it. We did not have a camera or there would be goofy family pictures with rocket.

Zoe, absolutely correct on the driving styles. Birmingham drivers were much more aggressive than Nashville. But since I got my freeway/city driving skills honed in Chicago, it wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen before. Impressive bumper-to-bumper 75-mph action in Alabama!

Oh, and the return trip featured stopped traffic in Dothan due to the annual peanut festival. Awesome!

We missed the giant peach (I showed my daughter the pic on the website… she said, “Like James and the Giant Peach!!”) and the weird monk-made sculpture. We did see a 15-foot tall chicken made out of what looked like chrome car exhaust parts. Spectacular stuff! Also, during the last two hours of the trip down, the scent of night-blooming jasmine mixed with the ocean smell of the Gulf in the breeze through our car windows in the dark. Dd and I both commented on it excitedly. Although it’s been 9 years since I moved “back home” from Florida, I instantly recognized the flowery smell that used to fill our neighborhood every Spring.

That’s it, the sights, sounds, experiences and even smells of our road trip to Florida. Next year we’ll look for the other things mentioned in this thread and maybe even stop to eat boiled peanuts by the road side.

p.s. No one said “that there” in any way, shape, or form. We did get to talk to some people with awesome Southern accents, though!!