The Creepy Cross Tour (AKA - I'm home!)

The time is 10:21pm, and I am finally home. Actually, I've been home for about 3 hours, but I needed to go grocery shopping and unpack my clothes.

The name of today's is the nickname April gave our roadtrip home. She called it the Creepy Cross Tour after the 3rd or 4th baptist church with absolutely enormous crosses in the front.

But here's how the roadtrip went...
Wednesday: We left at 6am, and drove until we arrived in Chattanooga, TN around 4:30pm. I drove the entire time, and was a complete music Nazi, alternating between the satellite radio stations and my iPod, which consists mostly of Broadway musicals. Everytime we passed cows, April moo'ed, and everytime we passed bails of hay, I said, "Heeeeyyy." Pretty silly stuff. We saw a tow truck being towed, an 18-wheeler being towed, and a school bus being towed, but the school bus looked as though it had been submerged under water for a while. Seriously. Wednesday's driving consisted mostly of mountain driving (and I thought we'd never get out of Virginia), which I am not accustomed to. I've been a passenger plenty of times for mountain rides, but never driven them. It wasn't too bad until we decided to go to Rock City at Lookout Mountain on the TN/GA border. I haven't been there in 20 years, and I haven't really been in the mountains in 12 years. Rock City was as cool as I remembered it, but I had a small panic attack on the drive up the mountain. The view was beautiful, but it also made me realize that we could die if a crazy person came barrelling down the mountain and plows into us (there was a tiny guardrail separating my car and a cliff). I drove like an old lady: both hands on the wheels, leaning forward, inching my way up the mountain. Plus I have a V4 engine, and it's not used to uphill driving. All in all, the mountain driving was amusing.

Yesterday, Wednesday, we left Chattanooga at 6:15am, arrived in Baton Rouge at 2:30pm (and we went through a time zone change, so add an hour). More mountain driving in the morning, but it was all freeway, so not bad. Beautiful sights, though. More cows. More hay. More tow trucks. I felt gracious and let April control the music, with the occassional veto of her heavy rap. Once in BR, we met up with my godfather, who is the most protective man to me. I completely appreciate it - he took over when my dad died (he taught me how to drive, how to shoot, supports me in everything, etc.), so it was nice to see him again. Then we went to LSU's campus, saw the new changes, bought some stuff for my classroom, and met people for dinner at the Chimes (YUM!): Eddie and Monique, Jeff and Phil, and then Andy came towards the end. Jeff and I used my new beer-drinking tendencies and then we all had some of the best food. There is no food like Louisiana food - and if I ate in Washington or NY like I ate last night, I would've gained 10 pounds. The duck and sausage gumbo was thick, dark and spicy, and the crawfish po'boys were perfection. The Chimes is a restaurant that I have to go to when I go to BR. After dinner, and then coffee, April and I went to Andy's, where Andy and I exchanged teaching stories and I filled him in on all of my Shakespeare stuff. But it wasn't too late of a night; he's already back in school. The afternoon and evening was so wonderful; it made me remember why I like the South and Southerners so much (except the stifling heat, of course). I was given shit sometimes this summer about being from Texas and the South, but I love both Texas and the South. Will I live here forever? Probably not. But the Texas is home, complete with warm people, warm fuzzy feelings, and great food.

This morning, after an early Jazzercise class, we went to New Orleans (might as well, it's only an hour away) for lunch at Port-Of-Call, another college favorite. Their hamburgers are completely worth the drive! Then we came to Houston, battling freakishly bad weather and taking more photos of Creepy Crosses.

And now I'm home. Unpleasant surprises: the dust, the heat, and my apartment people did NOT steam clean the carpets like they were supposed to. Pleasant surprise: I now have cable. I didn't order cable, but I have it. I supposed I should call someone. Maybe I'll do it next week.
So right now all of my bags are everywhere. I have bags on my couch, on the floor, on my dining table, on a loveseat in my bedroom. I don't even know where to begin to unpack my Shakespeare stuff. I might just leave everything nonessential until Sunday night, when I have alone time (April's flight back to DC leaves around 3pm).

But I'm home. I'm sure I've forgotten to mention something. Oh, well. Oh! I'll post more pictures this week.
Cheers!