Wanderlust: Navigating a Tristate Tour in a Pandemic (Part One)

I finally broke out and went across state lines! This is the first time since February, and for some that may not be a big deal but for me—this is HUGE. I’m someone who was used to greeting my city’s TSA staff on a monthly basis, if not biweekly during some seasons. I have to say the pandemic did raise fear in me about traveling, so my apprehension was stronger than my withdrawal. I mean this year I had planned to go to new states, countries, continents, but oh well! Rona had other plans for me… Anyway, my BF and I took a trip to check on some family and friends which led us to traverse the Bible Belt, and I thought I’d share with you a few sites we saw and local eats we enjoyed.

First to kick things off, what’s a travel recap without a mishap story? When it comes to road trips, I’m someone who prefers to move in the moonlight/daybreak hours. Miss me with rush hour traffic and the other late-risers heading a little too slowly to their destination clogging up the lanes. But due to a full day of celebrations prior, we weren’t so fortunate in making that early rise happen. I got over it, but our delays were only beginning. I mentioned in a previous post that I bought a new car in quarantine (Yay!), so far it’s yielded over $2500 in repairs (Boo!). Thankfully, all things covered under warranty (God is GREAT). I had just taken my car out of the shop to fix an A/C issue not even a full week before our departure. Y’all, can you believe we barely made it to the next county and oh girl started rattling! Luckily, we were able to safely pull off to an exit to see what’s going on and we find this:

My raggedy ___ serpentine belt shredding in my car.

My raggedy ___ serpentine belt shredding in my car.

For those of you not mechanically inclined this is NO BUENO. Like, the car could die and other catastrophic events. Again, God came through with the assist and the belt is not completely gone and we can get it back home safely to Indy. By this time I was BIG mad, but what would we do without loving partners who know how to restore some peace to rage? He reminded me that these things happen for reason and we got on the road when we were meant to. We probably avoided a potentially more calamitous situation because of it. So with half of a returned smile and repacked bags, we hopped in his car and off we went!

A quick family pick for the road! (No mask just for the photo!)

A quick family pick for the road! (No mask just for the photo!)

Stop 1: Grandma’s House (TN)

I’m fortunate to still have a living grandparent. She’s in her 90s and the threat of the pandemic definitely kept her on my mind. It was so good to see her and one of my uncles. I cherish every time I get to see her and spend time physically with her. The greatest part of all was being able to use technology and have her FaceTime with several of our folks back here who aren’t able to come down. Phone calls are great, but laying your eyes on somebody hits different.

Stop #2: “Sweet Home Alabama”

After that quick stop, our journey continued into the evening to Alabama. I’ve been all over the state in my childhood and teens. In fact, one of my late uncles used to teach at the HBCU Alabama A&M University (a role model for why I pursued college and a psychology degree). Never in all my years had I taken a photo with the “spaceship.” I probably slept right past it in most of my journeys down there. Plus, my family was never that big stopping along the way for sight-seeing pictures. It was either a rest stop, food stop, gas stop or the destination. My BF on the other hand was excited to see it, and I obliged to stop for the stretch and photograph. We’d also just traveled 20 miles through backroad no signal TN and I could use a grounding moment for my anxiety. Nonetheless, it was a cool hop on hop off site to see. See the picture below.

It’s a spaceship! (Ignore my need for a fill.)

It’s a spaceship! (Ignore my need for a fill.)

The end of day one we safely arrived at our first overnight destination of Birmingham, AL. I’ll recap our sites there in the next blog. But before I do, I leave you with some symbolic words of wisdom:

  • Don’t lose your cool when plans are interrupted. Trust the timing of your life and its events.

  • Always take time for family (blood or chosen). Don’t take those opportunities for granted.

  • Don’t be afraid to go off-the beaten path, it can be some beautiful sites there.

  • Be alert and spontaneous, take in the opportunities that pop up on your journey.

See you in part two!

Britt