Stuff I learned on a road trip to Atlanta

This past weekend I road tripped with my son to Atlanta for a family visit while he competed in the Peach State Open. Here are a few things I learned on the trip.

The Toyota Corolla is surprisingly comfortable on long drives. It was 10 hours there and 9.5 hours coming home, and my back felt fine the next day both ways.

If you are headed south from DC (away from the coast) there is a better route than I-85. Follow US 29 South through Lynchburg and Danville VA to Greensboro NC, where it intersects with I-85. US 29 is four lane the entire way, sparsely populated, and much more interesting than the interstate highway route. It's 50 miles shorter via 29 too.

When in Danville, eat at Short Sugar's BBQ. It might be as far north as you can find real NC BBQ.

The Hair Metal station on XM Radio doesn't have enough music to go 24 hours without repeating songs.

Ozzy's Boneyard might be the coolest station on XM Radio. Where else where you hear Ratt, Led Zepplin, and Celtic Frost in succession? They also play a lot of Queen, which is cool, even if it doesn't really fit in well.

They still drive like maniacs on GA 400. Some things don't change.

Our first house and neighborhood still looks pretty good, although I had forgotten just how hilly the neighborhood was. The white rail porch is gone, and our shutters were darker, otherwise pretty much the same.

Traffic in Atlanta still sucks.

There is a Varsity Jr. in Dawsonville. The food tastes the same, but the ambiance isn't even close.

My son has gotten pretty damn good at this fencing thing.

I kind of miss Atlanta.