Second, merging in the US is easy. Unlike Australia (and especially Queensland), merging is done courteously, with people letting each other in and backing off to allow an easy merge.
Third, it is exhausting having to think about every manoeuvre on the road - today I drove over 400 miles and over 7 hours (couple of breaks) and I am shattered. I found it difficult to remain centred in my lane and found myself drifting to the right as I am so used to being on the left side of the lane as the driver.
Fourth, yes, Phoebe, it is ridiculous how many ties I have automatically tried to climb into the passenger seat to drive. Thank god for a handbag - I just pretend that I was always just opening the door to put it in the passenger seat.
Fifth, petrol is cheap here. I paid $2.39 a gallon. A gallon is roughly 3.75 litres, so petrol is roughly 64c US a litre. We get 65c to the dollar so it is roughly $1 a litre after conversion. When I left home it was in the $1.70s - what’s going on Australia?
The drive was otherwise uneventful with a stop at the Russell Stower Chocolate Factory (on recommendation from my bus driver the other night. Would you believe they sold Darrell Lea licorice there? And Whitman’s chocolate!
Refuelled at a roadside service centre and stopped in at Popeyes for a chicken tenders combo. If you’ve never been to the States, here’s some friendly advice. Always order the smallest portion size. I was hungry, having not eaten breakfast, so got 5 tenders instead of three, with a side of mashed potato. I imagined I would get 5 KFC sized tenders. Nope - these tenders looked like they had been stripped from the entire length of the chicken. Needless to say I did not eat the whole lot.
I was glad that I got on the road early though, as I passed through Lake County, Florida just as the sun was coming up, and am just disappointed that I couldn’t stop and take a lot of photos - it is a beautiful district.
As I crossed the state line into Georgia, oranges gave way to peaches, and swamps and lakes gave way to pastures full of cotton. Off the interstate and onto some of the old highways and passing beautiful stately homes that you see in movies like Steel Magnolias. It really is a beautiful part of the world.
Final stop for the night - Covington, known as Hollywood of the South. The town has been used as a backdrop to many movies and tv shows, including In the Heat of the Night, Dukes of Hazard and my favourite - The Vampire Diaries. I fangirled just a bit seeing the town clock tower and the Mystic Grill and has a great chat to a fellow in one of the theme stores who works with the production company and stars of the show - even getting a bit of the local gossip.
But that’s not all that’s important about Covington - it also played an important part in the Civil War, with soldiers marching through town on the way to Atlanta. It is a gorgeous city - only about 13k residents, so small and community feel.
Dinner and a cocktail at the Mystic Grill, then time for an early night in anticipation of the tour tomorrow, which of course will tour around the shooting locations of the show.
After that, it’s Atlanta or bust!
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