Drive from Boston to New Orleans 2014

Ominous sign 1 Monday	Ominous sign 2 Monday	That's better - Bevans, NJ, in Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area	Bevans	Bevans	Black Walnut fruit in Bevans
Along the Delaware	Along the Delaware	Along the Delaware	Approaching the Delaware Water Gap	What are these beans?	Maryland Border: Mason-Dixon Line; Obama: Impeach Him
Individual untroubled by irony puts up Impeach Obama sticker at Mason-Dixon line	Plantation country in northern Virginia, Tuesday morning	Plantation Country	Civil-War-ridden area	Incongruous log building downtown	Incongruous log building downtown
Get me out of Plantation Country - heading for the Fort Valley	Fort Valley at left, Skyline Drive at right	Road to the Fort Valley	Road to the Fort Valley	Road to the Fort Valley	driving up the Fort Valley
southern tip of Fort Valley	Climbing out of the valley	View from the ridgetop outside Fort Valley, east towards Skyline Drive	valley wall from outside	On the road, you discover new snacks	Back to the mountaintops
View from Skyline Drive	View from Skyline Drive	View from Skyline Drive	View from Skyline Drive	geology on Skyline Drive - check out the green & purple colors	View from Skyline Drive
The Blue Ridge Parkway continues south as Skyline Drive for another 500 miles or so	View from the Blue Ridge Parkway	View from the Blue Ridge Parkway	tunnel along the Blue Ridge Parkway	View from the Blue Ridge Parkway	Peaks of Otter, Blue Ridge Parkway
Peaks of Otter, Blue Ridge Parkway	Peaks of Otter from Blue Ridge Parkway	View from the Blue Ridge Parkway	View from the Blue Ridge Parkway	View from the Blue Ridge Parkway	Leaving Salem, VA
Good advice	Heading up the Craig Creek valley	Craig Creek Valley home	Tidy fences and fields near Bland, VA	Oh. The tidy farm turns out to be a prison farm	house west of Bland, VA
New shack, old shack	Climbing out of the valley towards Burkes Garden, VA	Climbing out of the valley towards Burkes Garden, VA	Road to Burkes Garden	Rhododendron heaven on the hills	Seen this pose before?
Burkes Garden from the summit of Garden Mountain	Now's a good time to see Burkes Garden on the map	Burkes Garden from the ridge	Burkes Garden from the ridge	Burkes Garden	Burkes Garden
This sign explains it all.	Old Burkes Garden store	New(er) Burkes Garden store	Burkes Garden	Hey, a squirrel!	Look closer, that's an eastern fox squirrel
Burkes Garden directory	New arrivals at the Burkes Garden store	What do you call these - scooters? There has to be a name for them.	Looking back towards Burkes Garden from the highway	Leaving the highway again	Good attitude in the Poor Valley
Poor Valley	Poor Valley Log Church	terraced pasture	Fabled Clinch Mountain	Home under Clinch Mountain	Clinch Mountain on the right for miles
valley road	raccoon in the road	valley road	Clinch Mountain still on the right	Awkward sun position	Horses under Clinch Mountain
Horses under Clinch Mountain	Horses under Clinch Mountain	Fall Is Here, Enjoy the Season	Starting out Thursday - mile 1150	Climbing up the Cumberland Escarpment	Grassy Cove, TN
Cumberland Escarpment runs from lower left corner to top center; Grassy Cove left of center	Grassy Cove, TN	Grassy Cove, TN	Grassy Cove, TN	Grassy Cove, TN	Grassy Cove, TN
Grassy Cove, TN	Grassy Cove	Grassy Cove	Next: Leaving Grassy Cove and driving around to the Sequatchie Valley	Old road from the plateau to the Sequatchie Valley	This road taught me why southern country boys like fast cars so much.
Twisty, deserted, scenic - and no potholes. Zoom!	Aha, I understand the Dukes of Hazzard now.	The gate does not match my aesthetic.	But the grounds are nice enough.	Sequatchie Valley home	That's not a Holstein.
Sequatchie Valley	Surprised to see so many cedars.	Sequatchie Valley looking back northeast	Sequatchie Valley	The Sequatchie Valley	left (east) side of the valley
right (west) side	Straight down the valley	Sequatchie Valley	Pikeville, TN in the valley center	Stone house in Pikeville	Grand house in Pikeville
A more typical old house	The daylight moon joins the drive	Oh, yeah! Love to see that sign.	Approaching the southern end of the Sequatchie valley	Some black walnuts before I go	Climbing the Cumberland plateau again
Cowan, TN, on the other side of the uplands	Cowan, TN	An important old train tunnel that way	Hey, there's a train now.	Coming our way (slowly)	There's time to get a photo of the Cumberland Mountain Tunnel plaque before the train arrives
Locomotives old and new in Cowan, TN	Locomotives old and new in Cowan, TN	Locomotives old and new in Cowan, TN	Cowan architecture	Cowan architecture	This house looks new till you realize the porch pillars are quarried stone
another interesting house next door	west across Tennessee, the land gets flatter	We're in cotton country - more of that tomorrow.	Who the heck is David Crockett?	370 miles to Natchez, that's the plan.	Natchez Trace
Natchez Trace	Cotton country	Northern Harrier flying over cotton fields along the Trace	Kudzu!	Mississippi border	Indian mound
Indian mound signs	What the heck is this?	More weird stuff	This went on for at least five miles	Wow, that must have been a huge storm.	God and commerce in Mississippi
Carrollton, MS	Carrollton, MS	Mississippi Country Music Trail marker	Sanitary Laundry in Carrollton, MS	Kudzu takes over the railroad at the edge of town	country home with add-ons
The Valley Store near Avalon, MS	The Valley Store	Paved road (with miscellaneous loose dogs)	Cotton harvest in progress	Laying yellow eggs	Starting a new row
Another new row	A tractor takes the egg away	turning around for another swath	turning around	turning around	turning around
starting another row	Cotton harvester in the field, looking like a beast from a Miyazaki film	The cotton bales are lined up at the edge of the fields	These are maybe five feet tall, about the size of the familiar white hay bale marshmallows	Mississippi John Hurt sign by the highway	Avalon sign where Avalon used to be
Yellow bales hit by sun	White junk on the roadside isn't litter, it's stray cotton.	Yazoo delta swamps	Yazoo delta swamps	A pretty typical farm shack near Yazoo City	Yazoo Delta cypress swamp
Surprised to see some logging around	Last motel on the southward trip	Approaching NOLA on I-55	Lake Maurepas from I-55	Lake Maurepas from I-55	Cypress swamp near NOLA
New Orleans across Lake Pontchartrain	Bonnet Carre spillway along I-10