Taking a break from winter, south to Louisiana

Signed up for a winter cruise on the Norwegian Breakaway with Singles Travel International, scheduled to depart from New Orleans on Feb 4. Flights to NOLA were rather expensive, plus I would have to stay a night after the cruise to get a reasonable flight back home. I decided to drive down south instead, so that I can visit Breaux Bridge, and stay with my friend Theresa until after Mardi Gras (on Feb 13). Rather than camping, I opted for staying in motels on the route, using the SUV hybrid instead of Millie (my minivan). Driving was pretty easy, the audiobooks I borrowed from the public library made the drive quite relaxing. My plan was to drive no more than 7 hours a day to reduce fatigue. Spent first night at the Travelodge in Wytheville, VA: interesting motel spread over multiple separate buildings, clean quiet rooms.

The next day, I stopped in Knoxville, TN to have lunch with a former colleague who had recently moved to the area. We met at Calhoun's on the River, a well known local reastaurant. It was too cold to sit outside but we took a walk along part of the river after lunch. Then, I drove through downtown before continuing south.

Spent that night in a Days Inn in Fultondale, AL. Checked in and went for dinner at the Full Moon BBQ, supposedly among the top 10 BBQ restaurants in the US. It's one of those places where you order food at the counter, take a placard with a number and a server brings the food to the table. I had collard greens and sweet potato casserole to go with BBQ ribs, typically southern. Tasted very good but way too much food!

The next day, I crossed into Louisiana where I had reserved a motel in Hammond, about 40 minutes to the New Orleans airport where I planned to park the car. Did not feel like going to a restaurant for dinner, so I stopped at a the Rouses Markets store in Hammond, to pick up some boiled crawfish, shrimp, a slice of king cake and some wine for dinner in the room. Very satisfying welcome to Louisiana!

Forgot to mention that the Travelodge in Wytheville, VA offered fresh pancakes at breakfast, using a pancake machine. First time I've ever seen that, so I took a photo of it!