Sunday September 06, 2020 – Day Three of Driving

Shortly before sunrise, De’Andra and I headed East again from Dallas on Interstate 20 under the cover of darkness and a wet fog. It looked liked it had rained the dew was so think. After a quick pitstop in Waskom, TX for a quick hello to De’Andra’s pops, we rolled through Louisiana and descended into the river valley and crossed the mighty Mississippi river into the state of Mississippi. Our planned gas stop was just a few miles into Mississippi at a town called Edwards.

When Stereotypes Become Observed Reality

First, I want to say that the following were my observations and first hand experience and also unfortunately, my first experience of the state of Mississippi. This blog is not a forum for my political opinions or anything else other than a way for me to share my travel experiences, so I will keep my observations to the middle of the political road as much as I possibly can.

We exited off on Interstate 20 at exit 19 and turned right towards Edwards. Not far from the Interstate there are two gas stations, a Shell station and a Chevron station. For no particular reason, I decided to go to the Chevron station. I toped off the fuel tanks of our Chevy Volt and Kia Soul and observed our surroundings. All the customers and people hanging around were African Americans and looked quite disheveled. What I could see of some of the nearby houses looked to be equally disheveled and soon to be ruin. The local Edwards police car pulled up with it’s shocks and springs squeaking and squawking and also sounded like the brake pads were worn and scraping on the rotors. On the rear of the squad car which was driven by an enormous (fat) white police officer stated in all cap bold letters was “ALL LIVES MATTER!”. All I will say about this is that yes, all lives do matter. The Black Lives Matter movement is not saying that Black lives matter more than any other ethnic groups. It is addressing the unofficial standard that the system and allot of the public’s actions suggest that Black lives matter less than White, Brown, Yellow, etc etc. BLM statement is, hey look, Black Lives Matter Too. History and recent events have shown that systemic racism has portrayed that lives of Black people are of lesser value. In simple terms BLM is about equality meaning that a Black life has the same value as a white, Brown, Yellow, life, etc etc. Yes all lives matter, duh. but attention is being called out because there is a problem where black lives are not valued the same as other ethnic groups. There are many people who disagree with BLM but frankly for many people, I do not think they understand the point of view that BLM has. It is all about perspective. While there are other people who frankly just don’t like people who are not white. God, will deal with those people in his time. We are all humans of the same global tribe, we all bleed red folks.

The police officer made a pass through the gas station and proceeded to follow two black men walking from the station. They had a conversation that did not seem to be very pleasant but after a bit the squad car pulled off and the two men went about their business. I went inside the gas station to use the rest room and the stench was unbearable (and I am a Marine and Army Veteran). The store itself had pallets of beer and liquor stacked to the ceiling. The entire town on the south side of the Interstate was a depressed, economically destroyed place that looked like a scene from the Great Depression. De’Andra and I headed back to the Interstate and decided to get the hell out of Mississippi as fast as we could.

Back on the Interstate we noticed the other side of the Interstate, the White people area of the town. This area was riddled with large estates, fountains, horse stables,….yes, they looked like plantations. The economic and etheric disparity from the two areas was shocking and astounding. At least in this sliver of Mississippi it would seem that time has stood nearly still and not much has changed with regards to ethnic and economic equality.

To be fair, this was the only real snapshot I had seen of Mississippi and may not represent the state as a whole. During my upcoming USA South 2020 Motorcycle trip in October 2020, I will be riding through the backroads of Mississippi and should have a more accurate observation of the state. It is a beautiful state and I hope the stereotypes do not continue to be confirmed, I would love to be wrong.

Kia Soul’s Turn for Road Trouble

Just a few miles east of Edwards Mississippi on Interstate 20, The Kia Soul which I was driving began losing speed. Now this car that I call my Snotmobile, Boogermobile, or the Mucinexmobile because it is a little green boxy 1.6 liter powered go-kart actually did surprisingly well from California to this point in Mississippi. I did have to drop it down to 3rd gear in the mountains in California to maintain anything close to 45 to 50 MPH…but for most of this trip I was cruising at 80 or slightly more at times. Not bad for 1.6 liters

So, the further we went the more power I was losing. It did not help that pretty much of all Mississippi heading on east on I-20 is a slow gradual uphill climb from the valley that was carved out by the river when it was the main watershed from the melting glaciers of the north thousands of years ago. On some of the steeper grades, I was slowing down to 40 and doing everything I could to try and maintain that speed by dropping down to 3rd or 2nd gear and pushing the accelerator to the floor. De’Andra called me on the cell phone and we collaboratively worked through some the possible technical problems. My first thought was well I am losing power so that is either reduced air flow, bad fuel or the fuel injectors have decided now was the time to give up the ghost. We decided that bad fuel or restricted airflow were the most likely causes and decided to limp along until we found what would look to be a respectable place to pull off (as opposed to the horror show in Edwards).

We didn’t talk about it at the time, but we were both concerned about what to do if the Kia had a major mechanical problem. Based on what we just saw in Edwards, we were not too keen on the Idea of having to stop for any duration of time in the area. I decided that if the Kia had a major problem, I would send De’Andra ahead without me because well, she is African American and I am white. Based on our re-affirmed stereotype knowledge of Mississippi thus far, I felt I would fare better stranded. Plus De’Andra really does not like drive a stick shift. 🙂

We came across a respectable looking truck stop and we pulled off. As I popped the hood and examined the air filter (should not have been dirty as I had just changed it prior to leaving California), De’Andra went inside to purchase some fuel injector cleaner and a bottle of octane booster. I put both in and put in 3 gallons of fuel to try and dilute the suspected bad gas along with the octane booster. After a quick snack and rest, we attempted to head back onto the highway….and voila ….I had more power than I had before the issue after a few sputters and coughs that is. The check engine light remained on for the duration of the trip all the way to Douglasville, Georgia.

Dinner Stop in Birmingham, Alabama and then Douglasville, Georgia

We decided to try a BBQ place, Saw;s BBQ, in Birmingham, Alabama. However to our disappointment, we discovered it closed upon our arrival. Being quite road weary at this point, we decided to check out the Pizza place next door called New York Pizza.

We were not feeling pizza so we both ordered pasta dishes. They had the tables setup so that that each table was more than six feet from anyone else and we had our own little section all to ourselves. Good food and good service, we will return again when visiting Birmingham (our home in Georgia is only about 40 miles from Alabama). This are of Birmingham was absolutely charming and simply gorgeous with old style restored homes and refurbished industries turned into shops and eatery’s. The entire area was very nice and reminded me allot of Charlotte, NC. We can certainly see ourselves doing a few day trips to Birmingham.

Douglasville, Georgia – Our New Home

From New York Pizza in Birmingham, Alabama it is 133 miles to our new home in Douglasville, Georgia (about a 2 hour drive). So, after we fed ourselves and rested up a bit (I was very tired at this point running on little sleep) we arrived with no further incidents safely at our home. We unpacked the Chevy Volt and then parked in in the garage with the Kia Soul. I did not manage to get the Kia unpacked as I was working on my remote IT setup for the house (I am an IT nerd and well, I wanted to be able to monitor the house while we were away back in California.

The purpose of this trip was to bring two of our three cars to the house safely and also to haul as many must have and fragile items as we could in the cars. I will be driving our Volkswagen Tiguan to Georgia from California starting on October 26, 2020 which will also be loaded down with fragile and must have items. Everything else is shipping in a PODS container across country and we will be in Georgia about a week before the PODS arrives.

Leaving our New Home Yet Again

Time was short on this trip as we did not want to take extra time off of work (which is why we did the drive over Labor Day Weekend). On Monday September 7th, 2020 we flew back to Los Angeles from Atlanta (after our schedule Uber stood us up and had to order a taxi to the Atlanta airport). It feels odd that we closed on the house on August 14, 2020 and we have only spent a couple of weekends there. But we are getting close now and the excitement and chaos of moving is building momentum.

USA South 2020 Motorcycle Trip – Move to Douglasville, Georgia

Next week, October 7th, 2020 I depart Ramona, California to begin my motorcycle trip to bring Dexter, my 2005 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic, to our new home. I am taking advantage of the time and opportunity to make this into another motorcycle camping & touring trip. I will be creating a new blog section for USA South 2020 very soon.