We woke up early this morning to a camp ranger explaining that a storm was coming, so we quickly cooked some peaches and cream oatmeal on my camping stoves, drank some very bitter coffee, and were back on the road. Traversing back up through the mountain pass, we headed south towards Georgia. 

For lunch, we stopped at a little BBQ restaurant in the foothills and ordered our first real “southern” meal. I got ribs, hushpuppies (deep-fried corn bread), beans, coleslaw, and sweet tea. J got something similar, and $28 later, we were no longer famished.

In order to make up some ground, we skirted around Atlanta and decided to head towards Montgomery, Alabama in hopes of seeing some historical sites connected to the Civil Rights Movement. But we were greatly disappointed; when we arrived in Montgomery we decided to visit “Old Town Alabama,” only to realize that it was one block of residential houses. 

Frustrated, we headed towards to the mall indicted on our brand-new 2008 atlas to find a wireless coffee shop (note on this later), and discovered that the mall was completely empty of all life and was about to be demolished. Needless to say, we headed towards a campground southwest of the city, swearing to hightail it out of Alabama the moment the sun rose.

But back to those southern coffee shops:  they don’t exist. We have discovered that the south doesn’t believe in coffee. Not only is it impossible to find a coffee shop, gas stations and rest areas are void of the caffeinated substance as well. 

Obviously, Starbucks doesn’t view the South as worthy to be marked by their bare-breasted mermaid logo.