Written by Ashley:

We did it. We actually did it. We made the big move from the Midwest to Florida. It was a big headache moving 2 apartments in 2 different states 1,225 miles south, but it could have been a lot more stressful. The movers for both apartments did all the work while we stood around yawning most of the time. I would have had multiple breakdown for sure if we needed to rent u-hauls, pack everything, and move everything ourselves. As it was, we packed up my little Jetta with necessities and took a leisurely road trip south.

The first day we drove from my apartment to middle Tennessee to see my mom. Since we got a late start, we didn’t have much time to stop along the way, but we did get a quick drive-thru tour of Louisville, KY. We saw the Louisville Slugger Museum (which has a gigantic baseball bat outside), the river, and some of the downtown. Most importantly, we ate at the awesome Smoketown USA! We split a very tasty pulled pork sandwich with mac-n-cheese, beans, and cornbread. The atmosphere of the restaurant was “southern country hipster” which I found to be a pretty cool experience. It had the typical laid back, rustic, southern charm yet most of the clients were trendy hipsters. After we were stuffed, we drove the rest of the way to TN.

We spent the following day in Manchester, TN hitting up all my old favorite spots. We ate at Jiffy Burger which has the most glorious batter-dipped fries. It is a local burger joint and is filled with tons of old nic-nacs, friendly servers, and yummy greasy food. Make sure you bring cash as they still haven’t discovered what credit cards are…lol. We ate at Prater’s (the original one in Morrison) which has the best bbq in the entire world and, trust me, I have eaten a lot of bbq in my life. I  typically order a pulled pork sandwich, but this time Nisheet and I split a sampler plate. It came with wings, ribs, brisket, and a pulled pork sandwich which was more than enough food for 2 people. We licked the plate clean in no time.  Afterwards, we burnt off a few calories by walking around Old Stone Fort. Nisheet was confused when we went and he kept asking where the fort was?!? That is because it isn’t a typical stone fort, but it was built in the middle woodland period by Native Americans and was used as a ceremonial ground. The ground is now a meadow and hiking trails (and rivers) encompass the area.

Sadly, we had to continue onwards with the road-trip and had to say goodbye to Manchester, TN. Next stop Chattanooga. We parked near the Tennessee Aquarium, walked across the Walnut Strert Bridge to Coolidge Park, and ate the “world-famous” moon pies at the MoonPie general store. It was fun, but the dreadful southern heat tired us out pretty quickly, and we had to make our stop a little brief. Besides… Atlanta was calling!  By the time we made it to Atlanta, we were starving, so we stopped at a charming place called Flying Biscuit. And man do they do have great biscuits, especially paired with apple butter, and so famous that they bake close to 5,000 each day! We ordered fried green tomatoes for appetizers and were pleasantly surprised that they weren’t the typical greasy fried tomatoes. They were crispy and light and topped with cashew-jalapeño relish and goat cheese. For our entree, we ordered turkey meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans. Again, it was lighter than we expected, but it was mouth-watering and delicious. We then split a Bellini before hitting the road again.

What is one thing you can’t miss while driving through Georgia in the summer? Buying fresh Georgia peaches of course! It started to get late, and I was not about to leave the state without a bag full of peaches, so we pulled off at the next sign saying “peaches.” We were not disappointed. The peaches, sold by a local farmer,  smelled heavenly and were soooo juicy. I only wish I had gotten more so I could make tons of my (self-proclaimed) famous peach cobbler!

As the sun came down, we decided to spend the night at the Comfort Inn in Tifton, GA, and I was rather impressed with the hotel. There was a small but nice pool outside, and their sister hotel next door had a very nice hot tub that we used. Our room was very clean and big, and the bed was comfortable. The breakfast in the morning was typical and consisted of cereal, waffles, bagels, yogurt, etc. I didn’t expect much when staying at that particular chain, but maybe I should consider them for the future.

At last came the day we made it to the sunshine state a.k.a Florida! We stopped at the huge welcome center and were offered free orange juice. ha! They also sold sunpass transponders there (for the toll roads) and had free travel guides on every area of Florida. We only stayed a few minutes though because we were anxious to arrive at our beach rental. When we finally got here, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that we were only 100 steps (Nisheet counted) from the beach and there were so many “beachy” restaurants and stores within walking distance. I think we are going to love it here! We look forward to sharing all of our FL adventures in the upcoming posts.

 

What’s the most fun road-trip that you have ever taken? Got any tips to share for a future road-warrior? Let’s hear about it! Comment below.

 

Helpful Links

Restaurants:

• Smoketown USA – BBQ  (Louisville, KY)
• Jiffy Burger – Burger Joint  (Manchester, TN)
• Prater’s BBQ – BBQ  (Morrison, TN)
• Flying Biscuits – Modern Soul Food  (Atlanta, GA)

Activities:

• Old Stone Fort Archaeological Park – Hiking and history  (Manchester, TN)
• Walnut Street Bridge – Pedestrian bridge  (Chattanooga, TN)

Lodging:

• Comfort Inn – Affordable hotel near I-75 (Tifton, GA)