My first road trip from St. Louis to Orlando took me almost 1,500 miles through 6 states over 4 days and 3 nights. I have already seen a roommate from undergrad and two from Grad School. Needless to say, I got off to a FAST start. The goal of all the miles of course was to outrun the snow. I did outrun it (sort of…more to come on that later). Although the Orlando crowd has been a little disappointed in the recent “cold” front, I can happily say this is much warmer than where I was just a little over a week ago.

Let me get back on track though. As I considered the best ways to sum up my first road trip, it took me some time to decide. I certainly learned a lot on this first trip. Most importantly that I am not a bad solo road tripper (certainly not something that is for everybody), but it was also good to drive the last segment with a good friend. I was actually wishing there was more daylight to explore on the longest segment of my ride. There were a few oversights along the way…purchasing a CD more recently than 2008 may have been a good idea. I was reminded of those 12 months that I was actually semi into music…hello Toby Keith, Akon, James Blunt. My spontaneity also led me to a road closure, so I will have to visit the Trail of Tears museum another time. All in all it was a good trip and the best way to sum it up is to show you 12 pictures from the road…

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I don’t know how it did, but everything fit in the Sentra. You can even see through the windows out the other side.
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Didn’t quite make it to the Trail of Tears Museum.
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This may be the rockiest road I travel on all year. The “gravel” was the size of baseballs.
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Flood waters were seen far too often in MO. This picture from a town just outside of Portageville where I stayed for the first night of my journey.
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A lot to see in Memphis where I stopped for a few hours. This was the site of MLK’s assassination.
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I’ve have spent many a days at the Cardinal’s major league stadium as well as the AA stadium in Springfield, so it was good to see the home of the AAA club.
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Hopped off of 55 for awhile to drive the two lane roads. Well worth the extra time it added.
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Real nice spot to eat in Jackson, MS. This was the view from the table.
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Landed in Bay Minette for the second hometown of a roomate on the trip.
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So I cheated a little since this is 2 photos, but the before and after water shots were too good to leave out.
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The view from the passenger seat on the last segment of the journey, when I actually got to be the passenger for awhile.
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Landing in Orlando of course meant heading to Disney World immediately. Although this was the next morning, it was the perfect cap on an exciting road trip.
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