Christmas in the Deep South Days 1 and 2: The Road Trip

We left DC at 7 Wednesday morning with an 18 hour road trip ahead of us. All the way through Virginia our path was lined with three feet of gray crust. I take back what I said about the snow being so beautiful and not wanting to leave it behind. The night before our departure, I cleaned out the fridge and found some vegetables in the bottom drawer that had been forgotten in the aftermath of Turkeyocalypse. There was a colony of white, spore-like mold growing on this unidentifiable vegetation. It looked just like the snow outside – a fungus on the city. I am trying to preserve the memory of the pure white snow in my mind, the way it was on Saturday. I guess I never thought about the road grime that would be scraped up by the ploughs or the slushy, half-frozen mud that would surround the crosswalks. I feel like a naïve girl who thought the world pure and perfect but who is now having her eyes opened to its true blackness. I am disappointed.

So, by the time we got to Alabama, I was somewhat surprised to see green grass, green trees, and the occasional flower. I really shouldn’t be surprised by this. After spending 27 years in the Deep South, I am well acquainted with the weather patterns. It does seem that time moves slower down here. It is still early fall. There are a few dead leaves on the ground but some greenery remains. The temperatures are pleasant. I may have packed too heavily in a very literal sense. Instead of heading south in a car, I feel like I just headed three months back in a time machine.