Tuesday Sept 9th 2008
We enter day 2 of the 'epic' road trip of Xomba founder Nick Veneris and his girlfriend as they travel from Jacksonville, Florida to San Francisco, California.

To read and follow the adventure click here.

Felt much more rested this morning, but 6:00 still came early. We watched Jackson, Ms. local news and discussed how none of the reporters had southern accents. Very odd, since our limited exploration suggested everyone had a southern belle accent. Not like the Georgia or northern Florida accent, no this one sounded nicer if not more proper.

We grabbed the free breakfast(Raisin Bran and a banana) and were on the road around 7am. Our destination was the city of Abilene located in west Texas. We booked the room the night before and had zero knowledge of the town. Our drive consisted of roughly 700+ miles along I-20.

As we left Mississippi we ventured through Vicksburg, a beautiful town set along a famous U.S. Civil War battlefield. Unfortunately, our 9 hour drive didn't allow us to stop and take a tour. I wouldn't mind visiting Vicksburg for a day or two in the future. We didn't get any pics of it, but I did get a couple of shots of the Mississippi River.

This is the bridge we crossed on I-20 over the Mississippi. The bridge you see on the right is for the railroad. Overall, I expected to see big steamboats or someone belting "Old Man River" while crossing. The strange thing was that the shores of the river were beaches. I found that strange, but they looked just like the beach minus the waves. Crossing the Mississippi was a monumental experience for me. I had a huge grin on my face for the next 5 minutes and look forward to crossing it again on the way home.

Soon we were in Louisiana. Louisiana was quick to greet us with deteriorated roads and acres and acres of swamp. Trees littered the sides of the roads concealing most of the swampland, but the brief glances I got reminded me of scenes from the movie Swamp Thing. Traveling through the poverty stricken south makes you realize how good you have it. Louisiana looked a lot like Alabama. Maybe it is a way a life, but seeing trailers falling apart with broken down cars in the yards tears into your heart. The city makes you forget these things.

Entering Louisiana brought the rain which lasted for about 600 miles until we got past Dallas Texas. I had imagined Texas as a desert with Cacti everywhere. Nope, not northern TX along I-20, what we found was a dazzling mystifying landscape of tall hills and low valleys. At one point my ears even popped from the altitude changes. Not mountains, but remember Florida is sea level and flat. Hills are a big deal. Getting closer to Dallas we begun to see small Cacti. I don;t have a pic yet, but sure I will soon enough. Gas in Texas ranges from $3.69 to $3.39 and we are still getting about 30 miles a gallon.

The rain washed all the dead bugs off the car and we haven't really hit any since. Dallas is freaking huge! We didn't stop, but there seems to be lots to do there.

West Texas is quite a strange place. That's where Abilene is. 125,000 people makes a nice size town. We got to the hotel around 5 o'clock and unloaded the car. My girlfriend found a pizza place to eat with a huge arcade. They claimed to be the biggest arcade in West Texas. Not sure if that is a remarkable feat. How to describe the people in West Texas... Well, I now know I am no longer in the south. The people we encountered seem nice and not intimidating. Trust me, I can take you to some places in Georgia or Florida that could make you a little anxious.

The arcade was pretty fun and the pizza not so bad. Meat and Jalapenos rule here. Yeah, Jalapenos would be great if I were 19 again and my stomach didn't make me pay in the morning. Guess I'll have to get good ole' Texan BBQ on the way back.

We got some strange looks at some gas stations in Texas, but overall people are very polite. Seem to be a lot nicer than in Jacksonville. Yes mam, no sir, pardon me just like in the movies. Fascinating.

Time for bed now. Getting up early and heading to Roswell, New Mexico. That's the first actual part of the trip we'll be hitting an Extraterrestrial Museum tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure I'll have tons of pictures.

Until, then thanks for reading.