Americans have had enough of this already and are taking to the highways, the byways and the airways to relieve themselves of pandemic fatigue.
Recent jaunts to San Antonio, the Florida beaches, the southern edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Mississippi from top to bottom confirmed, however, that in today’s travel, slowdowns and outright delays are certainties.
This is not such a bad thing. It’s simply further proof that the nation is being led out of the year of Covid-19 at a strong pace, and people in the travel and food industries are making money again. They need and deserve a break after a dreadful 2020.
On our trip from Atlanta to San Antonio and back, the big Delta jet was full both ways. Check-in receptionists were begging for ticket holders who wanted a free flight at a later date to give up their seats due to overbooking.
I was surprised that San Antonio was one of America’s largest cities, at a population of 1 million-plus. We did the historical thing and visited the Alamo, where a handful of countrymen made the gallant, final stand against Mexican troops.
No, the fight was not over Mexico’s paying for a wall to keep out immigrants.
One of my McDowell forebears was listed as among the final 89 Texans who won the battle. He was a Pennsylvanian by birth, but I’ll be researching for a connection to my familial McDowells in Amite County. Uncle Bowdre McDowell, who resides in a McComb assisted living unit, says anything is possible.
We located several local eateries with first-rate Mexican fiesta and taste along the Riverwalk. Boudro’s was choice one, then the venerable Mi Tierra. The margaritas, served everywhere there’s a pulse, added gaiety to the city’s pulsating joie de vivre.
Reaching the north Georgia Bavarian town of Helen was an experience to forget. Every interstate highway in the Atlanta metro was essentially shut down due to various crashes, the sheer number of vehicles and ongoing construction projects.
These thruways are often rendered useless and debunk the notion that to get anywhere in Georgia, one must go through the heart of Atlanta. Georgia has many blue-chip secondary roads, so we exited at McDonough and wound our way northeast toward the mountains.
One visit to touristy Helen is interesting, but thoroughly enough for a lifetime.
Florida continues to do a better job of handling traffic and supporting travelers’ needs than most other states, even on packed highways. It also offers some of the most delectable seafood on the East Coast.
Captain Anderson’s in Panama City Beach is arguably the best restaurant in Florida: spring for the broiled pompano or snapper and the delightful Greek salad. Expect massive crowds in PCB until fall’s arrival.
We experienced the Mississippi River in its wildest — and widest — form at the Hernando DeSoto Park, just off the levee near Robinsonville in Tunica County. You have to be going there to get there. While in the vicinity dine at the Hollywood Cafe, with 6 p.m. the optimum time for a platter of fried dill pickles at the site of their invention.
That area’s casinos are on the rebound, incontrovertibly marked by the heavy traffic going there from all directions along our state’s Blues Highway, U.S. 61.
Wherever and whenever you travel in the post-pandemic, know that the airlines and highways are teeming with 18-wheel trucks and RVs the size of Greyhounds.
The heavy truck activity is a bother to many motorists, but the importance of the jobs in the cabs and unloading stations at their destination points should override such carping.
Mac Gordon is a native of McComb. He is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.
