We said farewell to the Low Country by heading out to Birmingham, AL on a slightly different route. We took Route 17 south to I-95 rather than the dreaded I-26.  We still had to fight the traffic on the 2 lane section of I-95 that runs through SC before crossing the Georgia border where it magically becomes 3 lanes!  Then headed across GA on I-16 towards Atlanta, a great road with very little traffic, where we thought we could hook up with I-20 without going through the city. Wrong! Really hate Atlanta!  The traffic is always chaos and 50% of the drivers seem to be frustrated NASCAR drivers with a death wish. Anyway, eventually made it out of GA into good ‘ole AL and the home of Bill and Beth.  Dragged all the stuff out of the Highlander into the garage and our guest quarters – we really need to cut back on “stuff”!  Beth said we could stay as long as we liked as long as I did the cooking, which sounded good to me.  We had shipped a bunch of African memorabilia as Ann thought it would be good to pass onto her niece who teaches at the Alabama School for the Deaf. Cost a fortune with UPS despite my remonstrations with the agent that it was 25lbs of basically unbreakable wood and iron.  Anyway, box arrived labelled fragile – it was enormous; about 6ftx4ftx1ft! When opened it was 70% packing – we filled 2 large bin bags with polystyrene beads! Tore into the manager of UPS #3809 about the unecessary packing, my uphill talk with her agent, which had resulted in a ludicrously overpacked box that I had to pay for!  Got a $20 refund – really angry with UPS Store #3809!  Oh the joy of the open road. etc., etc. Have to say that the African statues/staffs/boxes were really enjoyed by Liza’s students when Ann did a show & tell for them, so can’t bitch too much. Had a great 7 days with Bill and Beth where we ate and drank extremely well.  Beth’s homemade biscuits for breakfast are always good!  Onward stuff was reduced by 1 case of wine!  The next leg was to be via Vicksburg, MS to visit the Civil War site.  The War of Northen Agression is well remembered in the South, and as a newby Southerner I was eager to see this battlefield that cost so many lives.