I-10 used to be a road that I only thought of as necessary to utilize to get from my hometown to Tallahassee for school. What I didn’t realize was that I-10 is actually a 2,460-mile interstate that begins on the East Coast of Florida in Jacksonville and shoots through the entire United States ending on the West Coast in Santa Monica, California. This road begins and ends in major cities but has an abundance more of unexpected adventures and notable cities right off the interstate.
Anyway, a few weeks ago, my friend Emily and I had planned to head to Austin, Texas to visit a friend and decided to turn the plans of flying over into a 4-day road trip, just us two gals! We hadn’t done much planning and decided to just see what we find on the way. So when Friday hit, we were off!
Our first stop ended up being four and a half hours out of Tallahassee. We drove through the state of Alabama to the coastal area in Gulfport, Mississippi and walked along the beach. The water was clear and calm and there weren’t really any trees or plant life, which is unlike any of the beaches I had ever been to in Florida. Emily looked up some local restaurants in the area and we ate at Murky Waters Blues n BBQ. If you’re ever in the area looking for some southern food and friendly locals, I would 10/10 recommend!
From Gulfport, we decided that Baton Rouge, Louisiana was our next stop. As college students, we are often drawn to other campuses, so we could not skip out on walking the campus of Louisiana State University. As imagined, it was extremely beautiful and worth it.
At that point in our trip, we decided it was time to drive somewhere to sleep. We wanted to have a genuine road trip experience, so it was imperative we spent a night sleeping in our car ducked off at a rest stop somewhere. In Texas, they allow up to 24 hours of parking at rest stops, so Emily drove us to the first one we could find after crossing the Louisiana-Texas state line. I expected to feel like my life was in danger, but instead had a great few hours of comfortable sleep with no hesitation.
After six hours of sleep, it was 3am and time to hit the road. It was important to us that we made it to Austin and found a sick spot to watch the sunrise, so that’s exactly where we headed. The Pennyback Bridge was a spot recommended by a friend that was only a few minutes off the interstate. From the sunrise, we headed to a local breakfast spot, Dan’s Hamburgers, and shoved our faces!
The friend we were visiting hosted us for about 36 hours and then it was time for us to continue our adventure! By the time we left Austin, we had been exhausted and decided to drive as long as we could until sleep was too vital to ignore. To our surprise, five and a half short hours had gone by and we were checking into a hotel in Scott, Louisiana (Thanks Mama Lisa)!
By morning, we were off again to make our final two stops, one being the much-needed coffee we got from a local shop in Scott and the other being the famous city of New Orleans. Emily and I spent much of our sophomore year of college binge-watching The Originals together in our apartment living room, so this was definitely the highlight of our trip and we were overly joyed to be there together. It was everything we had expected and more from the live music and street art to the voodoo shops and famous “witches” cemetery. I strongly feel that New Orleans is a remarkable area full of fascinating art and a must-see for anyone capable of doing so!
To say the least, a road trip down I-10 might just need to be the next trip you and your friends consider planning!
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