Hi Epcotgal,
I had a Great Aunt who lived in Bossier City. We were so glad when they finally finished I-49 a decade ago, we used to go on vacation with that Aunt alot (she is deceased now) and it was so nice to pick her up and not have to drive ole Highway 1.
Truly there is nothing like being stuck in a bad car ride. After your drive I can understand why your husband wants to fly. Last year was the 2nd time I had flew to Disney. I have driven plenty but decided last Nov. to fly and add on days to my FTP. I have to admit it was heavenly, the flight was only 1hr20mins long (steward barely had enough time to serve drinks before we were descending the skies). I didn't know what to do with myself as I expected all types of delays (plane, Mears, getting through airport etc.) boy I cleared through everything fast and was even checked into my hotel by noon (I thought I would be there 1:30/2:30). Best thing about the flight was that they basically followed the Gulf shoreline and I was able to film all of the spots that we have camped at or visited years ago (it is easy to see Biloxi, Mobile, Gulfshores, Pensacola and Destin from the air). I felt spoiled.
Dec. 2002 was a different story. Due to issues with our animals and the additional nights charge to kennel them ($70 per day) plus cost to stay one night in Tallahassee ($50 to $60), we decided to leave on a Friday morning instead of after work on a Thursday night and drive all day. Had everything planned, get animals to vet when they open at 7:00, lock up house and be gone by 8:00 a.m., stop in drive-through in Slidell for breakfast 8:30. This went exactly as planned. We had finished breakfast and were singing our Happy Vacation song and just so excited driving through Mississippi on I-10 when everything came to a complete halt. This of course happened about a mile after the last exit and the next exit was oh another 15 miles. Dead stop at 9:15 a.m., then we inched our way for 2 hours before finding the accident which covered the entire Eastward side of I-10 and involved 3 cars and an overturned 18 wheeler. Problem truly came in with the roadrage people and the followers thereafter. The two lane interstate turned into a 4 lane interstate with those who could not wait driving on both shoulders which also came to deadstops. We did this for nearly 3 miles (took 2 hours) trying to blend 4 lanes of traffic into one to pass the accident on the shoulder of the road. Needless to say, we were waiting for the next cool front to come through (it was 80 degrees that day), my car kept letting me know it was hot so we had to turn the a/c off, leave windows down and creep on a hot roadway with plenty of others who we could hear cursing about the traffic. Needless to say the Happy vacation song went out the window. Really put a damper on that day. We contemplated stopping to stay in Tallahassee that night but wanted to get to Disney. We finally pulled into the hotel about 10:30 or 11:00 that night when we had planned to be there for 8:00 p.m. We were so tired and had to do so many things that night as we had 8:15 PS for Rainforest Cafe at AK the next morning and really didn't want to cancel them. Its amazing what we'll do for a Disney trip.
Your trip sounds just as bad if not worse, but at least you stopped to take the break.
