So... about the South: based on this "practice trip" I now have a much better idea of how to set up the Real Southern trip. Just for starters: we're not in Wyoming anymore, Toto. The greater Atlanta area, indeed all of northern Georgia, is absolutely
rife with Chinese restaurants. My database has over 500 for the state, & I'm quite sure there are lots more than that. I'd have to say I only got to think about taking out my pin to scratch the surface. We hit about a dozen restaurants between Nashville & Atlanta (including one in North Carolina, even!), bypassing many others along the way. It's dense down there, is what I'm trying to say, just like the air is dense with humidity, compared to the dry, thin air of Wyoming. Sort of overwhelming, but good. We interviewed a restaurant owner in Atlanta who had the
perfect Chinese Southern Belle accent, a way of speaking that I could only have dreamed of before. Good thing my new mic & the rest of the sound equipment all worked beautifully! Other highlights: fried chicken at Swett's in Nashville; visiting Martin Luther King Jr.'s
actual church; & all the sleek, healthy horses in their lush green pastures. Oh, & of course, the sweet balmy evenings... I wasn't cold once the whole trip.