T.S. Eliot called April “the cruelest month,” but I’ve always felt that January is more deserving of that title. This is of course largely due to the obvious and excruciating bathos occasioned by sudden termination of a string of merry holidays–all the decorations, costumes, huge meals, family reunions, parties, and music come to a screeching halt after a superfluous sip of champagne and a perfunctory kiss from our sweetheart literally at the first moment of January.

But there are other reasons I nominate January as the cruelest month. January is cold and dreary; the skies are gray and the trees are bare and the front lawn is brown. The rain curtails outdoor activities, and even if you do get a clear day, the sun seems to set just a few hours after it rises. Add to this the arrival of W-2’s and other tax forms that signal the unwelcome beginning of tax season. And if that’s not enough, January is the month with the most American deaths. According to the CDC, about a quarter of a million of us die each January. Cruel indeed!

Faced with 31 days of this wintry and literally life-threatening cruelty, I decided it was time for a road trip. A change of scene might do me good. And even if I can’t escape the month, perhaps I can escape the worst of the weather. So I consulted my trusty Atlas and searched for a suitable route in the South. And I came up with US Highway 82.

Highway 82 was established in 1931, initially as an east-west route between Mississippi and Arkansas. It was extended over the years, and today it runs from Alamogordo, NM all the way to Brunswick, GA on the east coast.

I’m not going to be driving the whole route, however. I’ve already crossed the Texas panhandle more times than I’d like to remember. Therefore, I’m going to begin my journey at the Texas-Arkansas border, in the imaginatively-named town of Texarkana.

The drive from Texarkana to Brunswick is about 900 miles, and I plan to get there on Tuesday evening. Then, on Wednesday I’m going to make a special side trip before heading home. I won’t reveal the surprise, but suffice it to say that it will be a monumental achievement in the Boilard Travel Archives.

Right now I’m at Sacramento Intergalactic Airport, waiting on a red-eye flight that departs at 11:59 pm. I’ll be in Texarkana tomorrow morning, so expect my first blog post from the road tomorrow night.

Until then.