“How can I go on a Dukes of Hazzard road trip in a Nissan Maxima?” I ask the girl in Atlanta Airport when she hands me the keys for my rental car. Naturally, I had specified a Dodge Charger. I knew it wouldn’t be an SRT Hellcat Redeye, and I could even live with the fact that it wouldn’t be bright orange or have a Confederate flag on the roof. But it had to be a Charger. I have even brought super glue with me to seal up the front doors! “I’m afraid we don’t have any Chargers,” she confirms, before adding insult to injury and asking me what the Dukes of Hazzard is. I’m not too surprised by this sequence of events. All too often I arrive at a US airport car rental desk in the hope of collecting something American, only to be handed the keys to a Hyundai. Although, strictly speaking, the Charger is built in Toronto, Canada, while the Maxima hails from Tennessee. And as for not knowing what the Dukes of Hazzard is, that’s understandable; the classic TV show aired from 1979 to 1985, long before she was born. Sensing my disappointment, she offers me a free upgrade to a brand-new Ford Expedition, and admitting defeat, I reluctantly agree…
Day 1
The five-day road trip will see me driving north, through Georgia and Tennessee, skirting Virginia and ending up in Bourbon County, Kentucky, but first I need to make a two-hour trip west to Attalla, Alabama. I’ve been tipped off about a fantastic
