In Southern France, one expects mountains, lavender fields, sunflowers, wine and cheese (have I mentioned the wine and cheese yet?). What one may not expect, however, are rednecks. Oh yes, America, trust me - they have rednecks here and we found them.
Traveling the A7 auto route (or as our annoying GPS voice with a British accent would say, "the motorway") from Provence to Bordeaux we were entertained by the very best examples of Chevy Chase wannabe's en route to Wally World - or wherever the French go in the summer.
What normally would be a four hour trip became an eight hour trip due to the abundance of families on holiday driving to the beach. You have never seen so many small cars (as the French don't really drive SUVs since gas is about $7US per gallon, so they all drive Yugo-esque diesel cars that comfortably seat, well, one) filled with dogs, cats, kids, farm animals, rafts, floaties, luggage, boxes, coolers, bikes and more bikes (OK, this I am fine with), grandparents, parents, cousins, uncles, aunts and likely a few neighbors. And, of course, all were smoking while driving. It looked like a never-ending caravan of smoke-filled clown cars en route to the French circus.
For a few fleeting moments, I was certain we were in Mississippi. Then we would pass a castle or 17th century village and reality would hit. One car (and I am not exaggerating, as I am prone to do from time to time) had so much luggage roped on top of the car (yes, rope) that the luggage was actually as large as the car itself. We drove around that one fairly quickly.
At one rest area (when I just could not take the motorway anymore - BTW, why does a French GPS voice have a British accent?), we actually saw a few rednecks exit their car, take their two dogs out, but leave the leashes IN the car, then close the doors and lock them - effectively tethering the poor canines ("chiens" in French) to the doors of the car while they went off to the toilet ("WC" over here) to pee and dispose of their beer cans. Seriously? Tethering one's animals outside the car for anyone to run over or steal is truly a redneck move. Ugh. I nearly took the little chiens, but realized it might be a crime in France. Then again, they must serve wine in French prisons, right?
And, one gets to pay for the enjoyment of this trip - 35 Euros in tolls!
Live and learn. All types everywhere. Despite language and geography, our countries may not be that different....
Most of those cars with the luggage roped onto the roof are actually heading way down south - to Africa! Packed chock a block full of things for family down there. Sometimes the car even stays on the other side of Sea.
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