You know you're in the south when...

1) There's an entire aisle devoted to grits
2)  The funniest t-shirt you've seen says " Paddle FASTER ... I hear banjos"
3)  As a Filipino who might also pass as spanish (read mexican) you are stared at like a strange anomaly.
     P.S. we aren't all nannies or hotel maids and even if we are, we go on vacation too. Totally legit.
4)  Church signs say " Keep on keepin on for Jesus"
5)  You pass a place called the Chesterfield Inn and The Buzzard's Roost Motel and still have hopes for a great vacation
6)  You read the slogan " I got my crabs from Dirty Dicks" and you simultaneously cringe and laugh out loud, because it's the slogan for a seafood restaurant.
7)  You lose your family at a rest stop in West Virginia and a local smiles at you with his teeth sticking out at a horizontal angle, bends down to clean the glass door you're about to walk through and all you see is crack. And not in the glass door. Then you swear you can hear banjos and you run... just a little to find your family. Quickly.
8)  You keep passing a restaurant called "Fat man's dream. Dogs n' cream."
9)  Y'all is fine, but an old war vet corrects your english when you say "kinda".  And by the way you crochety old man, she is KINDA cute and I do watch over her very carefully, thank you very much.
10) There are biscuits here and biscuits there. Biscuits, biscuits everywhere. Mmmmmmm.

We had a mighty good time (except in W. Viginia where I experienced some uncomfortable and what I interpreted to be hostile stares) driving south.  Thank y'all for your hospitality. We'll all come back real soon. Bring our igloos, dog sled teams and everything!