Originally Posted by
axolotl
I hope you are aware that the Mississippi valley and southeastern US are extremely hot and humid in the summer. It is very different from the weather you are accustomed to in the Netherlands.
Very different. A Dutch friend of mine still recoils in horror if a lot of ordinary American weather stuff comes up. It's not unusual to have summer high temperatures of 32C or higher, with 90% humidity. Kentucky and Mississippi are part of Tornado Alley, so thunderstorms occur often, and tornadoes are not at all unusual. As a side effect, power outages are not unusual, since most electrical equipment doesn't much like 70mph winds or having a tree dropped on it. It is really important to be prepared for overheating, driving rain, heavy winds and potentially large flying objects. (I really hope not large flying objects... but there are reasons why Midwesterners have tornado drills)
Large portions of Mississippi and Kentucky cover the Appalachian mountains, which are the low mountain chain along the East Coast of the US. They are not spectacular looking mountains. This is ok. They make up for it by being very steep... lots of the technology for putting rail lines through steep terrain was first developed for the Appalachians. 5% grades are common (so gains 5m of height for every 100m you travel), and steeper is not unusual.