| ride Atlanta to Phoenix - a 32-hour trip not to forget |
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| Wow. What a totally fun cool time I had in a car for the 32 hours... I left Thursday at 2pm in a 1999 Honda Odssey van and a 40yr old Army Sergeant (married with several kids) from Atlanta for Phoenix. He was going home for the holidays at the end of a 7week training session at Fort Benning about 120 miles south of Atlanta and I was going out to see my parent's new house and meet up with friends for the next phase of whatever I'm doing. He trains infantrymen in California and drove out east solo, so wanted a rider on the way back to share the driving. He posted an ad on erideshare.com and I routinely look at it and saw his ad the day before I wanted to go west, and emailed and called him nonstop until I heard from him! We took I-20 West, a route I've never done before to go out west since it's so far south! Hr1 He's already totally tired when he gets to Atlanta so I start driving from the get go. I told him I like to drive the night shift, he wonders why and lets me know that he was worried that I would turn out to be a 15yr old running away from home! No worries there. Hr2 We spend the next 7 hours in total animated conversation, getting to know one another and telling each other why we're here, why we're going west, what we do, what we like. I asked a lot about the military and he told the best stories! He's lived overseas in Germany and we both trade traveling stories and talk about Mexico. He's done some really cool work - giving homeless people a paper route, fighting in Kosivo and Bosnia, training squads to attack our own guys by air, ocean, and sky in training camps for scenarios, one day as a longshoreman unloading what was supposed to be bananas off of a boat. Great stories. I realize that he's a much better storyteller than I. He's already calling me an "astrophysicist" and comparing me to HEK, Harry E. Ksomething that was his college roommate engineer friend; Close enough! Hr3 Huge rainstorms through Mississippi and Alabama. His car has great traction and I plow through it fearlessly. Hr4 We stop at Waffle House for food and we both say how much we love Waffle House. He gets salad with chicken and I get a double burger to go. Easier to eat with my hands while driving that way. He asks for a list of all of the waffle houses along our way on Hwy 20 heading west so we can stop at them all. Well, we don't, and he doesn't even take the list, but we got one and looked at it! We now know how many Waffle Houses have no managers... There are about 150 in Mississippi alone... Still raining so couldn't see a sunset or the moonrise. Hr6 we see the coolest cargo ever being pulled on a sleigh, I mean truck bed; about 100 plastic reindeer going 80mph down the highway! I speed up and then slow down so he can take a flash photo out of the passenger window - woo hoo! We trade stories about family; he tells me about how he and his 2 sons almost burned down South Carolina with $250 worth of fireworks from South of the Border! Hr7 Ok, so this is cool. I happen to have brought Xmas cookies (thanks Dana for the spritzers!) and he happened to have brought 2 little cartons of milk! In his huge ice chest cooler! How cool is that? We're speeding down the hiway munching and sipping going "this is great!" Hr8 we talk about civilian jobs on military bases and what it's like to live in Kosivo. And he says I shouldn�t take the Washington job if I don't want it (another person telling me the same thing) and if I really want to go work overseas, just look for a job there and go for it. Makes sense. Ok, maybe I will. And maybe I will look into something related to the military, because he has a good point. People in the military travel and are used to the roaming lifestyle that I'm so hooked on right. They live with it and take it for granted, while others look at it like something freaky. Good damn point. Hmmm. Hr9 Sgt goes to sleep in the back of the truck for the next 8 and 1/2 hours. First good night's sleep he gets in a long long time without having to wake up at 5am! I'm watching the bayous go by in the full moon moonlight. Hr10 I need to come back to Shreveport - what a cool looking city! Anyone ever been there? There are a lot of casinos and a neat friendly looking waterfront. Hr13 Dallas. In the 25seconds I have to watch upcoming traffic and then pass it, I see a guy pulled over on the side of the road with his car facing backwards jump out in a big hurry and run up to another car, smash the window and get inside. I couldn�t believe it! I just saw the beginning of auto theft or vandalism, which hit home a little too close because of the recent robbery to my stuff down in Key West. This was a young white punk with baggy jeans and a backwards baseball hat and a little turned up smushed nose, and I could probably id the guy in a lineup! Asshole. I hate Dallas. Hr15 I'm singing really loud to all the mp3 music I brought and made while I was in Atlanta - the dance stuff and hard rock is great for keeping me awake on keeping my mind on the road. Hr16 I really hate Texas. So I drove all the way through Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and 2/3 of Texas. This car is getting great gas mileage and I'm figuring out that we each will end up buying 2 tanks for the whole 1900 miles about every 450 miles. Trip is costing me about $45 total including the several Mt Dews I'm downing to stay awake. Thank goodness for Dana's Hershey Dark Chocolate balls too. Hr17 6:30am He wakes up and we switch off driving. I'm so dazed after 17 hours of driving that I�m saying things like "the moon is about to set and Orion is about to set and the sun is about to rise and I don't want to see it, and we're 2/3 through Texas so you only have to do the rest 1/3 and you should have 400 miles of gas left� before fading out. Goodnight. Hrs18-22 I sleep in the back of the van. Hr23 I'm up and we're talking in the front seat now; I know I can't sleep after only 4 hours and a few rest stops and all that driving. He seems to want me up front to talk. Hr24 24 hours. We're in El Paso. What a shithole. Well, I can see Mexico on the left side of I-20 with the shitty little houses and beyond the tall barbed wire fences it doesn't look good. What a poor place. Its actually sunny and about 40 degrees out; deceptive desert weather. Hr27 Driving through New Mexico is so boring. I'm getting great stories about the military and stuff that they do to the new guys, or the guys leaving, and about how he stole a guy's bag once and how he actually captured someone. And about helicopters and flying and inventions he came up with while living out in the field in tents. Why don't I just admit it - I have always liked the mechanic types - I guess they remind me of my dad - and I really like being around those types. We�re talking about polar coordinates and he remembers having studying them at one point but never uses it so doesn't know what it is. We talk about Zulu time and I share how I used it on my round-the-world journey and he's really impressed. It's easier to keep track of who is awake where that way. He says that I focus on numbers a lot. Yep. Hr29 we're driving down the hiway in the sun saying how amazing this trip has been. Yeah. Me too. I'm thinking it couldn�t have been any better. We're almost there so we're starting to get quiet and think about going back to real life. And how it's the best cross-country drive we both have ever had. I snap his photo with a cheapy disposable camera and know it's not going to come out. Hr31 drive through a huge dust storm in Tucson at dusk Hr32 we roll into Phoenix and finally eat that Waffle House pecan waffle we had been fantasizing about for the last 7 hours! Quick goodbyes and I'm off with my parents for the stay in Phoenix! |