In an hour or so I’ll pull out of my parking garage at the apartment and start a rather long journey eastward. For the first time ever I’m going to drive from one of my home towns to the other. Around New Years Eve I’ll reverse it and come back this way. This will be by far the longest drive I’ve ever done in one day, a total of about 800 miles from door-to-door.
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This all started because I was supposed to be picking up a mountain bike from a friend that is relocating to Atlanta from London and doesn’t want his bike anymore. It is a really sweet ride, and well worth the hassle of driving to Atlanta and back to get it. Unfortunately the bike won’t get to the US until late January now, so I’m driving “just because.” Actually, by the time we found out the bike wasn’t going to happen airfares were silly and in the end it’s just as well. Air travel the past couple of days has been crazy with all of the winter weather, so it’s probably for the best that I’m driving anyway. Some people would shudder at the thought of a drive like this, but honestly I don’t really mind all that much. I value the quiet hours with nothing really to do but think. There will be many of those, and for me it’s kind of therapeutic. Moreover, what better day could there be to drive? I should have the interstate mostly to myself – especially early in the morning. A good friend who has done Christmas driving before says that I’ll also have the pleasure of no big rigs on the road either. I’m actually looking forward to it.
But it is an 11 hour plus drive through lots of sparsely populated territory on Christmas Day. I spent more than a few minutes yesterday thinking through the details. It’s Christmas Day, after all. Should I take my food and water with me? Probably. Seems like counting on any place being open – even a McDonald’s – would be pretty risky. What about getting gas? Cross my fingers. Hope that among places like Shreveport, Monroe, Jackson, Tuscaloosa and Birmingham there will be least two stations open along the interstate. Where will I be able to stop to go to the bathroom? Hmmmm. What about eating tomorrow night when I get to Atlanta? Should I take that food with me too?
It all added up to me getting the cooler and a bag of ice ready, lunch meat and bread, snacks and bottles of water. I gassed up the car to the top. I bought a couple of audiobooks on iTunes and synched them to my iPhone. Pausing a moment to think clearly I then got a car charger for my iPhone. I cooked dinner and put the leftovers in a tupperware thingy for the cooler. Then I put all the Christmas presents in the car and chilled out for the evening.
Now I’m up. Time to pack and load the car, then I’m off. 781 miles. Mark, get set, go…
