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| Road Trip |
| 12.18.04 (8:03 pm) [edit] |
I drove this weekend to see a friend graduate from Tennessee Tech University. I learned a few things along the way.
Life Lesson #1: When packing for a road trip, pack everything you can in the suitcase, and then only the overflow items into the soft bag. The soft bag will change size and shape. The suitcase won't. We only have 5 cubic feet of luggage space to work with here, people.
Life Lesson #2: A stock Miata with factory tires has a ride that is...er...lively enough that it would keep awake anyone that tried to sleep in the passenger seat.
Life Lesson #3: The seats in a Miata do not recline past a normal seating angle. Sleeping is, upon discovery of this fact, rendered even more impossible for your unfortunate passenger.
Life Lesson #4: I became unfortunately adept at saying, "No, I'm sorry. I really can't take those Christmas presents back home with me. Maybe if you taped them to the hood there would be room..."
Life Lesson #5: The hotel accomodations in Cookeville, TN leave a lot to be desired.
Life Lesson #6: If it ever crosses your mind that perhaps you should take a pair of gloves due to the cold weather, take them. Otherwise the cruel wind of the Cumberland Plateau may grip you and reduce you to a broken shell of a man, crying out for warmth and hot cocoa.
Aside from making those observations, I got the opportunity to stumble into a time warp. I was winding my way down State Route 68 somewhere in the middle of nowhere when nature placed an urgent call. I stumbled across a gas station amidst the rural Tennessee hills that looked as if it were built as part of a movie set. My brain said "Exit here for restroom facilities." My hands responded with a firm tug at the handbrake and a flick of the Nardi leather-wrapped steering wheel. When I got out, I noticed that pumps 2-5 of 6 gas pumps were out of order. Obviously there wasn't enough gas sold here to justify the repair costs. I then walked up five steps onto the front porch, past the porch swing, and into the gas station. [When was the last time you walked up steps to get into a gas station?] It appeared on the inside to be more general store than convenience store. There were three old men seated at a card table right next to the fishing tackle aisle. They were smoking Lucky Strikes, and they looked as if they had not moved from their seats since the Nixon administration. The lady behind the counter was a pleasant woman in her mid-fourties, and her air of comfort with her surroundings indicated she was probably the owner of this rustic establishment. I then noted three Crock-Pots on the counter, which appeared to house today's lunch specials. After a quick vist to the closet-like restroom, I turned to the drink coolers. There I found honest-to-goodness RC Cola. I didn't realize that RC Cola still existed. But there it was, looking relatively fresh, and most definately bottled in a genuine glass bottle.
For a moment I was taken back 30 years, to a time before the internet, satellite radio, and cell phones. To a time when AIDS wasn't a problem, and free love still reigned supreme. The time when my parents got married, roughly. This store proudly displayed tractor spark plugs and balogna next to an ancient radio that apparently played soothing music for the customers at a time when CSN still had a Y after it.
I paid cash. I don't think the lady behind the counter would have known what I meant by debit.
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posted by: Snickerdoodle (reply)
post date: 12.18.04 (8:16 pm)
oo helpful life lessons
posted by: AttorneyKid (reply)
post date: 12.18.04 (8:20 pm)
Well, their application can be somewhat limited in scope, but for the right person, they're a Godsend.
posted by: AttorneyKid (reply)
post date: 12.24.04 (10:27 am)
Reply to: Loriann918
Not a bad idea. It's fun for a day trip, but overnight trips must be made to locations where it's sunny enough to make the pleasure overcome the pain.
posted by: newbie (reply)
post date: 12.26.04 (6:58 pm)
Honey, you don't need sun for that ;)
posted by: newbie (reply)
post date: 12.26.04 (6:59 pm)
Oh and that was from Lori again...I forgot to sign in first!
posted by: MrFAZAW (reply)
post date: 05.17.05 (1:59 pm)
crazy crazy
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