Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Traveling: Spontaneity is actually the spice of life

So one of my favorite joys of simplicity is the ability to be spontaneous. After getting too sick to fly to a friend's wedding in New Orleans last week, spontaneity kicked in. Boarding pass in hand, announcement to board, and I'm throwing up in the restroom. Less than 3 minutes later, I've gotten my bag off the plane, I've driven out of the parking garage and realizing that I really did not want to miss the wedding of two of my best friends. So my highly trained driving skills kicked into high gear. That's right, I literally drove out of the airport parking garage to New Orleans. Well, I stopped, but not as often and others might think necessary. 2 days later (and 1,900 miles) I was in Louisiana. Now many would stop and say, "that doesn't seem like a very simple way to get across the country!" But I beg to differ. Stick to the interstate (I-10 will get you the whole way there), drink only water (caffeine will actually make you more tired eventually and play tricks with your mind), stop at grocery stores instead of fast food places, and Motel 6 will always leave the light on for you. Believe it or not, the wedding truly proved to be worth the 4,000 mile round trip. Good friends, good times. Even got to meet a new baby cousin on my way back through Tucson.

There's always room for improvement of course, and next time I'd like to research locations of BP gas stations in Texas (due to their alternative energy commitment, they're my gas of choice...I saw a few, but none ended up being readily convienent like they are in LA), I would also research Amtrak's Super Liner service which was partially suspended by Katrina but still runs on a limited basis (driving to Tucson then trainining it would have been a nice combination), and it probably would have been a good idea to have a check up on my car before embarking on a road trip of this caliber. But the 'brid performed wonderfully, (even against Texas drivers who are among the country's rudest.)

Hopefully this excursion will quash any long distance driving tendencies for the immediate future!


View from the road: Wind power in the southland!

1 comment:

The Man said...

Ah, the mighty road trip! I-10 along the Gulf of Mexico is brilliant, I actually love the stretch from Nawleans to FL best.

Spontaneous departures of that sort are sorely missed by yours truly. Maybe one is in order for this weekend. I'm thinking of moto'ing somewhere.....somewhere.