Originally the plan was for us to leave after I got off work on Friday evening, drive until I got tired, then stop at a hotel. Fortunately for us, I was able to get the whole day off work so presumably we could leave early and get a great big head start. Unfortunately for us, it was the first day of the Big Ten Tournament, and being good little Indiana boys, we had to watch the Hoosiers play at noon. With the game over around 2:30, we left cold miserable Washington for a warmer clime.
Now, as a manly man there are a few things I'm going to point out here that may make some of you slightly uncomfortable, and make you think things that aren't entirely true. First an foremost, I am not a sexist chauvinist pig. Well, I'd like you to think that, anyway. Take any conclusion from what you read. I don't really care. Unless you're a girl. In which case, I hope you see this as humor and wry observations on humanity, global oneness, and the eternal struggle of good against evil. Or not, depending on whatever you find incredibly attractive. Anyway, here goes...
Neither Wes or I could have made this trip with a girl. Not that we wouldn't WANT to, it's just that most girls we know tend to have to stop more often than boys. I'm not sure if it's a biological thing, or just something that they learn as they grow up, or maybe even some form of bad habit, but most girls stop far too often. Girls and long road trips with your buddies don't mix. Unless you're a girl. Case in point: a girl I know and have been on a long roadtrip with before had to stop every two hours to use the bathroom. You could set a clock by it. It was uncanny. Even if she had no idea what time it was, she had to stop every 120 minutes. Anyway, here's the point I'm getting at: the driving part of roadtrips involving guys only is really boring. Guys just drive until the car is low on gas or somebody is hungry. There generally aren't any potty stops because guys can wait until either the car needs to stop or they're starving for Waffle House food.
The first place we stopped was Clarksville, Tennessee for gas. From then on we didn't stop until we were an hour south of Atlanta, Georgia, where the Waffle House sign beckoned to us. At least one of the signs did. In fact, one out of probably several hundred Waffle House signs convinced us to pull over and eat. I'm sure one could drive on an Interstate in Georgia without using his headlights. There are enough Waffle House signs to light the entire roadway all the way from Atlanta to Valdosta. We started to count signs but then realized we couldn't count fast enough. I'm not quite sure what kind of freaky obsession Georgians have with Waffle House, but it can't be healthy. I fully intend to purchase stock in Waffle House, as soon as all my bills are paid. From there we decided that we'd try and make it to Valdosta to spend the night.
A few hours later, we had just passed through Valdosta and started looking for a cheap motel, and we pulled off the first exit that advertised a decent rate for rooms. We pulled into the carport in front of the lobby, and I walked in. No vacancy. That's alright, I figured, what can possibly be going on in March in Valdosta, Georgia that would crowd all the hotels? Well I still haven't figured that out, but 4 stops and 45 minutes later at around 3am, we finally found a hotel with a room available in Lake Park, which is approximately 5 miles from the Florida border. We crawled up into the room, called home, watched ESPN, then finally fell asleep.
Continue on to Day Two by clicking here!
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