The Trip Day 127: The Adventure Home, Day 3
It is absolutely amazing what is possible when one puts their mind to it. It is 2:30 AM, I have just eaten some celebratory Johnsonville bratwursts, gulped down a couple of beers and am ready for bed. I’m sure you all want the adventure, and I will tell you in due time.
I have to start by saying how good it feels to be back. For some reason, I risked life and limb to drive more time and mileage than any human should do in a 24 hour period. Compounding with my other days of driving, I’m bordering on insanity. But this effort was well worth it.
As I inhale this heart attack in a roll, I can’t help but smile. Even though I am absolutely physically exhausted, I have a surge on energy flowing through me. It’s cold, but I don’t even notice it. Home at last.
Last night ended at a truck stop off of the next exit. It was mammoth. I made sure and pulled into a safe spot under a light post. With all of my valuables in the trunk, I felt relatively safe.
Upon pulling into the parking lot I was immediately flagged down by a pedestrian. A woman walked up to my car and asked me to roll down my window. She looked distressed, so I complied. She stated that she ran out of gas and was wondering if I could spare a few bucks.
Seeing that I had most of my cash (what little there was left) in the trunk, I saw no harm in giving two or three bucks. The old pay it forward theory right.
She thanked me for the money and walked off, then she stopped. I was a little bit curious as to why. Making sure my car doors were locked, I started to put the key back into the ignition. If this woman planned on pulling out a weapon and car jacking me, I was going to make it as difficult as possible.
This is when I was thrown for a loop. She knocked again on my window, I unrolled it a little and asked her what she wanted. She asked if she could sit in the passenger seat and ‘earn’ another twenty. Stupidly I asked her again for clarification. I then realized this was a truck stop hooker. God am I naïve! I politely thanked her for her offer, but declined. When she asked again if I was sure, I was adamant and said to enjoy the couple of bucks for ‘gas’, because that was all she was getting from me.
After she walked off, I made sure and secured as much as possible in the car as well as my pocket knife and Mag light, just in case she and a potential friend returned.
Having a car loaded to the till with camping gear and two bikes on it would be a nice score for anyone who knew the local pawn shop owner close enough. Not on my watch. Which left me with even less sleep than the night before.
I left at 6 AM, just as the morning commuters started to arrive for their java. I filled up on both gas and coffee. My body tingled and was numb. I’m not sure if it was the odd sleeping position, or general sleep depravation, but I had a funk today that hasn’t been present before.
By late morning I felt like a zombie. I was too tired, and too hungry to journey on. This was until I got onto I81. You see, all this time I was going east. When I hit I81 I was now going north. WOW, it was like a bolt of lightning. All of the tiredness dissipated in a fraction of a second.
I called up Rodney and let him know where I was. I told him I was coming home that night and I wanted a celebratory dinner of bratwursts and beer.
He thought I was nuts. Hell, I probably was. If you look on a map, you’ll understand. Seeing that I was still in Tennessee, it seemed outlandish. I told him to get everything, and to let Joetta (his wife) know that I would be on their sofa in the morning. I needed that light at the end of the tunnel, I needed that final push to be home.
I hit the pedal hard. Tennessee became Virginia. Virginia melted away into Maryland. Maryland disappeared in a blink into Pennsylvania. This is when I started to feel it a little.
As I entered into Harrisburg area, the darkness started to fall. From my experiences driving down here before a few times, I was about 6-7 hours from home. It was 6 PM. It would be very easy to stop and get a motel. I could swing in and see Jeremy and Amy. Nope, I remember saying to myself that I know I could do this. I remember saying that the first sign of tiredness at the wheel, I’ll pull over.
I think the Green Machine was listening. That car is amazing. After all of this, the car was running more true than it ever had. For some really weird reason, the gas mileage improved. Don’t ask me how, don’t ask me why, but the car for the remaining four fill ups that day averaged 35 miles per gallon. Seeing that across the country my car went from 32 down to the mid twenties, this was a welcomed event. It also meant less stopping and more driving. And that I did.
Pennsylvania took a small eternity (about 4 hours). New York was quick, about an hour and a half. Then before I knew it, I was in Connecticut. The feeling of being back in New England suppressed all exhaustion.
Connecticut came and went, like all of the other states. And aside from a wrong turn in Hartford, it was uneventful.
I hit the Mass Pike at just past 11:30 PM, which soon became I190 then 290, then 495. I was on my home court now. It amazed me how the car seemed to be driving itself. About four months earlier I was driving down this same road, with butterflies in my stomach about whether or not I made the right decision, and more importantly, what was going to happen. It was truly ironic.
Before I knew it I was on 95. I screamed a “WOOHOO!!” when I crossed into NH. I was less than an hour away. That is when I decided to pass the time keeping myself amused at somebody else’s expense. Hey, what do you expect, I’d driven over 3,400 miles in three days. I needed something to keep me awake.
I picked my victim to be Rodney. He said to give him a call when I was an hour or so away to start the grill, and this would just be too easy to pull off. I called him infuriated and angrily asked him for direction and time estimation from Danbury, CT. When he asked why, I told him I got stopped at a NY State Police DWI checkpoint for a routine stop and they demanded that I unpack the entire car for them to search. I told him that I pleaded with the officer to have a drug dog go through my car, but he insisted on me unpacking every item. In the end, two hours later, the officer refused to help me pack the car back up.
I screamed profanities at the top of my lungs and was so irate that I’m sure any passer by would have heard it in their car.
When Rodney came back with the directions and time I said “Well that’s just *$#@ing great, considering I’m in Hampton!” I laughed and told him to start the grill. He had a few choice words and names to call me, all well deserved, and assured me dinner would be ready for 1:30 AM. Which leaves me to where I am now. Exhausted, but relieved. I can’t wait to see my family tomorrow. I can’t wait to tell the stories to my friends and show them pictures. I’m home, safe, and the adventure is complete. Be well and be safe….
I have to start by saying how good it feels to be back. For some reason, I risked life and limb to drive more time and mileage than any human should do in a 24 hour period. Compounding with my other days of driving, I’m bordering on insanity. But this effort was well worth it.
As I inhale this heart attack in a roll, I can’t help but smile. Even though I am absolutely physically exhausted, I have a surge on energy flowing through me. It’s cold, but I don’t even notice it. Home at last.
Last night ended at a truck stop off of the next exit. It was mammoth. I made sure and pulled into a safe spot under a light post. With all of my valuables in the trunk, I felt relatively safe.
Upon pulling into the parking lot I was immediately flagged down by a pedestrian. A woman walked up to my car and asked me to roll down my window. She looked distressed, so I complied. She stated that she ran out of gas and was wondering if I could spare a few bucks.
Seeing that I had most of my cash (what little there was left) in the trunk, I saw no harm in giving two or three bucks. The old pay it forward theory right.
She thanked me for the money and walked off, then she stopped. I was a little bit curious as to why. Making sure my car doors were locked, I started to put the key back into the ignition. If this woman planned on pulling out a weapon and car jacking me, I was going to make it as difficult as possible.
This is when I was thrown for a loop. She knocked again on my window, I unrolled it a little and asked her what she wanted. She asked if she could sit in the passenger seat and ‘earn’ another twenty. Stupidly I asked her again for clarification. I then realized this was a truck stop hooker. God am I naïve! I politely thanked her for her offer, but declined. When she asked again if I was sure, I was adamant and said to enjoy the couple of bucks for ‘gas’, because that was all she was getting from me.
After she walked off, I made sure and secured as much as possible in the car as well as my pocket knife and Mag light, just in case she and a potential friend returned.
Having a car loaded to the till with camping gear and two bikes on it would be a nice score for anyone who knew the local pawn shop owner close enough. Not on my watch. Which left me with even less sleep than the night before.
I left at 6 AM, just as the morning commuters started to arrive for their java. I filled up on both gas and coffee. My body tingled and was numb. I’m not sure if it was the odd sleeping position, or general sleep depravation, but I had a funk today that hasn’t been present before.
By late morning I felt like a zombie. I was too tired, and too hungry to journey on. This was until I got onto I81. You see, all this time I was going east. When I hit I81 I was now going north. WOW, it was like a bolt of lightning. All of the tiredness dissipated in a fraction of a second.
I called up Rodney and let him know where I was. I told him I was coming home that night and I wanted a celebratory dinner of bratwursts and beer.
He thought I was nuts. Hell, I probably was. If you look on a map, you’ll understand. Seeing that I was still in Tennessee, it seemed outlandish. I told him to get everything, and to let Joetta (his wife) know that I would be on their sofa in the morning. I needed that light at the end of the tunnel, I needed that final push to be home.
I hit the pedal hard. Tennessee became Virginia. Virginia melted away into Maryland. Maryland disappeared in a blink into Pennsylvania. This is when I started to feel it a little.
As I entered into Harrisburg area, the darkness started to fall. From my experiences driving down here before a few times, I was about 6-7 hours from home. It was 6 PM. It would be very easy to stop and get a motel. I could swing in and see Jeremy and Amy. Nope, I remember saying to myself that I know I could do this. I remember saying that the first sign of tiredness at the wheel, I’ll pull over.
I think the Green Machine was listening. That car is amazing. After all of this, the car was running more true than it ever had. For some really weird reason, the gas mileage improved. Don’t ask me how, don’t ask me why, but the car for the remaining four fill ups that day averaged 35 miles per gallon. Seeing that across the country my car went from 32 down to the mid twenties, this was a welcomed event. It also meant less stopping and more driving. And that I did.
Pennsylvania took a small eternity (about 4 hours). New York was quick, about an hour and a half. Then before I knew it, I was in Connecticut. The feeling of being back in New England suppressed all exhaustion.
Connecticut came and went, like all of the other states. And aside from a wrong turn in Hartford, it was uneventful.
I hit the Mass Pike at just past 11:30 PM, which soon became I190 then 290, then 495. I was on my home court now. It amazed me how the car seemed to be driving itself. About four months earlier I was driving down this same road, with butterflies in my stomach about whether or not I made the right decision, and more importantly, what was going to happen. It was truly ironic.
Before I knew it I was on 95. I screamed a “WOOHOO!!” when I crossed into NH. I was less than an hour away. That is when I decided to pass the time keeping myself amused at somebody else’s expense. Hey, what do you expect, I’d driven over 3,400 miles in three days. I needed something to keep me awake.
I picked my victim to be Rodney. He said to give him a call when I was an hour or so away to start the grill, and this would just be too easy to pull off. I called him infuriated and angrily asked him for direction and time estimation from Danbury, CT. When he asked why, I told him I got stopped at a NY State Police DWI checkpoint for a routine stop and they demanded that I unpack the entire car for them to search. I told him that I pleaded with the officer to have a drug dog go through my car, but he insisted on me unpacking every item. In the end, two hours later, the officer refused to help me pack the car back up.
I screamed profanities at the top of my lungs and was so irate that I’m sure any passer by would have heard it in their car.
When Rodney came back with the directions and time I said “Well that’s just *$#@ing great, considering I’m in Hampton!” I laughed and told him to start the grill. He had a few choice words and names to call me, all well deserved, and assured me dinner would be ready for 1:30 AM. Which leaves me to where I am now. Exhausted, but relieved. I can’t wait to see my family tomorrow. I can’t wait to tell the stories to my friends and show them pictures. I’m home, safe, and the adventure is complete. Be well and be safe….
posted by atp13 at
2:57 PM
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