And Then I Stepped in Gum . . .

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Made It Safely

2 days, 8 states, some 1,000+ miles . . . and I am in New York. Since I spent much of the last two days driving as hard as I could, isolated from the locations I was zooming through and immersed in musicals and "can you hear me now?" cell phone calls with friends, it's actually quite a bit of a culture shock to go from Alabama to New York -- the accents are quite different. I have got to stop saying "y'all."

Brief observations, before Barnes & Noble closes and I have to go back to the lame hotel with no Internet access:
* I stayed in a skanky motel in Chilhowie, VA, last night that actually had a real live key to open the door. When was the last time you saw that?

*The restaurant attached to the hotel had a burger named "The Big Tom Survivor Burger." Seems he's the local hometown hero. Come to think of it, that explains a lot about the hotel.

*Truckers are hands down the best drivers on the road. Almost without exception, they are courteous and keep to their lane and stay out of your way when you want to go faster than they do. Very impressive.

*The worst drivers on the road are those who are towing U-Haul trailers. They are menaces, again, almost without exception. Stay far, far away from these people.

*The prettiest section was northwest Georgia, the little tiny corner of it that I crossed. Beautiful wildflowers along the highway.

*In Joshilyn Jackson's Gods in Alabama, kudzu is almost a full-fledged character. Kudzu, for those of you don't know, is a horribly invasive vine that is taking over the South. When you drive through AL, GA, and TN, you can see it firsthand. It's amazing. Whole areas of vegetation are just covered in this broadleaf vine -- it turns shrubs into a lumpy blanket and trees are just draped with it, like tall creatures trying to pull themselves from this ooey, gooey swamp. I'd actually like to wax more poetic about this, but my brain is pretty fried. Suffice it to say, it's very eerie and strange, even in broad daylight.

That's all I can think of right now, and B&N's making closing-up noises. Tomorrow I get to walk through the house, and the closing is actually set for Friday morning! I'm still waiting for the check to get there -- I hope nothing goes wrong with that. If it doesn't, we may have a house in 2 days!