The Roadtrip - Part One - "From the Driver's Seat"
Before I begin, I must explain my meaning. I intend to tell this tale from more than one perspective. One portion will be a very technical, as I know far to much about the actual airplanes. This portion, however, will stem from my experiances as the driver. So, without further adue, I begin. And at the begining no less.
It seemed like such a simple idea. Get to bed at 9pm, wake up at 4:00, and be on the road at 5:30am. So very simple. And then came the day before. A battle with the spare tire kept me an hour behind schedual. Then came a short delay waiting for funds while I packed away my stuff for the trip, I wasn't in bed till 10:30. And of course, it contasted with the waking up at 4:30. I was already rushed when I made it to the Hobo-Box...and was greeted by three very awake, very ready people. I was surprised, I am not ashamed to say. I expected more groggy, half awake, half packed people. But they were all ready when I arrived, and we were on our way. Almost. A detour back to my house to aquire Matt's wallet, and we were off to breakfast. One Burger King later.....we were almost right on top of I-75. Then....came the tire. Gah. That spare I had spent an hour fighting with the night before was now off again to save our trip. Apperntly, my 'good' tire was begining to balloon between the tred and the inner liner, a condition that would eventually lead to a near catastrphic seperation on the highway. I've only ever experianced it once before. At low (for highway) speed. At the speeds I was to be traveling on this trip, it could have been disasterous. So, Mark changed my tire, in record time. After cleaning up, we were on the road. And only an hour and a half behind schedual. Then....came the stops on the road. We were making amazing time, mostly due to running 80mph at a standard. Of course, there came a rest stop in Paynes Prairie, where I created magic! I paid for a single "Chunky Monkey" milkshake-thing. $2.50 from the vending machine. I got 3 for the price of one. Testing my fate....I paid for one "Cherry Garcia"....and got two. And that set the pace for the rest of the I-75 portion of this trek. In fact, there was not another distrubance until I-10. And that came at a place called Falmouth. Not foul-mouth.....pronounced more like Plymouth. The bit of trim along the passenger side of the spacepod came undone, and was whipping in the wind. A bad thing to happen...given the tremendous rate we were still travling at. So....we stopped at the first convient store we came to. Had a box truck and silver Malibu parked beside it. Had to be open..right? Heh.....terribly, terribly wrong. It was not only abandoned, but abandoned with half-a-store worth of product inside. After fully expecting something zombie-esque, we left it alone, and went off in the other direction to find a General Store. Yes, a General Store. But, they didn't have tape. Gum...failed. BUT, thanks to W.W. Gay Mechanical Contractor Inc., we were permitted to use some very high quality tape. Like the kind one would use for the duct work. And it is still holding as of my writing of this report. To his credit, I wrote on the tape whom had donated it, and where we had recived the work, intending fully to send him a copy of the information as a form of thank you. Then, with a few drink and ice on hand, we were once more off onto the highway. Ready and running for our next stop, the great capitol of Florida, Tallahassee. To begin....finding Jacob. Wee! It took quite a bit of time to find where he was, and once we did, we had to find the appartment. What do you mean, that's building number 1? And this goes up to 9?? Bugger! Where the devil is 10??? Right where it ought be....in the back corner, tucked away from everybody else. After a short rest, and a short snipit from "Lost in Translation", we were off.......all the way to.....OH MY GOD! WHATABUGER! That was where I got the USA Today that was telling me about the retirment of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. I also got a new "Potato" sticker for the spacepod. After fueling up, we once more attacked I-10....and were off to Pensacola. We saw many a rest-stop on the way....as well as the insane, blinding rain that came from nowehere and left as quickly. And then came Jackson county....and gaining an hour. WOO! We passed over a bridge under construction...then stopped on the other side to take pictures. And get ice. I felt bad using their vantage point without buying something, and we needed it anyway. It was then we got into the more navigational portion of our trip, and somehow found that our road ran into a rather lower-end part of town. Something that looked more like the outer portions of a big city. And then came the enjoyable portion. Getting a room. After consulting with Dad, I decided to be sneaky. Dropping off the majority of the party at a McDonalds to walk to a Wendy's, Jacob and Myself went off to get a place for the party to sleep. I figured it would look better if he and I went in for a double room. I know it was irelivant, but hey....that's how my mind works. At any rate, we got the room, and went to pick them up. I did not want to leave the motel....and managed to stall for a good long time...before we went to get dinner, toilet paper, and pills for Mark's near-exploding head. Taco Bell and Walgreens. A potent combination. I made a bit of Clorox cleaner, as I needed to visit the facilities. It was...bleary. I wasn't feeling happy. I wanted to go back to the hotel and sleep. And in truth, after bathing, that's what we all did. Sleep was very, very good to us all.
The next morning, for me, happened three times. I remember waking up, and rolling onto my left side. I was looking at the big window, to see if the sun was up. After going back to sleep, I remember distinctly waking up to talk to Matt. Something about him telling me it was 6am. Then I rolled onto my right side, and fell asleep. By some quirk of fate, Matt, Jay, and Myself, all seemed to awake at the same time. 8:45am. We were soon all awake, all dressed, and all ready to go. It was actually rather astounding to see the six of us so swiftly prepaired. Soon we were all packed away, the room vacated, and everything set in the van for the road. Keys turned in, breakfast aborted, and once more stopping for ice.....we set out for the gate. After asking to see the Musuem, we drove along seeing a pair of old forts and some cemetaries....before finding the Museum itself. Kind of easy to spot, what with the F-14 on display outside. And then....we scattered. The party split to wander round the museum at their own pace. I walked with Mark for a bit, then Matt and Jay. And there was one long instnace where I was alone, and I was lost to myself. But that is a tale for later. At any rate, after wandering around and seeing all there was to see (including an unavailble moon rock, and an old Alabama man who thought Jay was camoflauged as an arrester hook), we found ourselves out in front of the museum. I had treated everyone to astronaut food! Hooray me! Anyway. Mark and Myself went to take some pictures of some cars that were parked out front....Mark lost to a 'boat tailed Riveira'....myself, the old MG, and a Jaguar from the 70s. As we clambered back into the Spacepod for leaving....when I suddeny ran us across the parking lot to see the storage area behind a fence. Big airplanes to be seen there, including the Blue Angels transport plane. Then....I tried to 'steal' a rather large surface to surface missle. So we shot off....in the wrong direction. And this after getting lunch no less. Doubling back to the base gate, we got suitably lost.....just long enough to get back on a small single road out toward where we were going. On and on and on we went. It was quiet, causual, and most enjoyable. More relaxing than I-10 by a long-shot. Except for that incessant grinding/grating sound from the engine. But what could we do? It was a loose belt, right? We'd have to replace it later. Anyway, we made a turn. Got into a town who's name I don't even think I remember. It involved stopping at a gas station for one last bathroom break before finding the park. And we found it quite easily....seeing as they used a 44,000 pound bomb as their sign. That...and you can see their aircraft from the road. I mean, a B-52 is kinda hard to miss. I am not sure how long we were there....and again, we all seemed to part ways for a time....but there we were. And I again found myself lost. At any rate, after being there till almost close, we loaded up the van and set out on the last leg of our trip.....but not before stoping at a gas station in Niceville for major repairs!
I don't know how long we were actually at that gas station. I remember buying gas, and then, while other people went in to use the facilities, I decided to see if I could locate the source of that sound. And low and behold, I did. Was it a lose belt? No. In fact, it tured out to be something more...unpleasnt. The support for my battery had come loose, and fallen. But it hadn't fallen all the way through, oh no. It fell so that a portion of it had landed on the wheel of my alternator. It was something that could have been a far cry worse than a gridning noise. At any rate, with my batter bungee-corded in place, and everyone back inside, and the sun setting readily, we lit up the road toward Talahassee. Seem se had to go and drop off Jacob at his apartment. Couldn't take him with us, it seemed. With a stop that required me to change my driving shoe, we were in Talahassee by....I forget when. However, with another stop at Whataburger, and the viewing of some episodes of "Space Ghost Coast to Coast", we were once more on the road to Brandon. And we made great time. The return trip did seem shorter than the trip up, but that is, as always, because you are coming home. We made a whole of two stops. One for gas, one for potty. Amazing. Of course, it helped that most everyone was asleep, or half-asleep. Even I was begining to feel the strain. But with the assistance of my friends, and a nice big energy drink, I was home and in bed almost 48 hours from the point to which I awoke to beging this insane road trip.
There really isn't much more to tell really, concerning the driving portion. From the driver's seat, a road trip is mostly dominated by numbers and numbness. How fast, how far, how much, how come I can't feel my butt? But fun was had by all, as well as myself. And I would gladly do it all over again, if I can. It all hinges on time, money, and machine. I guess, though, that about covers it. It's time now for me to sign out, and begin trying to put into words my experiances at these places....my..."Non-Driver Roadtrip Report".
End of Line
It seemed like such a simple idea. Get to bed at 9pm, wake up at 4:00, and be on the road at 5:30am. So very simple. And then came the day before. A battle with the spare tire kept me an hour behind schedual. Then came a short delay waiting for funds while I packed away my stuff for the trip, I wasn't in bed till 10:30. And of course, it contasted with the waking up at 4:30. I was already rushed when I made it to the Hobo-Box...and was greeted by three very awake, very ready people. I was surprised, I am not ashamed to say. I expected more groggy, half awake, half packed people. But they were all ready when I arrived, and we were on our way. Almost. A detour back to my house to aquire Matt's wallet, and we were off to breakfast. One Burger King later.....we were almost right on top of I-75. Then....came the tire. Gah. That spare I had spent an hour fighting with the night before was now off again to save our trip. Apperntly, my 'good' tire was begining to balloon between the tred and the inner liner, a condition that would eventually lead to a near catastrphic seperation on the highway. I've only ever experianced it once before. At low (for highway) speed. At the speeds I was to be traveling on this trip, it could have been disasterous. So, Mark changed my tire, in record time. After cleaning up, we were on the road. And only an hour and a half behind schedual. Then....came the stops on the road. We were making amazing time, mostly due to running 80mph at a standard. Of course, there came a rest stop in Paynes Prairie, where I created magic! I paid for a single "Chunky Monkey" milkshake-thing. $2.50 from the vending machine. I got 3 for the price of one. Testing my fate....I paid for one "Cherry Garcia"....and got two. And that set the pace for the rest of the I-75 portion of this trek. In fact, there was not another distrubance until I-10. And that came at a place called Falmouth. Not foul-mouth.....pronounced more like Plymouth. The bit of trim along the passenger side of the spacepod came undone, and was whipping in the wind. A bad thing to happen...given the tremendous rate we were still travling at. So....we stopped at the first convient store we came to. Had a box truck and silver Malibu parked beside it. Had to be open..right? Heh.....terribly, terribly wrong. It was not only abandoned, but abandoned with half-a-store worth of product inside. After fully expecting something zombie-esque, we left it alone, and went off in the other direction to find a General Store. Yes, a General Store. But, they didn't have tape. Gum...failed. BUT, thanks to W.W. Gay Mechanical Contractor Inc., we were permitted to use some very high quality tape. Like the kind one would use for the duct work. And it is still holding as of my writing of this report. To his credit, I wrote on the tape whom had donated it, and where we had recived the work, intending fully to send him a copy of the information as a form of thank you. Then, with a few drink and ice on hand, we were once more off onto the highway. Ready and running for our next stop, the great capitol of Florida, Tallahassee. To begin....finding Jacob. Wee! It took quite a bit of time to find where he was, and once we did, we had to find the appartment. What do you mean, that's building number 1? And this goes up to 9?? Bugger! Where the devil is 10??? Right where it ought be....in the back corner, tucked away from everybody else. After a short rest, and a short snipit from "Lost in Translation", we were off.......all the way to.....OH MY GOD! WHATABUGER! That was where I got the USA Today that was telling me about the retirment of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. I also got a new "Potato" sticker for the spacepod. After fueling up, we once more attacked I-10....and were off to Pensacola. We saw many a rest-stop on the way....as well as the insane, blinding rain that came from nowehere and left as quickly. And then came Jackson county....and gaining an hour. WOO! We passed over a bridge under construction...then stopped on the other side to take pictures. And get ice. I felt bad using their vantage point without buying something, and we needed it anyway. It was then we got into the more navigational portion of our trip, and somehow found that our road ran into a rather lower-end part of town. Something that looked more like the outer portions of a big city. And then came the enjoyable portion. Getting a room. After consulting with Dad, I decided to be sneaky. Dropping off the majority of the party at a McDonalds to walk to a Wendy's, Jacob and Myself went off to get a place for the party to sleep. I figured it would look better if he and I went in for a double room. I know it was irelivant, but hey....that's how my mind works. At any rate, we got the room, and went to pick them up. I did not want to leave the motel....and managed to stall for a good long time...before we went to get dinner, toilet paper, and pills for Mark's near-exploding head. Taco Bell and Walgreens. A potent combination. I made a bit of Clorox cleaner, as I needed to visit the facilities. It was...bleary. I wasn't feeling happy. I wanted to go back to the hotel and sleep. And in truth, after bathing, that's what we all did. Sleep was very, very good to us all.
The next morning, for me, happened three times. I remember waking up, and rolling onto my left side. I was looking at the big window, to see if the sun was up. After going back to sleep, I remember distinctly waking up to talk to Matt. Something about him telling me it was 6am. Then I rolled onto my right side, and fell asleep. By some quirk of fate, Matt, Jay, and Myself, all seemed to awake at the same time. 8:45am. We were soon all awake, all dressed, and all ready to go. It was actually rather astounding to see the six of us so swiftly prepaired. Soon we were all packed away, the room vacated, and everything set in the van for the road. Keys turned in, breakfast aborted, and once more stopping for ice.....we set out for the gate. After asking to see the Musuem, we drove along seeing a pair of old forts and some cemetaries....before finding the Museum itself. Kind of easy to spot, what with the F-14 on display outside. And then....we scattered. The party split to wander round the museum at their own pace. I walked with Mark for a bit, then Matt and Jay. And there was one long instnace where I was alone, and I was lost to myself. But that is a tale for later. At any rate, after wandering around and seeing all there was to see (including an unavailble moon rock, and an old Alabama man who thought Jay was camoflauged as an arrester hook), we found ourselves out in front of the museum. I had treated everyone to astronaut food! Hooray me! Anyway. Mark and Myself went to take some pictures of some cars that were parked out front....Mark lost to a 'boat tailed Riveira'....myself, the old MG, and a Jaguar from the 70s. As we clambered back into the Spacepod for leaving....when I suddeny ran us across the parking lot to see the storage area behind a fence. Big airplanes to be seen there, including the Blue Angels transport plane. Then....I tried to 'steal' a rather large surface to surface missle. So we shot off....in the wrong direction. And this after getting lunch no less. Doubling back to the base gate, we got suitably lost.....just long enough to get back on a small single road out toward where we were going. On and on and on we went. It was quiet, causual, and most enjoyable. More relaxing than I-10 by a long-shot. Except for that incessant grinding/grating sound from the engine. But what could we do? It was a loose belt, right? We'd have to replace it later. Anyway, we made a turn. Got into a town who's name I don't even think I remember. It involved stopping at a gas station for one last bathroom break before finding the park. And we found it quite easily....seeing as they used a 44,000 pound bomb as their sign. That...and you can see their aircraft from the road. I mean, a B-52 is kinda hard to miss. I am not sure how long we were there....and again, we all seemed to part ways for a time....but there we were. And I again found myself lost. At any rate, after being there till almost close, we loaded up the van and set out on the last leg of our trip.....but not before stoping at a gas station in Niceville for major repairs!
I don't know how long we were actually at that gas station. I remember buying gas, and then, while other people went in to use the facilities, I decided to see if I could locate the source of that sound. And low and behold, I did. Was it a lose belt? No. In fact, it tured out to be something more...unpleasnt. The support for my battery had come loose, and fallen. But it hadn't fallen all the way through, oh no. It fell so that a portion of it had landed on the wheel of my alternator. It was something that could have been a far cry worse than a gridning noise. At any rate, with my batter bungee-corded in place, and everyone back inside, and the sun setting readily, we lit up the road toward Talahassee. Seem se had to go and drop off Jacob at his apartment. Couldn't take him with us, it seemed. With a stop that required me to change my driving shoe, we were in Talahassee by....I forget when. However, with another stop at Whataburger, and the viewing of some episodes of "Space Ghost Coast to Coast", we were once more on the road to Brandon. And we made great time. The return trip did seem shorter than the trip up, but that is, as always, because you are coming home. We made a whole of two stops. One for gas, one for potty. Amazing. Of course, it helped that most everyone was asleep, or half-asleep. Even I was begining to feel the strain. But with the assistance of my friends, and a nice big energy drink, I was home and in bed almost 48 hours from the point to which I awoke to beging this insane road trip.
There really isn't much more to tell really, concerning the driving portion. From the driver's seat, a road trip is mostly dominated by numbers and numbness. How fast, how far, how much, how come I can't feel my butt? But fun was had by all, as well as myself. And I would gladly do it all over again, if I can. It all hinges on time, money, and machine. I guess, though, that about covers it. It's time now for me to sign out, and begin trying to put into words my experiances at these places....my..."Non-Driver Roadtrip Report".
End of Line