Secrets revealed!

  So here we are…..the Triple Crown, the hat trick….Ok, it’s just blog post # 3. When last we spoke, I was describing the first leg of a trip I am currently on. So, without any adieu, on to the second leg of the trip. Part two of the quest…..or whatever you like to call it started with breakfast. The great part of being crammed into the driver’s compartment of a car and sitting for upwards of 18 or more hours is the chance to take at least one meal in a unique location that is just slightly out of sight enough from your daily routine to be exotic. In this case a “Cracker Barrel” (yes I’ve heard there is at least one that may be close to where I live, but this was only the second time I’ve had a meal there). And, yes, I did enjoy it!

  The next part of the drive would be an endless parade of highway……simply endless. Well, I guess I should finally clue you all in…. Breakfast was actually in North Carolina….we were well on our way to the west coast of central Florida.  The warning I’d been given by my travel companions was that the roughest part of the trip would be the three state lag of the Carolinas, and Georgia. I found this to be one of the easiest steps of the way southward. There was one exception……we made a pit stop somewhere in South Carolina or Georgia…….the weather was simply oppressive. The humidity could have leveled an elephant. But I got out of it with a turkey sandwich…….and I now know that I can eat while driving 78 to 80 miles per hour. This truly was becoming a journey of self……..ok that’s not exactly a revelation of the soul there but sometimes little steps become great antidotes.

  The most difficult part of a journey like this becomes that point when you feel the sleep creeping up on you……You start to wonder if you should pull off at a rest stop for a nap….or are you the true “road warrior” the one who continues on to the end of the path……or a screeching end all together. Moments like this there comes an inspiration…..and I call that faithful muse “5 hour energy”! This little elixir would pull me through to the end of my trip.

  The truly unique thing about the second leg over the first, the thing that set it apart as its own adventure can only be summed up by saying I rode with Giants……literally hundreds of miles of large tractor trailers. Sometimes this got creepy, as I’d try to weave into the passing lane in a desperate attempt to keep a position that wasn’t in the way of the behemoths, and yet not trapped behind them.  I even played quarterback and used one of them as my several to lineman….this driver must have been in a hurry because he spent several miles in the passing lane to move around the slower trucks. I even did my best to keep annoying pests from riding his tailgate while maintaining a polite distance myself. And while this brutish version of the raceway’s finest set himself to a comfortable spot in the right lane, I made sure to pass with a courteous salute…..and away we went.

 On now fellow travelers to the last leg of the trip….the unending treadmill, the proverbial hamster’s wheel…..We got into Florida well into the afternoon with plenty of daylight to go…..my GPS told me a tale of arrival well into the evening, but it was hard to conceptualize. After a gas stop, and some pretty familiar type highway travel…….we were led into something a bit more rural. Speed limit would settle in at 65, drop down to 45…and include 3 to 5 traffic lights…go back up to 65 mph…and start the whole process over again. This would go on what seemed like forever. But after all of this the sun began to set, and we found ourselves back on high speed road ways, and what would lead to a little bit of smooth sailing….until we got to Tampa, then the congestion on the road got like a bad case of the flu, non-stop, and ever moving. This would give way to slightly less business, and more “urban” driving.

  We eventually made it and crashed out very quickly…the rest of our caravan, having opted to go warp speed somewhere in South Carolina, only beat us by about twenty minutes. The rest of the trip would combine to be a drama on one end, and uneventful on the other side. But that, fellow travelers, is a tale for another day. Hey thanks, everybody, for taking the time to read this, and please let me know what you think. Take care, everybody!