I Hear Ya, Willie Nelson

I drove 11 hours yesterday. No really, 11 hours. And I type this under the carefully folded over covers (I like crisp sheet and comforter creases) in the bedroom where the journey started; I neither own a new car purchased in rural, western Kansas off ebay nor return to my humble bedroom with sunkissed hair and Jimmy Buffet songs regrettably stuck in my head. And, believe what you will, but only about 45 minutes of that 11 hours was due to misdirection (yet, on a positive note, missing both I-65 north and I-40 east meant that we got a convenience store in Smryna, TN all to ourselves: no one standing in front of the DDP cooler, no waiting in line behind someone buying lottery tickets, no hold-up at the register as another driver attempts to describe which pump he actually parked beside). Just a few more reasons why driving in an unfamiliar, secluded area of Tennessee around midnight and with very little cell phone service is a super idea.

My best friend and I started talking about where I could have ended up if I had driven 11 hours straight and actually in one direction; we discussed specifics like "the coast" or "I bet some area of Canada." I awoke, far too early this morning, with that conversation in my mind (I am one of those people who can go to bed at 9, at 11, at 1 or at 3 and wake up at the same time each morning following). Here are a few places within an 11 hour drive that I would like to visit (and I tend to favor rural towns on the outskirts of cities more than the city itself - give me some ideas). If you have any suggestions on comfortable lodging, quaint coffeeshops, vintage bookstores,"must-see" sights/events/activities, or fantastic restaurants, please pass along:
- Savannah, GA
- Ashville, NC
- Philadephia, PA
- Upstate New York
- Baton Rouge, LA
- Traverse City, MI

I close, however, not with dreams of travel or exploration, but with something much more fulfilling: reality. I drove 11 hours yesterday because I went to work in Lexington, returned home, and then picked up my best friend at the Nashville airport (she decided to spend her birthday weekend in KY/TN). She lives in Chicago and although I get to see her more often than most friends who live 7 hours apart, I still miss her dearly. She is just one of those "doing nothing is still fun" friends - I like to think that one day we will spend our Saturday mornings going to yoga class, then to our favorite coffeeshop to talk and read, and then, without agenda or a schedule, walk home together (because we'll live next door to one another). Even better, I get to share her with my two best friends from Kindergarten-present for the next two days. And, I actually see sun coming through my bedroom curtains as I type. It's the little things...
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Just a little something Caroline had waiting for her when we arrived. Professional posters like this are why she chose to spend her weekend with me.

* If you notice, this post falls under the obvious label: "Adventures of Fatlip." Based on an inside joke between myself and an absolutely hilarious college friend (this inside joke, along with the Tom Green megaphone incident and LEG, collectively confirm that Centre is in fact the Harvard of the South), this section will contain postings grounded in misadventure, spontaneous trips and/or sojourns of whimsy, and just general stories of life in the hyundai elantra (the car is three years old; it has over 105,000 miles on it - oh the stories it has to tell).