My Seventh Post

Two days down, a lot more to go! So far, so good - no, check - so far, everything's GREAT! In two days I've already logged 950 miles and 17 hours on the road. Although to tell the truth, yesterday didn't really feel much like a road trip. I-95 is the most unpleasant road to drive on. So crowded, so many trucks, so many people at the rest stops, it's just awful. However, that leg of my trip is OVER - no more east coast for now. I pulled in yesterday to DC and spent a lovely night with my friend Sam from Bates. He cooked dinner for me and his new boyfriend Marcelo, whom you'll see in one of the pics below. Afterwards we played a rowdy game of Apple vs. Apple - anybody ever played it? It's awesome - I'd never played it before - but it's great because it's very entertaining and and humorous but takes very little actual effort - no boards, no dice, no moving pieces. Sam and I took a jaunt over to the Washington monument late-night and took some dramatic shots, I wasn't sure how they'd come out but they look pretty cool! Sam looks like he's spiderman in one of them.
Today I did an 11 hour drive from DC to Louisville, KY. The drive was gorgeous, and I'd take an 11 hour drive through West Virginia and KY over a 6 hour drive on 95 any day. The first half of the trip took me through lush mountain passes, which makes the driving feel more adventurous when you're not quite sure what you're going to see coming around the bend. The second half took me through the rolling hills of Kentucky, where literally, between Lexington and Louisville, there is nothing but perfectly tended fences, green pastures and HORSES - LOTS AND LOTS of them. These people down here LOVE their horses - and if you know me you know - so do I! That stretch was actually fairly dramatic, for as I looked in the rearview mirror, the sky was black and stormy, while the sky in front of me was nothing but blue and sunny. I loved it.

here are some thoughts:

-i listened to a country station for a little while today. the chorus of my favorite song i heard went like this, a man singing to his girlfriend: "well i got sober, since then i've been thinking, you're a lot less fun since i quit drinking" who writes that???????
-driving long distances is all about pacing myself. i can't get in the car and immediately rock out at 8 in the morning. otherwise by 10 i'm dead.
-i had lunch at a place called '79er restaurant' - i asked for a burger cooked medium - before i realized it was really just a glorified mcdonalds with a free salad bar and table service. whoops. no wonder the waitress looked at me funny.
-i also listened to some ultra-conservative radio for a little while. fascinating. and some christian rock station, although that lasted a whole 13 seconds.
-i didn't have cell service for 7 hours of my drive today. i had to use a payphone for the first time in years. i couldn't figure out how to do it. that was a humbling moment.
-i didn't realize how far west Maryland extends. i always thought of it as a purely coastal state, but it's actually got quite a stunning western stretch.
-cruise control is a blessing on long stretches of empty road. my back is happier because of it.
-things really do tend to move a little slower down here. i feel like a crazy intense neurotic northerner when i talk to southerners, they are so mellow. and i'm not even in the deep south yet.

Below are some pics from DC. I'm pooped-buenas noches.