I have been asked to journal my first road trip in 11 years. I hope I can use this forum for that purpose.

Here begins the twisted tale of the curvy road my new baby Rocket J and I are taking starting at 4 pm today. I'm horribly disappointed that Rocky hasn't received his vanity plates in the mail, but I do have a Rocky sticker in the back window.

The plan right now puts me in Houston tonight, Panama City tomorrow, and Charleston on Sunday. I despise I-10, but my mom has promised to birdsit my Senegal parrot--I'm dropping her off in Panama City. I'll then return to Panama City on the 16th or 17th to get some quality time with my mama.

I'm pretty nervous. I just sold my 1991 Civic Si--in 7 years, I put 24,000 miles on it. Let's just say I'm not used to driving much, but Rocky is already changing my ways!

So here's a virtual glass of bubbly to the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

 

LMAO!! Now I know I'm ready to roll (and it's a product made in Austin, TX, btw).

Two hours till lift off . . .

 

For a long road trip, you need another local product-this one from Buda (byoudah for those not from these here parts)

http://antimonkeybutt.com/

Have fun!

 

You sayin' my Rocky's gonna give me monkey butt???

ROFLMAO!! Thanks for the quick giggle!

 

For numbers folks: the odometer was 881 at the start (we'll ignore a quick turn-around in the first mile to retrieve a perch for the little girl's cage), 1034 now at o'dark-hundred. I've been up for an hour because a teenager's alarm went off at 5 (mine was set for 6), but that gave me time to shower, play with Absinthe, and now post here without feeling pressed for time.

Lemonade from lemons--that's me.

Traffic leaving Austin was horrendous. I'd driven for an hour and gone only 30 miles. NOT an auspicious start to a long journey, LOL. The good news, though, was people really wanted to fly once we left the Austin area, and Rocky was perky at 80 and really wanted 90, but I tried to control ourselves.

Today I have to take a detour through Houston because of construction on I-10, but that'll give me a chance to top off my gas tank, fill up my caffeine tank, and get going.

The kitten in my friends' house is very keen on Baby A, so I'd better get both of us on the road!

See you next time--and I'll try to have photos (got ho-hum licese plates on last night, need to put registration in windshield, and got the radar detector sorted).

 

For numbers folks: I was at 1034 yesterday morning, got here at 1724. Now that I've driven into town to see my deardeardear friend Sarah, I've passed the double-the-fun point, 1762. More on Sarah later . . . I left yesterday morning from west of Houston at 7, drove 690 miles and arrived here at 5.

Cool stuff: I hit the 1200 point just inside Lousiana. So then I hit my first "century mark" on what I consider the Mother of All Bridges, which is west of Baton Rouge and crosses what I think is the most beautiful part of I-10. Inspector Gadget, Sondra's radar detector, saved my hide once for sure in north FL--another rabbit was caught that day. I averaged 69 miles per hour and my current average speed is 48. I stop only when I have to, thankyouverymuch. And my average mpg is 33.6.

So. I meant to title my last post "Love is a Stranger" because that was the song I decided would be the best start song for this journey:

Love is a stranger in an open car
to tempt you in and drive you far away.

Nice, eh? That's me, Early 80s K. But now I'm kind of glad I did forget, because the truth is that I have several songs on my burned playlist that deal with driving--Iggy Pop's "The Passenger," for instance, would be an excellent song for Absinthe, my Bird Wonder and trusty sidekick. And there was one that I cannot find now, so I'll edit it in later, that struck me as a great driving song. Anyone want to add driving songs?

But irritatingly enough, a song that I do not have on my playlist struck me in Missisippi, just a short moment after a rock struck--and chipped--the windshield of my car. I had a Nina Simone moment: "Mississippi G-dd-mn!" Great song with a completely different message, but there you have it.

Travel points: There's this bridge in Baton Rouge that is such a bottleneck. I am so glad I don't live there. I took I-12 to bypass Nola and save some time, though one day I will have to go back there and see the devastation. And there was slow traffic weirdness, completely inexplicable unless people are scared of tunnels, in Mobile. And I am such a coastal kid at heart. My second and last stop had me in Hicksville, north FL (a pretty accurate description of the Panhandle, actually), and it was there I got my first lungful of sea air. HOME. I miss the ocean so much--enough that I was tickled pink to be surrounded by pimped-up trucks and bleached-blond bozos. LOL

This morning I zipped up the road with my mom to get milk for my coffee, and as we were leaving, this ginormous truck pulled in beside us. I pointed and said, "That's someone who'd never buy a MINI." My mom started laughing so hard!! And of course she fell in love with Rocky.

Pictures will follow tomorrow or the next day--I have a film camera, so I have to beg for photos when I can.

I leave for Charleston tomorrow bright and early. Am so glad to be going to my real home!

 

Apologies to John Cusack fans, but I'll say it again:

I want my two hours!!!

I am beat--got up at 8 CDT, left at 10 CDT (yes, I move slow, and I had some nice alone time with my mom), got into Charleston at 5, to my cousins' at 5:45 EDT. Wow. Did I really do all this so quickly?

The numbers: starting mileage was 1776 (how cool is that?!?), ending mileage is 2294. I think I've already surpassed in one month (today's my first month anniversary with Rocky!) what I did in a year in the Civic. Wow. Wow. It's a whole new K! Average mpg (and I've never zeroed it) is 33.6, average speed (same deal) is 50.2 mph. Gotta love that onboard computer, eh?

Today's journey was loads of fun in some ways, but in others a little disappointing. On the good side, I talked to a Harley biker in Somewhere, N Florida, and learned how much petrol his Harley tank can hold and how many miles it can go (though he'd made modifications that use more gas). He'd done some Texas Hill Country driving, which I think is made for a bike. Anyway, we had a laugh--he told me to slow down and enjoy myself, and I said, "Slow down??? And enjoy myself???"

Then there was the cavorting in Georgia--I'm gonna do a whole spiel on speed in another post, but there was this guy in an SUV who passed me on the right, and when I looked over at him--I hate getting passed on the right, because it means the passing lane is too slow!--he gave me this huge cat-who-got-the-cream grin. And then I passed him. And then he passed me. It became a game for me, actually--this is when I thank my lucky stars that my mom doesn't know where to find this blog, because she really doesn't need to know about her daughter's cavorting, I mean driving. Anyway, when he took an exit, he waved at me and I waved back. It's weird how the little red MINI gets so much attention!

On the downside, by taking I-10, I missed the parts of the journey I did as a kid with my mom and brother. Blountstown, home of Christine Falling (if I recall correctly, she was a baby sitter who killed her charges--and I remember this almost 20 years later, so you can see it resonated). Apalachicola and the long bridge that leads to the time change. And other stuff. The sad thing is, even if I'd realized beforehand that Hwy 20 had this treasure trove of childhood memories, I probably still would have taken I-10 in the interest of speed.

How do the rest of you do road trips by yourselves? I love the speed, I want to get there as fast as I can, I stop for the absolute basics. But with another person, I'd like the scenic route, I'd stop for stuff, I think I'd enjoy the journey in a different way--because I am enjoying the journey now, of course. It's fun to fly.

I have one photo for now, of me and Rocky in Panama City. It's hard to come by digital photos--lesson learned for the next journey.

Anyway, Charleston is simply lovely, though it's not a "new car" town any where near the way Austin is! I saw lots of old cars as I drove through. And the Cooper River Bridge is a piece of cake now--it used to be so scary!

 

"A righteous person drives the speed limit in the righthand lane;
a self-righteous person drives the speed limit in the lefthand lane."

As promised, here is my post about speed. I've had a lot of time to think about speed and what the concept speed means to different people.

1. Potential Speed
My cousins have a brand new Mercedes AMG with 507 hp. I got to feel it tonight when we went out for sushi. Rocky has 115 hp, but I can really feel a difference from my Civic, which had 109 hp. I love how Rocky handles, cannot imagine wanting an S, but wow! There's something about that herd of wild ponies that is just so tempting. But for me, I need a balance between power and gas consumption--I'm an eco-leadfoot, I guess.

2. Actual Speed
I was driving in the passing lane in north Florida on I-10 west of Panama City, buzzing by everybody at 90, when it occurred to me that this was what driving should be: slowboats in the right lane, rockets in the left. And I learned how to drive in PC, so this was not surprising in the end.

Here is what I've decided. People see speed in three ways: the speed limit, fast, and faster. People who see speed as the speed limit tend to stay right, but people who see speed as Fast tend to see their speed as an absolute: "I am driving X mph [above the speed limit], and that is Fast, so I deserve to drive in the lefthand lane." Texans, I am sorry to say, tend to fall into this group, leaving the rest of us, those of us who see our speed as faster relative to other traffic, stuck passing them on the right. Grrrrrrr. I've now sampled TX, LA, MS, AL, FL, GA, and SC in 2 days, and Texas is the worst by far.

3. Red Speed
There is something about a little red car that draws people--well, guys--to challenge you. My Honda Civic Si was a great driving car, but only rarely did the person beside me race me. Now, it happens all the time. These stupid boys (a mental reference) tend to be driving automatics, so Rocky's won so far. But really, it's amazing--the little red MINI is a force on the road.

4. Go Granny Go!
This is just a tip of my hat to all of the old ladies who were speeding up I-95. I wanna be you when I get older. But I wanna be in a MINI.

 

(apologies to Steinbeck and standard poodle fans)

This is my last post from Charleston--think I'll hit the road tomorrow so I have the whole weekend with my mom.

I have attached a picture of my bird, whom I affectionately call My Little Green Hen and the Little General. She is a Senegal parrot, native to Western and Central Africa. She's known for being a quiet parrot, but of course a parrot is quiet relative to other parrots!

Most of you have probably traveled with dogs and sedated cats, if you've traveled with a pet at all. Absinthe has always been a good traveler, though for this journey I put her in a carrier that will fit under and airplane seat (we've traveled that way before, too) and kept her on the passenger seat. She remained quiet throughout most of both journeys--she stayed in Panama City--and was a perfect bird.

Here are some links that I found that helped me prepare for traveling with Baby A:

http://www.peteducation.com/article....articleid=3190
--I was stunned to discover that birds can suffer from motion sickness! I packed apples and tangerines, and I made sure to have some Clif Bars that didn't contain chocolate, since chocolate kills birds. I also had some of her regular food in the carrier, but the apple was to keep her hydrated.

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/sregs/
--There are certain states that you cannot legally bring a parrot into--those of you with cats and dogs have never faced this, but I guess parrots get lumped in with chickens (Absinthe will never know this, of course). I have deliberately not looked to find out whether I've broken any laws--ignorance is bliss, and I am very convincing when I don't have to lie, just on the *very* off chance I get caught.

And I'm quite taken with my little Pocahontas, so here's more information about Senegals. Absinthe has colorless eyes rather than the standard yellow, and she's paler than most Senegals. She's my X-Bird. LOL

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/bird...us/senegal.php

 

I came home to no Internet service, and today I finally have Internet and my final numbers--at the same time.

Odometer when I left Charleston 3/16: 2334
Odometer when I left Panama City 3/19: 2850
Odometer when I arrived in Austin 3/19: 3704

Average speed at 2850 miles: 53.8
Average speed at 3704 miles: 57.7

MPG at 2850 miles: 33.1
MPG at 3704 miles: 32.6

My trip added 2823 miles to my odometer, most of them achieved at light speed. My drive from Charleston to Panama City last Friday was probably one of the most miserable bits of driving I've ever done, but I couldn't let my mom down. Charleston was amazing--I went on a Gullah tour, ate buffalo shrimp (which thankfully do NOT taste like chicken!), and kayaked in a tandem with my cousin to one of the coastal islands. I may go back in summer, since my brother may visit, but I'll leave Rocket J behind.

Time with my mom was short, and I, the Medievalist, somehow got saddled with resolving her DVD issues and setting up her cable modem, so there was a bit more frustration that weekend then I wanted. My mom now has a high-speed connection at home for the very first time, and she's really cute with it--she keeps sending me all this e-mail full of pictures and videos! I'm glad I helped her, though I sure wish I'd groused less about it.

I woke up at 5:00 Monday morning to get coffee and time with Baby A (who had a great time at my mom's intimidating Matisse the blue and gold macaw while I was in Chas.) before driving the 800+ miles back to Austin. My mom joined me at 6, and we had a nice goodbye.

I was very much in Get There mode, so I was more aggressive about passing the Stupids than I should've been. Overall it was a good drive with a 3-hour break in Houston to rest and have dinner with the friends that put me up at the beginning of this journey.

Absinthe had had Enough of the wee carrier when we started the final run from Houston to Austin, so Bird Was My Copilot for 30 minutes--the lights of SUKS (yes, I meant to type that) and semis really did her little head in. She was an excellent traveler overall, excellent company.

I would like to thank lots of people for making this trip happen:
Sondra, for making Rocky a reality in my life
Debbie and Jerry, for letting me stay with you in Charleston
Mother, for birdsitting and being you
Sean, for talking me into journalling and (literally) talking me into Houston
Kitty and Caroline, for getting me smashed
Rebecca, for talking to me when I needed her
Alabama Highway Patrol, for establishing a detour around a crash on I-10
Mark from Jamaica at Comcast, for helping me get my mom's modem set up

 

Grrrr. How am I still First Gear after all of this???