studentdriver

I went to Louisville on Friday evening. Had fun dancing, but drank too much, and it took more than a day to recover. I gotta quit doing this.

Anyway. I also had a lot of caffeine on Friday, and finally resolved on the drive back to Indianapolis that I'd "go." I'd go to New Hampshire instead of hemming and hawing about it. Dropped Tony off, hopped upstairs, tossed some stuff in a bag, and hit the car. 4 AM, and I was just gonna go. Hit Wal-Mart to pick up a road atlas, hit I-65 North...

...looked at the odometer and realized my car was a few hundred miles away from an oil change. And I still have to keep my warranty up. So. Square concerns knocked me out of my teenage-like euphoria. Turned back around right before I got on I-69 to hit the first big northern leg of the journey. Ended up driving back home through parts of town I'd never been in as the sun rose, odd industrial areas with creepy natural gas reservoir tanks looming over everything. I came down off my caffeine buzz and had the weirdest sensation of being in a completely different city... I recognized the road names, but I'd be damned if I could recognize anything. I followed the street signs and ignored my instincts, though, and got home right around 6 am. Took my phone off the hook and went to sleep for a good 20 hours. Well, I tossed and turned, at any rate. Got up and remembered I'd left my crap in my car. In the heat of day. Ran downstairs and... yep... I had a bag o' melted deodorant.

Anyway. Wasted Saturday. Didn't do anything at all. I spent today piecing together a slightly more sane plan to get to New Hampshire, though I'm daunted by my inability to find a rental car. My usual place is closed Sundays, everyplace else that's open expects me to go up to Indianapolis International Airport (whatever happened to places that pick you up?). I called Budget-- had my discount code at the ready-- made plans to get a car at 11 am today a block from my house. Rockin. "I've never heard that code, do you have an Avis discount code?" An Avis number? I have one, but I called Budget from the phone book and, well, you're owned by the same company, so I guess that's okay... oh, your computer shows no vehicles whatsoever in stock at your Greenwood location anyway? What, am I gonna drive by there and see an empty lot?

I hoped to set out today. Looks like, however, I'll stay home today and hit the road early tomorrow. My usual car rental company will come through tomorrow morning-- they always have reserve cars, though I pray I don't get stuck with the godawful PT Cruiser I got last time.

I'm still "woo-hoo" about the prospect of going tomorrow. I'll spend a couple of days on the road, hitting little gas stations for obscure regional drinks and candies, sleeping at rest stops, spend a couple of days in New Hampshire or wherever, then do it all again in reverse.

My first real road trip since I was 20. It's been too long since I've done something like this. Who knows if I'll actually make it to New Hampshire, though? The destination isn't as important as the trip, really, so if I decide to go hit Gettysburgh PA or something... then... great. It's gonna be really weird heading east; I've never experienced much in the way of terrain change-- I was impressed by hills the last time I drove through Wisconsin-- so hitting (or even seeing) moderately-sized mountains should be interesting.

Hey, maybe I should drive into the Appalachian Mountains instead? Visit my roots, all that jazz. Tony's got his Sicilian ancestors, Heather had her east coast early settlers... I've got my inbred hillbillies.