LA/XC DAY ONE: ALEXANDRIA, VA
Today’s mileage: 302
Road Music: ESPN Radio; “The Highway” (new country) on XM radio; my “Hurricane Irene” playlist (a mix featuring Adele, Springsteen, Keith Urban, Dixie Chicks, Creedence, Gretchen Wilson, Grateful Dead, Tom Petty, and others)
Weather leaving Westport: 75 and sunny
Weather arriving Alexandria: 74 and monsoon rain
Well all right! That might have been the most piss-poor get-away I’ve ever staged.
Remember how prideful I was in my last post, gloating about all the meticulous planning I’d done for this trip? Recognizing I’d never be in any place (except for L.A.) for more than one night, I hit upon the brilliant concept of placing all my belongings in the way-back of the Acura, rather than packing them in a suitcase. The crates would be like having a portable bureau: One crate for boxers and socks; one for T-shirts; one for shorts; etc. They’d be labeled, with the labels facing out, visible from the side doors and from the rear hatchback. And they wouldn’t be stacked; they’d be free-standing, making for easy access. That way I could grab exactly what I needed for each night, and waltz into my motel room carrying just my backpack.
That was the plan.
But as my 9:30 AM target for departure came and went, I starting rushing the packing job. I revised the E.T.D to ten o’clock. Ten-thirty. Eleven at the latest. All right, 11:30. Absolutely no later than noon. I got frantic — started throwing stuff all over the cargo area, willy-nilly, my plan in shambles. Forgot the new memory card I’d just picked up for the camera. Forgot my handy-dandy list of XM stations. Probably forgot a whole bunch of other things that I don’t know about yet.
And my car? My supposed sleek, mobile closet-slash-office? It’s a joke. I can’t see out the rear window, there’s so much crap in there. Not one crate is labeled, and the only way to fit them all in was to stack them — so I can’t really grab anything easily even if I could figure out where anything is. (The photo below, btw, was taken at the Delaware Welcome Station.) And that backpack that was supposed to function as my overnight bag? In my last-minute frenzy I stuffed in everything I could lay my hands on. At this point I have pretty much no idea where to find anything — in the car or in the pack.
On top of all this, I wound up leaving at 12:05 (so much for my 9:30 departure) — which would get me to Baltimore/Washington right in time for rush hour. If this is how I’m going to function for the rest of the trip, I may not make it past Tennessee!
But enough complaining. I made it through six states today: Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia. No new ones for me yet. Reached my friend Jeff’s house in Alexandria at 6 PM, and got a chance for a wonderful visit with Jeff and Joan and their daughter Maggie. Ricky and Toby, the Bichon, got along about as well as could be expected, considering that Ricky staged a brazen raid on Toby’s huge bag of Royal Canin Veterinary Diet food, tearing it open and gorging on it before anyone even realized he’d lost interest in the Packers-Saints game on TV. Not sure he’ll be getting invited back real soon.
Next stop: Music City!
And here I was so impressed at how prepared you SEEMED! OK, a little rough start. You’ll get it organized enough in time. Carry on!
Well, the pic of the back of the car tells the whole story: brilliant planner but complete lack of spatial aptitude! One could point out that you could easily live without all that stuff, but it’s a little too late. I’m thrilled that you’re off and looking forward to daily tales of Travels With Ricky. By the way, good thing you decided to give up on that extra can of gas! Safe travels!
You wont believe how many people, beyond those that I sent the link, have visited your blog. I hope all is well. Hope to see ya’ll again.
Is this Steve who I met in Nashville, on Broadway??? Good to hear from you!