Saturday, March 30, 2013

What 18 Hours of Driving Can Teach You

So we've managed to make it to vacation unscathed. Go us! It was a total of 18 hours in the vehicle. Last year it was over 19 so we were a little worried where the GPS (her name is Margie) was taking us. Other than the last half hour when we were sent on an unexpected tour of the back roads, it went fine.

I CAN tell you that driving that many hours in a car will teach you a few things. The first thing that I learned is that there are still quite a few crazy families like us that drive to their vacations too. (It's comforting to know we're not alone.) And after seeing them for so many hours, you get to know them by the color/make of their vehicle or their license plate. You begin to feel like you know them. You talk to them. "Get up there Nissan, don't let that jerk keep cutting people off." You notice when they're missing. "Oh, I haven't seen the black Audi in awhile." Or if you don't notice they're gone, you notice when they come back. "Oh, THERE's the silver Odyssey. We haven't seen them since Virginia."

The second thing I learned is that once you're out of your home state, everyone FROM your state is an ally. It could be your worst enemy, it could be the kid who bullied you in third grade, it could be the guy who did your IRS audit....if they are in a vehicle with a license plate that matches yours, they're like family. If someone from another state cuts them off, you instantly sympathize with your fellow natives. If they are being nice and let someone go ahead of them, we instantly give our entire state credit for that car's generosity.

But if one of your own betrays you? Sacrilege.  There was this one black car that was apparently practicing for the Daytona 500. He was dodging and weaving in and out but would end up getting bumped back and repeating the process. After watching it a few times, hubby pointed it out to me. We chuckled and waited for him to finally pass us so that we check to see what state it was representing. Gasp! Ours! You mean this guy is the one that all the people in Georgia are going to remember for our state? This is the guy who's going to give New York drivers a bum rap? Geez, buddy, thanks a lot.

Lastly, I learned that radio stations down south have a lot of Christian music, country music, and church channels (Imagine going to church in the comfort of your car!). They still have the rock, pop, and top 40 stations, but the ratio is probably about 70/30. Around 2 AM when I was bored and thinking of creative ways to keep myself awake, I'd do a radio scan and count how many of the stations fit into those 3 categories. At one point I had 5 out of the first 7 channels.

Due to all the recent learning in these last 24 hours, I'm quite literally exhausted. (It has nothing to do with managing very little sleep in an upright position in a moving vehicle.) Now if only I could get those darn kids to go to bed. Even if it is only 7:15.

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