Driving On

Yesterday I was in my car for almost 12 hours, driving from Austin to New Orleans. It should have been an eight hour drive but I don't think people in Louisiana know how to drive because there were at least three accidents on the road once I go into the state. I had to pull out all the stops to get through the drive. This post is about how I keep myself entertained and awake for anywhere upwards of three hours of solo driving.

First off I download a few podcasts of This American Life or The Moth. These are for when the times get tough. Mostly I like just listening to music while I drive because then my mind can drift and I don't have to worry about missing part of a story. I typically start with a CD or two and skip half the songs, then switch to the country radio station when I can find it. And then when I get to a spot where there are no stations, I bring out the ol' ipod from high school that has some quality stuff on it. Usually when I'm trying to stay awake I put it on shuffle and then skip through pretty much everything. This is the most entertaining because I never know what I'm gonna get. It jumps from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Peterson's bird calls to Dixie Chicks to Sufjan Stevens to Bill Staines to random segments from the 7th Harry Potter book. When the situation gets dire aka I've already listened to a podcast and skipped through the ipod and the radio and the CD and tried to call a bunch of people, I turn to Harry Potter and actually commit to listening to an entire segment. Last time I ended up listening to the Battle of Hogwarts segment where (spoiler) Fred dies and I guess I hadn't read or listened to that part in a while so it made me cry (but in an alert way).

Anyways, the highlight of my trip last night was when I walked into  a gas station to buy a coffee drink and got into a conversation with the lady there about my long drive and how I needed coffee. She ended up giving me a 5 hour energy drink for free! Thinking back on it, perhaps that was a low point for me. I looked so rough and haggard that I got a free energy shot. But hey I didn't even have to use it because my Harry Potter/ music/ radio/ phone method worked just fine!

Sorry for a boring post but this has been on my mind recently-- 3 long solo drive days in two weeks! And I still have to drive all the way to DC in a few days-- luckily with Amelia.