Hey, ya'll

Sunday, January 14, 2007 4:30pm eastern
What a butt-numbing experience yesterday was! Not only is the bench seat too short, it hosted a 500 pound driver at some point that totally broke the springs/flattened the foam in the seat. It was truly, the most uncomfortable ride of my life. We fixed the problem today by sitting on Kay's neck pillow. It works like a charm.

The mileage is now 48672 and we are less than an hour out of Atlanta. The weather has changed considerably. (Insert Executive rule number 2 – do not drive in the fog without headlights on.) Kay and I were asleep by 10 last night. She woke up early and exercised. I stayed in bed (slept thru her getting up) and woke up at 7:15 feeling refreshed. Think I only woke up once… my cold must be on the way out. Or maybe it was the overdose of Benadryl I took. Whatever. I slept. That’s the important part.

We were on the road around 8:30 in total fog. I was not too enthused until Kay pointed out that it wasn’t ice. We spent the entire evening before watching the weather channel talk about the ice storms. Everyone we talked to back home said we were lucky to leave town when we did. Guess I am also glad we didn’t go last week and were trying to fly home today… think we would have been on the phone Friday trying to get out earlier. Wonder what it will be like next weekend?

About 2 miles down the road, Kay asked if I had my headlights on. Yes. And then I looked down at the dash buttons, flipped one on and said yes again. Oops. The semis have been giving us a fairly wide berth. I wonder why?

Today’s theme has been the ‘March of the Electric Company Trucks’. As we haven’t heard much for news today, we are wondering who got slammed. Kay called her girlfriend near St. Louis who said they lucked out this time. She lives on the IL side and had temps above freezing and just got rain. Guess MO wasn’t as lucky. Will try to remember to get a paper tonight and watch CNN. I miss my weekend overdose of news channels TV (interspersed with overdoses of Food Network programs. I love ‘Unwrapped’!) We have definitely seen over 200 trucks headed north in convoys. And one Disaster Relief bus.

(I think Mazda Miatas are soooo small they could fit under our truck and we would never notice. I hope the guy in front of us doesn’t slow down.)

And then there is the just plain weird… a converted school bus with 4 air conditioners on top towing a car carrier-with one car pulled all the way to the front and another car with the front wheels on the carrier and the back 2 on the ground. He was pulled over to the side so am not sure if the car fell off or what.

Motorcycles are out. Saw 2 today. The fog and half the clouds were gone by the time we got to Chattanooga and the sun was heating things up. We are definitely overdressed. I am in a light weight turtleneck with the sleeves rolled up and sweatpants. At least Kay has on a short sleeved shirt. We may be hitting a Wally World tonight for shorts as our big suitcases are buried somewhere in the middle of the truck. We will not be hunting for them tonight. If needed, I will cut the legs off my sweats.

We’ve been REALLY lucky with traffic so far. Only one accident and it was going in the opposite direction. Traffic was backed up a mile or so.

Welcome to Atlanta. Or at least Atlanta traffic. Am glad it’s Sunday night and not a weekday. We are going to blow thru downtown instead of taking the bypass. It’s the weekend. How bad can it be? And besides, I’ve done it before when I regularly made the IL-to-Miami run. Of course, that was 13 years ago and in a car.

(Gross-a semi just passed us on the right and he was picking his nose.) OOOOooooooo…. Up to 5 lanes of traffic.

Signs you are in the south:
-The only 2 types of radio stations are Jesus and country.
-The country stations cover the gamut… all bluegrass/all the time, classic, and modern.
-You see ads for boiled peanuts.
-Sweet tea.
-Grits.
-It’s warm down here!
(Up to 6 lanes of traffic)
-They talk funny.
-But they are really nice.
-The radio stations actually mention the Tennessee Titans by name. (Up to 7 lanes of traffic.)
-Coka-Cola-YUCKO! (up to 9 lanes of traffic!!!)

We mastered fueling up today. Figured out how the slave pumps work. Figured out how to fill a round tank up full when the fill hole is on the side. Figured out how pre-pay works on the ‘truck’ side. We were so proud of ourselves. Yesterday I was the cause of a gas nozzle disarticulation. Oops. And we totally horked up getting gas at our first slave pump. Fortunately I did the dumb blond thing and 3 truckers came to our rescue. Kay said she would have videoed the whole episode if she hadn’t been on the phone about Lily (who is doing so-so today-no fever, but lots of vomiting and diarrhea. The petsitter, Jenny (who is a GODSEND) is going to visit her tonight.).

I think we will shoot for Macon tonight. But now it’s time for more fuel!!!!

Home tonight is Warner-Robins, GA. Home of Robins Air Force Base. We ate at Steak n’ Shake, emphasis on Shake. Met a couple who had on sponsor shirts that I was curious about (fishing reels were prominent) so asked… they had just finished working at a fishing show in Atlanta. Kay mentioned that she thought they might be professional fishermen. They are professionals… they fish in a tournament next weekend. Too cool. Even better… the woman has relatives in Chisholm, MN. What a small world. We had a nice chat while waiting to pay at the restaurant.

Kay is off to the hot tub now. I am flaked out on the bed watching the weather channel (again). Last leg should be short and uneventful. Let's hope. Less than 300 miles to go. Hi Mom and Dad! Flaurel, I'll honk as we go past!!