...is not a good idea! My trip back to Atlanta from Albany was proof of that!
I started out early, thinking that leaving around 14:45 EDT would put me into Atlanta early enough to get some sleep and still have a productive day of unpacking and getting groceries (which I still haven't done as of now...a week later!). I got underway and put in the QAF Season 4 DVD (I know what you're thinking...isn't it distracting to drive with a DVD playing...it honestly helps me lose track of time and not realize when the 16th hour is approaching on the journey!). I wasn't too far down the New York State Thruway (I-87 South...the first Interstate on the journey) before I realized that the fuse that controls the circuit running the power outlets in my car had blown and my laptop was steadily running out of battery power! Soon I wouldn't be able to keep it on and I was starting to freak out about my chances of staying awake for the long trip down to the Land of the Rising Sun.
Wal*Mart to the rescue...
A trip to the brand spanking new Wal*Mart in Newburgh, NY, a couple packs of 15A fuses, and a new power inverter later, I was back on the road watching my DVD happy as a claim...or so I thought! Not long after I passed into Pennsylvania, I heard a small *POP* and saw that the charger light on the power inverter had gone out. There went yet another fuse (good thing I bought two packs of five while I was at Wal*Mart!). The second power inverter (which was, come to find out later, too small to charge the battery let alone run my laptop for an extended period of time, had blown and taken the fuse with it. Now I was stuck with no inverter, no Wal*Marts, and at least 13 more hours of driving with no entertainment except for some CDs and the good will of whichever of my friends would talk to me on the phone for that long.
Blood Moon rising...!
Shortly after the second inverter went to the electronics store in the sky leaving me with only my phone (which luckily could charge since I had an extra fuse left to repair the outlets) and the open road, the sun started to go down and the moon rose out of the south. I glanced over at the moon out of my window and saw her: a deep red, huge, round, full circle hovering close to the PA horizon! The first thing that shot through my mind was "BLOOD MOON!", sort of the way a sailor's first instinct when seeing a monster storm out at see is to think of a White Squall. Needless to say, I started to fear what else was going to go wrong on the trip which would take me deep into the Pocino mountains, through the mountains and woods of Virginia and North Carolina, and then finally out again (almost 1000 miles later) into South Carolina and eventually, Georgia.
Late Night Drives and NC State Troopers...
Most of the rest of the journey was uneventful barring a massive traffic delay in Virginia because the Virginia Department of Transportation feels that it's OK to close both lanes of a two-lane highway to do roadwork making the drivers smash onto the shoulder of the road for blocks of 10 miles at a time! I even stopped in North Carolina after crossing the border in order to take a small nap. Forty-five minutes later I was back on the road with a reasonable ability to keep my eyes open and definitely hoping nothing else was up ahead to stop me from getting some gas and getting through Charlotte, NC before people started to wake up and get on the road again. I wasn't too far from my rest stop before I started to see the old familiar white and blue flashing glow from a set of strobe lights behind me. Only difference, these strobe lights weren't in a dance club urging me to come out and shake it up some on the floor...these belonged to one of NC's finest: a state trooper!
"Can you come sit in my car sir?" What else was there to do at 04:30 EDT...
The state trooper was a young, good looking man who pulled me over to inform me that my tail lights were out. After thinking to myself, "Oh grand...", I gave him my license and registration and he went off to do whatever it is the police do when they take your credentials to their car. He came back about five minutes later (keeping in mind that even one minute at that wee hour of the morning is like an eternity when you're desperately trying to get home and finish getting some good shut eye). When he came back he asked if I would come back and sit with him in his car for a bit. I said, "No problem!" thinking to myself, "Am I being arrested?!?". He asked me first, after I got out of the car, if I had anything on me that would hurt him. I'm probably one of the most non-violent people in the world let alone carry any concealed weapons. He patted me down and told me to go ahead and sit in the front seat. At least I wasn't being arrested...
"Where do you live sir?"...
In NYS, you don't have to have your license reprinted when your address changes. Since I was temporarily located in Atlanta, though, I had them change my file but used a change of address sticker on the back of my actual license (which has since rubbed off). The trooper was thoroughly confused when he saw that my license read one way but my registration read with my GA address. We straightened that out and he proceeded with the paperwork telling me that I needed to be extra careful since the lights were out in back and he didn't want someone bumping into me. After what again seemed to be forever later (especially since his car was cold and I was shivering all over from being chilly not to mention petrified!), I was able to get back on the road headed due south towards Charlotte.
Georgia on my mind...
I stopped one more time after crossing the border into South Carolina. I didn't want to repeat that incident with one of SC's good old boys, so I caught some zzz's at a rest stop and waited for the sun to start coming up before moving on. At around 05:15 EDT the lights were starting to come on over SC and I headed out. The only thing standing between me and the end of my journey was a quick visit to the Clemson Cracker Barrel for some much needed food and coffee. Other than some standard Atlanta perimeter (I-285) traffic, I made it back to home-sweet-home by 10:30 EDT, about 20 hours after I had left...a full 4 hours longer than it usually takes to make that drive! None the worse for wear, I passed out happily in my own bed. Vacation was almost over and after my 3 week stay up north, I was back in the south for a while, ready for the next adventure :-)
Cheers!
M@
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