i’m too lazy to write about the roadtrip, so i’ll just show you a cool movie instead.
this slick slideshow was created by animoto. unfortunately the free version only allows you to make 30 sec clips. you have to pay for “full-length” animations. i’ll eventually take the dive and pay for it (but right now i’m poorer than destitute). so you guys will have to satisfy yourselves with this and the imaginings of more to come.
Yesterday we drove from st louis to philly (16 hrs) just to resolve the debate on which is the better cheesesteak, pat’s or gino’s. With a random taste test, the votes are in: 2 for pat’s and 2 for gino’s w/ one abstaining. Caveat: 3 out of 5 said that they both are so-so.
Some were taking a tour of the gibson guitar factory while j* and i sat at this starbucks. We think we had the better hour.
last night in new orleans, we stayed in the dirtiest/worst hotel that i’ve ever been. this is quite remarkable because i’ve traveled alot and have seen my fair share of cheap lodgings. but never have ever stayed in a room where i literally slipped off of the toilet due to a seat that wasn’t even attached to the basin; never have i seen a floor that was so disgusting that i dared not to take off my sneakers (even while changing pants!); and NEVER have i been awoken at 5am in the morning by a chorus of dog howls coming from the adjacent room. let me repeat: there were freggin’ dogs that were whimpering and howling all night long! everytime someone passed their room, they whimpered and howled in a very sad way–i think their owner (whoever he is), locked them in there and never let them out. i want to call the spca on them. but that’s beside the point: the point is that there were an iditorod team in our hotel!
obviously, we didn’t sleep well that night.
we went to cafe du monde for some breakfast fare and to caffeinate our sluggish bodies. [break: we wrapped up our new orleans trip, and headed for memphis]
we were driving on I-55 and having the usual road trip conversation (h* was trying to convince me that mississippi’s official beverage is milk), when a silver honda passed us from the right lane. after making the pass, the car continued to drift onto the grass in the median. but the next thing was crazy: the car took a sudden right turn, cutting across our car, and heading toward the grassy embankment on the right–he’s obviously lost control. i will never forget the next few moments: the car crashed into the embankment and flipped 2.5 times–after the first flip, i saw a man thrown from the car (his body flying parallel to the highway, as if doing a cartwheel midair).
we stopped our car a few yards ahead–other motorists stopped as well. we walked back to the crash site and miraculously, all three guys were alive and outside of the car. they were all conscious, and if it weren’t for a few broken bones, they were all ok. the car, of course, was totaled. a trucker called for help, and when an emt arrived, we went back to our cars–shaken, and glad that what we just witnessed wasn’t tragic. those were some lucky guys!
needless to say, we took it easy for the rest of our trip to memphis.
quote of the day:
“when your fart smells like dry rub, you might be eating too much bbq” – H*
we’re in new orleans tonight–and my first impressions of this city: its pretty cool, but i definitely have come to understand “dirty dirty south” in several new ways!
my internet connection is flakey, so i won’t be posting pictures up tonight. tomorrow, more walking around new orleans and then we’re off to memphis (for no particular reason).
this trip has been a blast so far. right now, the other guys are hanging out in atlanta, and i’m taking it easy for the night (it will be explained shortly). but we were discussing over dinner how we’ve lost a sense of time–how this trip has felt like its been a week already, and we’re only into our second full day. so things have been intense–and needless to say, we haven’t (well, i haven’t) been sleeping well. last night, i think i got 2.5 hours of sleep–maybe it was because i can’t sleep in cars; maybe it was because of the flora of human gases that were expelled last night; maybe it was because we slept in a freggin’ parking lot (its called bob-tailing for those who are curious). whatever the reason, i think my health has suffered for it: today, i felt a sharp pain in my adams-apple area. it felt like someone was poking me with a sharp pencil in that area. and it wasn’t a one-time thing where i could blame it on the conditions of my “bed” last night. it actually persisted all morning and into the afternoon. i was pretty freaked out by it, so i called my oncologist to make sure that this was “normal”. but he didn’t know what to make of it either–which kind of freaked me out a bit. we’re going to observe it for the next couple of days, and eventually, i think he’s going to order a cat scan of the region.
the pain has subsided–its been many hours since the last occurance. but i’m going to take it easy tonight (and the rest of the trip), and hope that i don’t have to cut this trip to nowhere in particular short. in the meantime, can someone PLEASE send cancer the memo that i’m on vacation?!
11-09-08 update: i slept in a very comfortable bed, and most (read 99%) of the pain has gone away. there’s a little lingering tightness which may be associated w/ my lymph nodes, but i’ll def. check in with my dr tomorrow. tonight, i’ll try sleeping in a proper bed again and see if we can get that remaining 1%.
i can’t embed my flickr photos into this blog, so you guys will just have to view the pictures here:
roadtrip to nowhere in particular
i’ll try to post new pictures each day
I’ve been receiving requests to upload prettier pictures…and admittedly this pic isn’t that nice but its alot nicer than the last one i posted. We spent this beautiful day in the shenandoah national park, so when we get settled i’ll show you the goods (jill!).
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