Maiden Voyage in the Mazda

Shockingly, we both were up by 7:15-7:30 a.m., much earlier than the 8 a.m. wake-up call we planned. After stuffing all of our bags into the car, we finally were on the road by 9:30.


The first few hours through Florida were cake.

TWITTER UPDATE: Car naps are the best! Hello, Gainesville.

There was some sporadic bouts of rain, but the hurricane-force winds didn't kick in until we passed the Georgia border.

TWITTER UPDATE: Omg I think I just saw a dead otter! Oh wait... That's a raccoon... It is i10



It. Rained. The. Entire. Time. Georgia border straight through North Carolina. Not to mention, throughout Georgia we were chased by an 18 wheeler we creatively dubbed "Scary Truck."


After a few hours, I decided we needed to name the GPS. I figured that we would be making close bonds with the little machine that would be guiding us to Maine and back; he at least deserved a title.

Me: hmm... How about Jesus? He lead people in the right direction, right?
Court: Dude, no. I'm Catholic... We can't name a GPS Jesus. that's like... sacreligious.
Me: Okay, how about Jesús (hay-zeus)? So its not like "Jesus" its "Jesús!"
Court: No.
Me: Okay, how about Captain Jesús?
Court: No.
Me: Captain J?
Court: Okay. Captain J.


We ended up filling up the gas tank 3 times from Fort Myers to Fayetteville, including once at a place called "El Cheapo"

TWITTER UPDATE: At a redneck Citgo a few miles outside J-ville. Called the attendant "sir." Her name was Janice.

TWITTER UPDATE: Scariest gas station ever. Location tweet just in case. http://myloc.me/2D00

TWITTER UPDATE: Safely dodged the cracked out homeless man.. Back on the road without a hitch.


TWITTER UPDATE: Peace out GA; what's up, SC?

The only things we saw off the exit we took in South Carolina was an abandoned elementary school and this place:

A GROCERY STORE IN A TRAILER.

Note to self: Never visit South Carolina ever again.

TWITTER UPDATE: Note to self don't take country back roads in south carolina. Bad idea!


Finally at the conclusion of the first leg of our journey, we found ourselves COMPLETELY mislead by Captain J.

Its 11:30 p.m. in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Courtney and I have been driving in the pouring rain for almost 13 hours. Captain J has been leading us around in circles, finally leading to a dead end with no hotel in sight.

I finally decide to call the hotel we had reservations with. It was nearing midnight and the cheerfulness of the lady who answered the phone (compared with my exasperated frustration in a foreign state) successfully pissed me off.

Me: "Hi, we're trying to find your hotel, however our GPS took us to Morgantown Road and there is a detour... we're lost."
Hotel lady: "A detour? What? Oh, also, you can't find our hotel with a GPS. Our address takes a GPS to the completely wrong direction. We don't know why. Take College to Janice make a second left and follow the road. See you soon!"

Oh right, take a bunch of roads we are not whatsoever familiar with in a town - and a state - neither myself nor Courtney have ever set foot in. Much less after an entire day on the road in a tsunami and the only fuel in our systems consists of Baked Lays, trail mix, KFC and Red Bull.

After a few turns relying only on luck, we stop at a sketchy looking BP station to hopefully get directions.

TWITTER UPDATE: GPS can't find hotel. Call hotel, lady says hotel can't be found by GPS. Cool. Now we are lost and exhausted and lost.

The attendant was behind a thick pane of bullet-proof glass and the customers who were lurking by the pumps worried me, but we got our directions and finally are sitting in our hotel room.

TWITTER UPDATE: Thank you toothless gas station lady for directions. Home sweet hotel. @johncmayer on Conan, blog then bed.

A little John Mayer Trio on the Tonight Show and bed.

Tomorrow, we are conquering the 5 hour trip to Washington, D.C. to stay with Courtney's sorority sister at George Washington University.

Night!

p.s.

in case you don't already know, we are going to camp in Maine to be counselors (not twenty-year-old campers). Be back in August!