I spent all week getting my car ready for the road trip, including creating a lil' device that helps me get my car off the ground high enough to change the oil safely without the use of jacks. I thought it was pretty brilliant. :) Anyhow, with everything ready for my car (new windshield, inspection, new smart tag, wheels balanced/rotated, etc) I could finally load up all my gear and hit the trail.

It was 3pm before I had finally done my homework, cleaned up the apartment, washed the dishes, taken out the trash and loaded the car for the great unknown. The snow had changed to rain, and everything once soft and white was now getting heavy and wet with the pounding raindrops. I pulled onto the highway like any other day, but this time stayed on it a good ways longer. With “the DaVinci Code” playing disc 10 of 13, I was captivated and hoping that time would fly on my way across the snowy, great Commonwealth of Virginia.

Things slowed down considerably as I entered Rt 81 and drove among the trucks with their stupid “I have a hill coming up, but...yea! I can pass this other truck” posture. I loved just about everything about my Radford experience...except for the damned trucks on Rt 81. I stayed on for what seemed like forever, stopping briefly at Christiansburg to pick up 3 more audio books. 30 minutes after leaving Richmond, I had told Natalie she could expect to see me at 7:20. At 7:25 I was at the rendezvous point where she then led me through the ins and outs of Abingdon and finally to her spacious apartment, the size of a duplex at half of my rent/month. It was a really nice place that you could tell she took a great deal of pride in. She gave me the nickel tour, then we grabbed a bite and caught up. After dinner, I helped her work on a project for her first graders, and enjoyed arts-and-crafts time tremendously.

I was up at 6am, quickly slapping the alarm from an arm's reach of the most comfortable couch I'd ever slept on. Tom had called, intending on leaving a voicemail, I shocked him by answering at 6:30am. We got caught up about the transgressions of the prior week, and the seemingly underhanded way that our CEO dealt with the employees still remaining. I crossed into Tennessee at 7:30am and stayed on the road towards Nashville for a good 4 hours listening to “The Godfather Returns,” a new bestseller not written, but ”okayed” by Mario Puzo. The first half was awesome. It had some terrific writing, particularly in the author's creation of a new character in the Corleone 'family'. The story kept my attention all the way through the state of Tennessee. I didn't like the second half at all.

Around 11:30, I pulled into a hotel parking lot to use their wi-fi so I could post my homework assignment online for class. I'm glad that wi-fi is getting more readily available. It's working out well. After that, I got back on the road, this time, I headed off-route for Lynchburg, Tennessee, home of the Jack Daniels Distillery. The tour was led by a guy who had to be at least 65, with a rich Kentucky accent. You could hardly understand the guy, but his stories were hilarious. I could tell he took a lot of pride in his work, and it really showed- he had everyone rolling with his jokes about getting people drunk on the tour (even though it's a dry-county, you can sniff the 180-proof blend before it gets filtered and really feel drunk). It was a neat tour, and I was grateful that it is free- I think that might be the first free factory tour I've ever done. I'm glad I went. I needed the break.

It was dark by the time I got to Nashville, so I drove on through and eventually passed Memphis as well. Then, Little Rock... I called Michelle, who stayed up with me for two hours to help me figure out a hotel situation. She picked out a room for me! (complete with a fridge for my cold stuff and free wi-fi). THANK YOU SO MUCH, Michelle. I slept like a log.

So today, I'm in Texarkana, technically in Arkansas, but the other side of the street outside my window is Texas. I'm heading to Dallas/Ft. Worth tomorrow and will update more when...well, when I see what's out there!