Crammed into a car for the majority of our waking hours, listening to about 28
CDs while in the car, stopping only for "
pit stops" and sleep, my roommate, two neighbors (his girlfriend and her roommate), and I traveled down the eastern seaboard for a
road trip. We sped down
I-95 in my roommate's 1994 black
Ford Escort, which had the thermometer riding the little red "H", indicating that our engine was dangerously
overheating.
Through all this, we managed not to get on each other's nerves. This was not surprising, given the cramped space, hours on the road, and inability to get any privacy.
A quick run-down of our trip:
Day 1: We leave from 14th Street, NYC, and fight traffic through the Holland Tunnel. We speed through NJ as quickly as possible. Once we reached Delaware, we were safely away from the stench of the "armpit of America." In Delaware, we shopped at CostCo, then hit a mall and bought "Insanity Hot Sauce." At this "Hot Stuff" stand in the mall, we asked for the hottest stuff they had. They proceeded to ask us if we were over 21 and informed us that we'd have to sign a waiver. So we asked for the second hottest sauce. We stayed over in the University of Delaware, at my roommate's friend's place. Videotaped my roommate's girlfriend snoring.
Day 2: We leave Delaware and drive through rush hour traffic in Virginia. After a few hours, we make it to Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. The hotel decision process relied on whether the place had an indoor heated pool or not. The Sleep Inn was the lucky hotel. We had dinner at Shoney's Restaurant and got back to the hotel too late to go to the pool. The girls told us that we'd get up early the next morning and swim until we had to check out. Of course, it didn't happen.
Day 3: Final destination- Savannah, Georgia. We stay at my roommate's friend's place. We get a walking tour, focused around the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). What I found fascinating was the Spanish moss growing on all the trees. Oh, and there was a stench there, too. That night, we played board games. NYU proved its might as it crushed SCAD at 3 consecutive games of Cranium. The videotape of charades was classic.
Day 4: We head back north and make it to my friends' place in Raleigh, NC. There, we played football at NCState. I got reacquainted with a family that used to live next door to me until they moved down there. Their family includes a 20 year old girl who is 6'4", an 18 year old girl who is 5'11", and a 17 year old boy around 6'9"-10".
Day 5: We reach the capital of our great (if faltering) nation. We stay at the Catholic University of America. Imagine my discomfort being an atheist in that setting. We ate some really spicy pasta at Fuzio's on Connecticut Ave. Then we went to XandO and made smores. Then we just burned shit.
Day 6: Before leaving Washington, DC, we did the tourist thing. Also plotted an event for the inauguration of Bush. We were gonna have thousands of college students show up, feigning the support of Bush until the actual inauguration then start a chorus of "Put it in your mouth... your motherfucking mouth..." But we were too lazy to organize that. Well, finally, the last leg of the trip. 1,790 miles later, we were back in our dorm on 14th Street, ready to go back to our normal routines.
At the end of the trip, we ended up with "ass nicknames". I was "bare ass". My roommate was "sweet ass".
And one more thing I learned (that shocked me): Southerners are damned nice-- and cute, to boot.