Date: 2003-10-08
To: the journey north
Miles today: 0.0

i turned off my light and closed my eyes at 2:30 this morning. at 2:45, i opened my eyes, turned on my light, and got dressed in order to be in shoeless jon's truck and on the road by 3 a.m.yes. we hit the road at three o'clock this morning to make the long drive from north carolina to maine.my dad came out and bid me, shoeless jon, and mirabelle a sleepy farewell, before returning to the dark comforts of the house, waiting just long enough to see us pull out of the driveway before turning off the and going back to bed.as soon as we topped off the gas tank, both jon and i were out for the count -he in the front seat and me sprawled out in the back- with mirbelle behind the wheel, heading into the night. heading for I-95. heading for the great north. it is kind of surprising how few cars are on the road between the hours of 3 and 5. is it really? okay, so maybe it isn't.i opened my eyes at one point and noticed that we were cruising through richmond, virginia. how in the world were we already in richmond? we'd only been on the road for 2 1/2 hours and i'm pretty sure that it takes a little longer than 2 1/2 hours to get to richmond. (jon and i later asked mirabelle how fast she was going while we were asleep. her response was that she was just going with the flow. i don't know how much of a flow there is at 3 in the morning. she was the flow and she was making some serious time). at this rate we should have no problem getting to baxter state park before the gates close at 8:30 tonight.and, then we got to washington, dc, right at rush hour. and it ruined everything. well, not completely. not right away. since there were three of us we were able to take full advantage of the hov3 lane (high occupancy vehicle lane). we were just cruising by all of the everyday commuters. we had places to be. we didn't have time to sit in traffic. just cruising along, still making decent time, passing right by all of the early morning commuters that haven't quite figured out the concept of the hov3 lane. i know that if i were stuck in traffic morning after morning, trying my hardest to get to work on time, i would eventually look to my left and see people flying by me while i sat completely stopped. when i saw these people, i would want to find how and why they were able to be in that lane while i'm biding my time in a virtual parking lot. when i found out about the concept of the hov3 lane, you had better believe that i'd be making friends with the people that are in the cars around me every morning so that we could try this whole carpool thing. "hey. i say, hey you in the car beside me. what's your name? where do you live? alright. i'm going to come and pick you up tomorrow and we're going to ride in that lane over there and we're going to pass all of these suckers and it is going to be great." or, it's like shoeless jon said- if that didn't work out, you'd better believe i'd be taking my kids to work with me so that i would meet the 3 person quota and be able to ride in the fast lane. of course, the kids would have to find something to do while i was at work. maybe i could let them file papers or type up and send out memos or something.it took us two hours from the time we got into the outskirts of d.c. until we finally broke free and were headed for baltimore. washington, dc, killed our schedule. from that point on i had my doubts as to whether or not we would make it to baxter before the gates closed at 8:30. i didn't tell jon or miriam this because i didn't want them to be worried about it.the rest of maryland went off without a problem (except for the fact that we did have to take two or three exits before we finally found a gas station, even though every exit we took had a sign saying that there was a gas station. we would see the sign, take the exit, and just kidding- no gas station).ah, yes, maryland was trying its hardest to mess things up.i think that after we left maryland we may have driven through delaware. i'm not exactly sure, though. i know i saw the sign that said welcome to delaware, but i blinked and there was a sign welcoming me to new jersey. i guess that delaware is a pretty small state. does anyone even live in delaware?now, new jersey is shoeless jon's home state. yep. shoeless jon is a yankee. of course, you'd never know it by talking to him. i will say, though, that jon did seem to perk up a little bit as he drove across the state line. the blood running through jon's veins is new jersey through and through. and, as we were driving through new york city it definitely paid off to have a yankee behind the wheel. as we were coming out of a toll booth we realized that we were in the lanes of traffic that were heading into the lincoln tunnel, instead of the ones going across the washington bridge- which is where we wanted to be going. now, if i had been driving, i probably would have just gone through the tunnel, looked for a place to turn around, and fixed the problem that way.but, not jersey boy. as soon as we realized the problem that we were facing, jon cuts across three lanes of traffic and weaves between a row of orange cones to get us heading across the washington bridge- cutting off two tractor trailers, a garbage truck, and a car in the process.after that we made our way across connecticut, massachusetts, and new hampshire.just as the sun was starting to set we drove across the border into maine. what a grand state maine is. they call it vacationland and i can see why. i know that i would like to vacation in maine.if you're ever driving through maine, make sure you stop in the town of freeport. it will blow your mind. freeport is one big factory outlet store. well, freeport is actually a lot of factory outlet stores. i'm pretty sure that the town of freeport consists of factory outlet stores and nothing else. name a company and chances are that they have an outlet store in freeport. freeport is also home to the l.l. bean company. i think they have about six or seven square blocks worth of stores.we stopped off in one of the l.l. bean stores to try to find some fuel for my stove and some film for my camera (two things i somehow forgot to pack at 2:30 this morning). they didn't have the fuel that i needed, but the guy there was nice enough to help me find some at a home depot in bangor. as a matter of fact, they were all nice. every single person we talked to in maine was nice. it is just a nice state. they need to change it from vacationland to niceland.at 10:30, we finally pulled up to the gates at baxter state park- long after they'd closed for the night. shoeless jon hopped out of the truck to see if there was a way to drive around the gate. he noticed that although the gate was closed, it wasn't actually locked. so, jon opened the gate and we drove right in. we drove past the gatehouse (i told jon to make sure they gave the ranger ten dollars when they left in the morning) and found our way to the roaring brook campground. i'd reserved a campsite for us, but we had no way of knowing which one it was. so, we found one that wasn't being used, claimed it as our own, and finally called the long drive to maine- over.twenty hours ago we said good-bye to my dad in greensboro. tomorrow jon and miriam start the drive back to asheville (by way of new york city- where they are going on a hot date. i tell you- shoeless jon is a smooth operator. then, they are headed to knoxville to see pat green put on a free concert. then, they are headed back to asheville).tomorrow i begin the long walk south. tomorrow my adventure will truly be underway. tomorrow.