9pm
Budget Inn, Route 1
Border of Virginia & North Carolina
Woke up around 6:30 and went to a place with internet access to upload yesterday's post. I had a few technical issues that gave me a late start, and I didn't leave Baltimore until just before 8. Took this picture as I was on my way.
About 1.5 hours later I was in the outskirts of DC. A missing road sign led to some confusion which wasted almost a half hour. I've always liked DC in the few times that I've visited, so I didn't mind getting lost too much. Route 1 goes right through downtown onto Constitution Ave,the next to the Mall. It then turns left at 14th, and passes by the Washington Monument.
I initially just took a picture of it, and was going to drive off, but had to use the facilities, and walked up to a little bathroom stand next to the monument. There were two asian tourists taking photos of each other. I asked them to take one of me. One guy took a couple, then told me his friend was a pro, and handed it off to the other guy. The second guy took the picture here. I think it came out well.
I prefer to listen to the radio when stuck in traffic, and Northern Virginia had plenty of it. I also generally like to listen to local radio when I'm traveling so that I can tune in to what the locals are tuninng into. In fact, I even recognized one modern country gem from a different route trip I was on in August. Its called "Waitin' on a Woman". I can't remember the singer's name, and I'm not online right now, otherwise I'd look it up as I'm sure you're dying to find out. The first time I heard it, the DJ said it was really sweeping the nation, so I took notice. Its about how this guy has been waiting (excuse me, waitin') on this girl ever since they were childhood friends. They're married now, but he's still waitin' on her all the darn time. Don't worry though, he does't mind waitin' because he loves her very much.
I think I've decrypted the way country stations set up their programming:
dumb love song
dumb love song
song about Jesus
dumb love song
dumb love song
song about America
repeat cycle
I also heard a modern country rendition of modern Aerosmith's "I still miss you". I'm glad someone decided to take the two worst things ever, modern Aerosmith & modern country, and put the two together. Unfortunately, the two negatives did not cancel each other out.
So I was flipping between that and the talk stations. There was a compelling discussion about what happens when a child dies in infancy and goes to heaven, but their parents only show up in heaven years later. Does the child stay the same age, or is the child all grown up? After much consideration, the moderator and his two guests decided that they really didn't know, but assured the listeners that God had a very clever plan for such cases. A plan that assured maximum satisfaction for all parties involved. They just weren't sure what that plan was. I was relieved.
The road passed through Fredericksburg, VA. I've been on this stretch of Route 1 before, stuck there for several days in fact. One of our shitty tour vans broke down, and had to have a new engine ordered & put in. We had about 3 or 4 days to kill waiting for that engine, and jokingly went to the Hooters nearby. They had strikingly awful service, and we told the guys working on our van about it. They laughed, and said that there were tricks being run out of that place, and that being in the know was pretty much the only way to get served.
Not much to report from Richmond. Drove through the outskirts. It was there. I took a picture while stopped at a red light.
After that, things got very rural. I went half hour stretches without seeing any cars behind or ahead of me. No businesses, neighborhoods, nothing. I would pass through a town here & there, but there wasn't a whole lot to write about. I'd love to tell you how beautiful it was, except it wasn't really beautiful.
The sun was setting at about quarter to five. I say that figuratively because it's been overcast on the whole trip so far. Like Johnny Cash, I haven't seen the sunshine since I don't know when. I drove up to the North Carolina border. Here's a photo of the Virginia's Welcome Center.
Luckily, only about 200 yards later there was a Citgo station and a Budgent Inn.
It was the first motel in a couple of hours on the route. I rang the bell. A nice Indian man came out and said I looked tired. He sold me a very cheap room. I stupidly asked him if there was anything like a sports bar around (there was a football game on the NFL network I wanted to watch). He looked at me like I had 3 heads, and said no, but that I could buy beer at the Citgo station. This place really is in the middle of nowhere. It's completely quiet outside, with a car passing every 5 minutes or so. I was the only guest until about 5 minutes ago when I heard another car arriving. Anyways, I was hoping for hard booze or wine to knock me out, but beer works too. I brought my Heineken six pack back in the room, and realized that I accidently bought 7oz bottles! They feel like nips of beer. This is also worth a mention... there are 10 TV channels that come in...CNN, HBO, couple others regulars...and then the Playboy channel. Not Pay per View or anything, its just channel 9. Don't believe me? here's proof...
If you're still reading, thank you. I really need to crash and get sleep. I hope I can make it to Jacksonville tomorrow, but that's probably overambitious.
We will see. ...and here's a picture of me pretending that I don't know there's a picture being taken even though its me taking it with the self timer.
Oh, last but not least...when I wasn't listening to shitty local radio, I chose these excellent albums to keep me company.
Art Ensemble of Chicago - Les Stances A Sophie
Funkadelic - Funkadelic
Bootsy Collins - Live in Louisville
The Unseen - Lower Class Crussifixion
Alice In Chains - Dirt
Murphy's Law - Murphy's Law/Back with a Bong.
that asian tourist's friend really was a pro. that picture is truly triumphant. sorry 'bout the nips!
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