I’m behind the wheel more often than I’m hopping on flights these days. I’m not complaining. You have to have ninja-like reflexes and nerves of steel to survive the onslaught of security measures that accompany “modern air travel” now. (You want to pat me down where? Hi Ya!).
Driving is a walk in the park by comparison. It’s pretty nice actually. You get music and a big comfy seat and you can stop for a Starbucks anytime you want to. But it means some serious windshield time if you want to visit any major cities in the south. It’s not like the northeast where Boston, New York, Philly, DC and Baltimore all blurr into one giant megalopolis. In the south things are a little more spread out. Tulsa to OKC is 2 hours. That makes us next door neighbors. Tulsa to any other major city is 4-6 hours. Dallas, Little Rock, St. Louis, Kansas City — they’re a stone’s throw away. You know, “you just go down the road a country mile or so…”
So you learn how to get comfortable with “alone time” pretty quick. I’m an introvert so I do better with this than most. After an hour of quiet, though, I get fidgety. I check the iPhone, sip on some caffeine, monkey with the radio, rummage through the center console, play with the GPS and just generally start going bananas.
All preferable to air travel, mind you. But anything you do over and over again does tend to lead to a rut. I mean how many times can you listen to your favorite Judas Priest CD before you’re tempted to use it as a frisbee? Or better yet — use it as a Batman throwing star to take out imaginary bad guys at the toll booth?
Probably not a good idea. I think there’s a special kind of hell reserved for people who assault toll booth guys. I mean look at Toll Booth Willie here. How could you possibly whip a Judas Priest CD at him?
So what do you do to survive windshield time? Enquiring minds want to know…
Shaun
Shaun
Chris "TW"
