Roy's big adventure

In deciding to make a trip across the country you have to decide on just how you are going to get there. Budget was a big part of my concern as most airlines wanted about $300 for tickets, bus fare just to a town nearby was $89 one way and then I would have to be dependent on people giving me rides to where I needed to go (I hate having to depend on others, it makes me feel needy). I found a good deal on a weekly car rental through work and figure it would be better to just drive out. Road trip with the tunes cranked up couldn't be a bad idea. It was going to be 12 and a half hours.

When I went to reserve the car I had an opportunity to get one with a navigation system in it but they wanted an additional $93 dollars to have one in the car for a week. I was thinking, hey I have an Android phone that should be able to give me directions plus I couldn't really afford to spend money on something like that. I could have bought a GPS system at Best Buy for about the same price and then it would be mine, the pricing on it was ridiculous. I lucked out that the car that I rented had the system already in it. The guy at the office told me that since I didn't request it that I would not be billed for it but I could use it if I wanted.

Well, I made the trip to Tennessee. It was actually alot of fun. It was 12 and a half hours out there and back but I think the trip did a lot of things to clear up my head. It gave me an opportunity and excuse to get out of town.

There is something about no longer looking at the same 4 walls everyday and putting some new surroundings around you. It helps to open your eyes. This is something that I haven't really done over the last 13 years of my marriage. I confined myself and slowly withdrew from the world and in the process closed myself off from the rest of the world. I have got to continue to work on getting out and doing things.

I got to my destination on Tuesday evening and called to let my friend know I was there. He came over with his fiancee (Jill) and they took me out to eat. I got to finally talk with his fiancee for the first time. I am friends with her Facebook since Raj doesn't have one. She was a pretty cool gal. We ended up dropping by a craft store for some ribbon that was being used to wrap fudge. We then dropped by her parent's house and hung around there listening to her dad playing sounds off of his iPod and playing name that band to a lot of older tunes. We didn't fare very well.

The next day they were all busy with the wedding and I woke up and watched some TV. I didn't have anything really planned for the day. I was spending time with my old friend (the television) and started to think about how I was in a completely different part of the country, did I really want part of my memory of being there to be how TV was still entertaining there? I knew that I needed to do something and the drive in through the really high hills and mountains was really pretty.

I had brought my laptop with me and the hotel had wifi so I typed in a search for scenic views in the area. I happened to catch a site that talked about something called "America's first scenic highway" that was only about a half hour's drive away from where I was. I figured that I needed to go and check it out. It a road that was created when the Tennessee Valley Authority was created decades ago. It was so pretty through there. I actually took some pictures through there and posted them on Facebook. Once I got through that highway it was only about another 20 miles to the North Carolina state line, since I was that close I figured I would go just so I could say that I did (and I did). I ended up going through 6 states in total (North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas).

Thursday was the wedding and I finally got to see the place that this happy occasion was taking place. It was a place called the Old Woolen Mill, it was a very industrial looking building that was run down but the inside hall was redone for receptions.

Throughout the course of the day I was asked several times by Jill's dad to help out, I found it an honor to be trusted to do all these things. The ceremony was gorgeous and to think that Raj have been friends over the phone but never saw each other in person until this trip out was pretty amazing. What a way to meet a good friend.

I plan on going back out that way sometime within the next few years on my bike. I will be a great way to spend a vacation. Perhaps even swing through Charlotte and see my favorite team's stadium and then off to the Smoky Mountains, very pretty country through there.

I drove back on Friday and I made a stop over in Little Rock. I got to meet another person that I was on the phone with at work all the time. (Sara). It was good to meet her. We ate at a little place called Great Wraps (they don't have one in Tulsa but they should because they were very good). I got to catch up with her. It was a lot of fun.

I traveled the rest of the way back to T-town. Got in rather late but it was good to be back home, back around my friends. Dropped by and took Karma for a ride in the car. She was kind enough to give me ride back to my car from the rental place on Saturday. That marked the end of my trip but surely not the end of my journey called life. It may be in mid-cycle but it is only the beginning...