The Trip That Was! : Chapter 2

Chapter2: Day2

I am driving at 100 miles an hour, on I10 where speed limit is 70 over Alabama, I am pulled over by a cop, arrested on the spot the that speed for 'culpable homicide' and I wake up sweating. (That was a little bit drama to spice things up)

Well that set the tone for my day on the second day for my driving.
I start from Pensacola, FL and drive all the way to Alabama. driving around 50 miles or so, I see a green board appear in front of me, "Welcome to Alabama".
Every state end on a interstate has an immediate rest area and a tourist center.
I pulled over on the Alabama tourist center, and I was greeted with an amazing view. 30-40 Honda cruiser bikes stood there in different colors and with different sized people sitting on those (size ranging from size 0 to oversized load). Got out of the rest area and headed straight for Mississippi, after 70 miles or so, I was at another rest area, this time border of Alabama and Mississippi.. Nothing much to say about the route around Alabama, it was all green and beautiful.. no curves on the road, it was straight as all roads in US.. but somehow, I am not sure if it was the car, or my love to drive, I was enjoying the drive. Partly because I was raining all trou' this time.




After leaving Alabama, and Mississippi, 1 hour down, I was in Louisiana - the rain did not stop.





I was in search of Lunch when one exit indicated a subway close by. Took the exit and moved in 6 miles inside and found no subways, darn exit board was wrong. Doing so, I reached a god forsaken land, with no person in the neighborhood. The next thing I decided was to head back to Interstate (Guess a logical decision was finally made for the first time in the trip).
Guess what, a minute later I had GPS up and running, showing a subway the next exit. packed in 2 large veggie subs and started towards my destination - the desert.



Louisiana had one of the most amazing bridges I had ever seen. The Atchafalaya (don't even try pronouncing that unless a visit to dentist is due) Swamp Freeway. most bridge run perpendicular to a river, this one ran over a river. The bridge ran for almost 20+ miles and driving over it was a pleasure. with swamps on the sides and water beneath you and all your future greatness relying on a cement structure called

bridge.








Crossed Louisiana and reached Texas. This was the most confusing drive I had. Interstate 10 is a toll free road which passes trou Huston. In Huston I10 becomes Katy freeway, which is a toll road with no toll booths, you are required to have some kind of ez pass which ofcourse I did not have. That means - toll violation. and trust me I had to shut down the GPS, the lady in the GPS went wild recalculating every 2 mins as she did not know the concept of tollway.. - That was probably I went mad at a lady with lovely voice.

Huston downtown was awesome. One of the best skylines I have seen, probably because I had to drive 1200 miles to see it.



My Mustang was galloping toward San Antonio and It was already 9PM. Had to pullover at a hotel asap, and San Antonio (where I was at that time, was the last place I would stay - Its expensive).

Drove for another 1 hour or so and reached Kerrville (I had read that after this point, the speed limits on roads is 80 miles per hour in the day and 65 in the night).
SO this was the best place I could halt so that I can go flat out the next morning.

Got help from my buddies and found out some hotels (I asked them to figure out the least expensive - a expression for cheap - hotel for me.)
I called up each of them, and found out the least expensive one was a "Days Inn" in Kerrville which was priced at 68 for the night.

Reached the hotel and found a 'desi' (expression for a fellow Indian) there. A very sweet lady she being, gave me a 20$ discount since we were from the same country. (probably she was sweet because I got a discount).

I had managed 800 miles on day two and had almost 1000 miles to do on day three.

My journey reminds me of the Indian cricket team, Starts brilliantly (first 3 hours of my journey - 250 miles) then goes slow, first day 650 miles, then goes slower in the middle overs - thanks dravid - 800 on day two, and has a zillion runs for the last 10 overs, in my case 1000 for the last day..

This thought put me to sleep right away.

A Trip That Was! - Part1

The trip that was!

It all started 2 months back when I was told I was to move to Phoenix from Fort lauderdale on a different assignment.
While the change in assignment was slightly disheartening having worked with this team for over three years, it was inevitable.

To move to Phoenix, I had a choice,
First - I get on a boring flight (southwest?!) - Send my luggage to this place via USPS - Send my car in one of those huge trucks that carry 20+ cars.
Second - I put all that luggage in my car - Drive that car all the way to phoenix.

While the first option was boring, the second one was scary. First of all, my car had 65000 miles on it. Secondly I would be driving alone. Thirdly, its summer and half of my driving distance was to be on deserts (Roads get really hot). Finally, mechanics were to write off my car tires in the next 2000 miles.




After much mental debate and frontal lobe abuse of my brain, which lasted roughly 10 seconds my decision was made. I was driving to Phoenix.

After much thought and deliberation, which again lasted a few seconds, I finalized the routes to Phoenix.
Here is the Detailed details of the plan.
- Trip distance - 2465 miles.

- Routes taken: Florida Turnpike to Interstate 75 to Interstate 10 to Phoenix, AZ.

- Rest Locations: Any, including rest areas along the highway.

- Fuel Locations: Every 200 miles (Read on, I sorely underestimated Ford engines)

As always, its my style of exaggeration, the remaining of the experience goes in chapters.

Chapter 1: Day1.

I opened up Google maps, and gave the two addresses I would be traveling to. It showed me I will pass trou Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico. Well this includes Florida and Arizona as the source and destination respectively.

Let me jump a day back if I may (I will).
The previous night I was to finish packing, and go to bed at 6PM so that I can start at 5AM in the morning next day.
I was under the impression that third day you cannot cover the distance you covered the second day, and second day you cannot cover the distance covered the first day.

So, I finish packing at 9PM, go out for a quick dinner in some eat out, come back by 11PM, bid good bye to friends and got to bed at 12:30PM.

Read on, if you are not bored yet, the screw-up just began.

Next morning I get up at 8 AM (Royally, I admit), finish of loading my luggage at around 9AM. Get ready, have breakfast

and start around 10AM - A 5 hour delay to start with.

I get on the car, start it .....Whirrrrrrrzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (fast forward), reach Orlando and get on to one of my favourite food chains - Chipotle.



Done with Chipotle, I again start off with my drive towards I75 and .....Whirrrrrrrzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz - I reach I10 at around 6EST and I am blasting my way towards Tallahassee( FL state capital).



7 PM EST I am in Tallahassee


and around 9 Central I reach Pensacola, FL which is the last city in Florida. I decide to rest in this location and finish off my day one of the journey. I had just completed 654 miles in day1 - A huge deviation from what I had originally planned (1000 miles on the first day).

I go to Hampton Inn and Suites book a room and finally decide to call it a day at 10CST.



 
 
 
 

The Skydive Chronicles - Dive 1

Thursday, April 9th 2009,
This is when me and my roomie planned the ultimate adventure. Both were skeptic about the dive, but went ahead. There were a lot of talks about the deaths, injuries possible with the dive, but then it would not be called a extreme sport otherwise – correct?

We booked a slot for 1:00PM for saturday.

Saturday, April 11th 2009,
10AM: This is when the sun shines for us. I got up, having slept for just 4 hours, thanks to the anxiety and anticipation of sky-dive.
12PM: We are on our way to sky-dive Miami. The drive to homestead was beautiful, a typical country side drive in US. The roads were two lane as usual but driving was fun nevertheless barring a few retards who read the speed signs wrongly.
1PM: We are at our destination. I park my car just outside their office and start walking towards our destination which by this time is just a few yards away. I observed the plane in which we are supposed to takeoff, which is a 6 seater without seats! And is standing in the runway…
We reach the office where we are initially shown a video, where this person in a huge beard comes and tells us the ‘negatives’ of sky diving! What does the ‘negatives’ include? A few stories of death, lots of stories of injury, and primarily implying that in case of an eventuality the company conducting skydives is not responsible for anything – not even medical coverage! Talk about confidence inspiring!
We complete our paperwork required, basically sign the “If I die, its my fate” documents.
By this time, the confidence left over in me is almost over, with just a few drops of it remaining for the jump…
It was still not time for us…
2:00PM: our ‘agreement’ was all signed and we were told that it will be another 2 hours before we are ready to go. We left for Quizzinos (another burger joint if you may call it) to have our sub (lunch if you may call that).
4:30PM: we reach our location only to find that there are 2 more batches to go before us. Well this was not the frustrating part, but the anxiety buildup and the feeling of ‘can I do it?’ that was building up with the passing time was the frustrating part..
5:30PM: The good news arrives. We are next ones to go. We head straight to the dressing room, where our ‘dressers’ are waiting, and they hand us our blue jumpsuits. They complete the formalities by securing the safety harness and stuff, and we – are – ready – to ----- GO!
5:45PM: This is when I meet my instructor ‘Randy’ [More about him in the next part] who was very optimistic about my safe return and maximum fun, and my photographer (I was so tensed that I did not remember her name) [How did I remember Randy’s? his name was on the certificate]. I was literally out of color just before I boarded the flight, and there was a constant ring in my head which sounded like ‘I should go back’.
5:50PM: The flight takes off, and I can see the runway getting smaller and smaller with each passing second. This was somehow a confidence booster. Weird? – You haven’t known me if you felt it sounded weird.
The time freeze: After a 10 – 15 min flight (I still don’t remember how long it was), we reach an altitude of 13500 ft. My altimeter, which has markings till 11, then starts back at 0 to denote 12 shows 1.5 i.e 13500 ft. This was another confidence booster. Now that you are familiarizing with what you may call weird.
At 13500, the doors of the aircraft opened, Randy secured me to him, and we inched forward towards the door, When I was inching forward, I could barely feel my feet moving forward, I was so numb at that point, all the confidence I had built up during the flight, just vanished. When I reached the door, I looked down, I saw clouds, Just below me! I heard a motor roar from inside (that was my adrenaline factory starting) and I was R E A D Y!
The best part of skydiving is the one moment, when you are just outside the door, your hand on your chest, your body outside the door, your instructor who is still inside. You feel suspended high in the air for the next few words – Ready – Set – Arch, and then when you are still feeling the cold air hitting your face, you feel the speed build up and you are on your way down!
I could not believe myself, I saw I was amongst the clouds, just like a bird who is swooping down to get its prey, That was when I saw my photographer, she was feet away from me, and was doing all tricks she could do.. I tried saying ‘YESSSS I DID IT’ but guess what, my voice drowned in the wind! – If I say I LOVED IT, I am grossly understating what I felt.
After some time of freefall, the parachute opens up and I felt I was pulled back by a truck! And then it was glide down to the landing point with the setting sun.. I was in a state of euphoria! A feeling that cannot be imagined, and can never be explained with a few words that have gone in here…

Somebody once told me, 350 is a huge amount for a dive, I would say, If I had to re-live that moment, I can spend that amount any number of time..

I booked my second trip, that very day.

Oh yes, Randy did tell me that he was skydiving for 23 years!