Notes from the road...

• Pixel, 4/23: Avi is driving right now while I write this website. This is what I get for being pathetic and not writing it before we leave. I'm instead editing HTML at 70mph, and on't be able to upload it until we get to Barbara's place in Nashville tonight.
  On Saturday Avi & I installed the new hood on The Cat, that was the soonest it was possible, I'm going to be adding quotes the whole way down in hopes of getting in done before the parade. Then packed all of our stuff and headed off to Christa's place where we'd e staying the night and leaving from in the morning. Saturday night Christa and I worked trying to get her CB working (it was an old one borrowed from her father), but to no avail, it recieved but only transmitted intermittantly.

  Sunday morning we packed the cars and headed off at 8am, but made a few immediate stops. The first was to Wal*Mart to hopefully find a cheap CB there for Ecco like the one I had found for The Cat. No luck, little did we know we'd be seeing a lot more Wal*Mart's before the day was out. We also stopped at my mom's to pick up a few last minute things & mount the custom hood ornaments on the cars. With some fiddling we got Ecco's radio working again, unfortunately that lasted only until we got back to the highway.

  And so we drove, we were trying to push as far as we could today so that we'd have a shorter day on Mon and therefore more time to relax and work on the cars in Nashville. Lunch & a gas stop was had in Jersey a few miles shy of the PA border. After asking for directions from the gas attendant, we stopped at their local Wal*Mart once again in search of a CB for Ecco. Wal*Mart #2 didn't have it, and they called ahead to another Wal*Mart(#3) on our route which also didn't have it.

  Pennsylvania passed fairly quickly and quietly aside from a short but disturbing conversation about the Amish being a hotbed of gay subculture. In Maryland Christa (whom is lead car in this currently two car caravan) made an fast & unexpected exit from the highway. A screamed question into the CB got a one word explination, "WALMART!"

  A what a Wal*Mart it was, if it had been any bigger it would have needed it's own tram. Miraculous Wal*Mart #4 had the radio, as well as glass crayons which we used to declare 'Houston or Bust!' and 'Houston Bound!' on our back windows.

  With the new radio and inter-car communication now easily possible, we were off again. A few towns short of the halfway point to Nashville we pulled off at a truck stop for dinner & gas, and used that time to find a campground nearby for the night. Once on the road again though, the sun had set making it much more comfortable (it reached 89deg F t one point on the drive, and hovered around 82-84deg F for most of it, and neither of our cars have A/C), and we decided to push on further, and instead of stopping in Lexington Va, we ended up in Salem, about 50-60miles further south. The tent was set up and we bedded down for the night.

  Monday morning we awoke, showered and packed the cars and were on the road by 8:15am. Breakfast was had a Waffle House ('Over 400,000,000 waffles served'), and we topped off our tanks with $1.45 gas (the cheapest thus far). Right now we're on I-81south 44 miles from the I-40 interchange which we'll be taking west to Nashville.
  
  www.blert.net/thecat/t/houston/