Notes on the Drive '04: Atlanta to

- I'm north of Atlanta now, Thursday at quarter after 8 pm, having left early. I'm feeling a little guilty about it, wondering if I'm being selfish. I am feeling tired and run down. All day, every couple hours.

- Sunset behind the mountain, through Dalton GA.

- Traffic and commuting, Andy's idea: people behave like sperm, all trying to get to their destination, the egg, as quick as possible without impediment. Not too many sit back and go slow and enjoy the ride.

- I just got an extremely light-headed feeling, everything appearing very distorted and sequential all of a sudden, driving through the mountains of TN. You know I'm having fun on this drive. I'm not sure what I think about that trip yet. There was never, we did a couple small tasks, but it definitely wasn't what I had in mind, which was a nice big comfortable place to record. We didn't record a thing all week.

- Lightning in the dark valley of the Smoky Mtns.

- The Cumberland Gap was full of a dewy humid fog, but then it always is.

- I drank half a bottle of orange juice and then refilled it with the only tap I had as part of my person.

- What RAW said is right. Because your brain latches onto a certain reality tunnel, the best thing you can do is create a new reality tunnel for yourself every day, a reality tunnel that is smarter, funnier, and sexier than the one of the day previous.

- Giant stone cross in Huntsville, TN through the Smokies. At least three stories tall. And around it are billboards for fireworks. Two ferris wheels lit by white xmas tree lights.

- And the next exit is Stinking Creek Road.

- In Atlanta I met a fellow with non-income-tax reporting job and a JR "Bob" Dobbs tattoo on his back. Shirtless, surfer haircut, other tattoos.

- Driving through the fog, the orange and white lane walls, concrete walls, shifting lanes, broken pavement, NMH on the radio.

- Even with other cars and trucks on the road coming into Ky it's really dark. And with the opaque bug splatters on the windshield, the smears, and the humidity it makes driving difficult. Trucks all trying to pass you and shit. The hills, the ups, downs, and fog.

- Winchester, Ky nearing Lexington. Aphex Twin kicks in. The little bit of rain we had lifts. I'm ready for a refuel stop in Lexington to see if Fate has anything in store for me. Back on this familiar drive. Odd times, or it feels odd anyway, under these gray and black storm clouds visible even in the night sky.

- One incident, anecdote, or story will have to suffice in representing everything that happened during that period and place.

- The incident with the pump that does not automatically shut off when you're finished fueling has gas pouring down the side of the car. The shop was closed, the clerk only interacting through plexiglass. I had an intuition not to wait to get my junk food. That's when I found the accident occurring. I drove off stepping over all the gas running like a creek around the pump islands. The gas that got on my hand when returning the nozzle I rinsed off from my water bottle at 70 mph hanging both hands out the car window.

- Schedule a massage.

- After complaining about the bug splatters I got a tiny bit of rain, just enough to clear the windshield.

- The night is a dark red burgundy around Barnes Rd, a new exit in this booming area, running with a broken shut off down the side of the car.

- My idea for NaNoWriMo: have plotted and prepared my blockbuster novel that I'm going to write for the market using my idea about a skip tracer. Have it all plotted, and all the char conflict and drive, all the predictable shit outlined. I can spice it up with my guided synchronicities, make it a little different. There is a how to book about blockbusters I need to read.