Where the Wind Comes Sweeping

Reconsidering stopping in OKC. May blow straight through -- so to speak -- and onto Route 66.

Stats:

Crossed into Oklahoma at 11:30AM CT. 1,313 total miles traveled.

Most Recently on the Playlist:

BT -- Good Morning Kaia

The Dead Weather -- Treat Me Like Your Mother

Elton John -- Tiny Dancer

Listening Post

A good night's sleep followed by a cup of early-morning coffee with my hotel room benefactor, Josh, who's a terrific guy I can't thank enough. Almost time to hit the road again, heading west toward Oklahoma City where I'll likely stop for lunch and to see an afternoon showing of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Beyond that, who knows? Why make plans?

Here's Morcheeba's Enjoy the Ride.

High Plains Drifter

Driving pretty much all day. A couple of good stops, including Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga and just outside Nashville for lunch with Offspring drummer and extraordinarily great guy Pete Parada. Crossed into Arkansas at 7:38PM CT. Now finally stopped for the night after being delayed on an I-40 reduced to one prehistorically bumpy lane for several miles. Where am I? Little Rock. At the Courtyard Marriott, compliments of a very nice reader/listener named Josh. I'm saying this out loud only in the hope that Monica Lewinsky is still somewhere in the neighborhood, because given how exhausted I am right now I could totally handle a Clinton-style Happy Ending.

First, though, a drink. Yes, I need that.

Stats:

Arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas at 9:00PM CT. 1,112 total miles traveled.

Most Recently on the Playlist:

Aerosmith -- Draw the Line

Faces -- I'm Losing You

Underworld -- Beautiful Burnout

It Was All a Dream About Tennessee

My God -- it's full of Cracker Barrels.

Stats:

Left Atlanta at 8:32AM EST, crossed into Tennessee at 9:51AM. 603 total miles traveled.

Most Recently on the Playlist:

Moby -- Shot in the Back of the Head

Ryan Adams -- Shadowlands

Matthew Good -- How It Goes

Listening Post

Day 2 begins. Onward, upward and westward.

Here's Led Zeppelin doing Going To California.

Short Change

Pulled into Atlanta at around 5PM. Dinner at Miller Union. Farm egg baked in celery cream with rustic toast, pork and peanut terrine with fig and bacon, and chocolate bread pudding with rum sauce and crème fraîche. Also a cocktail. The place is located a literal stone's throw from where I once lived. I could honestly stick my head out a window and see the loft apartments Jayne and I called home directly across the street. I drove around Atlanta for a while. Never really noticed what a beautiful city it is. People everywhere. 52 degrees, so bundled up just enough. Omnipresent holiday lights providing a cheerful glow. Restaurants and bars and stores and theaters. There's a new black box theater directly behind my old apartment. Just part of the monumental change that's taken hold in that neighborhood. It's no longer "up-and-coming," as it was once pitched to us. It's now very much arrived. I thought. Thought a lot. I still wonder sometimes what would have happened had I not taken the job in New York. If my wife and I had stayed in Atlanta. In our lovely loft. With our dog. And my good job. Would we still be together? Would things have been different? Is there a parallel universe in which we never left? Never drifted apart? Never broke up? Could I walk up the stairs in my old building, find a key, put it in a lock and walk into my old life? Would she be there? The person I once thought I knew. I miss that person sometimes. But she never actually existed. So if she was a phantom anyway, why can't she still be there? Up there. In that apartment. Waiting. The future I imagined for myself ready to be unlocked and lived, exactly as I'd hoped. But I know that's not possible. The past is meaningless. There's no going back. There are no do-overs. There's only here. Now. This. And forward. I leave in the morning.

Stats:

Stopped in Atlanta for the night. 532 miles total. End of Day 1.

Most Recently on the Playlist:

Death Cab for Cutie -- Passengers Seat

Elliott Smith -- Twilight

Liz Longley -- Little White House

Just Peachy

Clermont, FL: To see this appear in my rearview mirror and pull alongside me -- it's gotta be a sign. Kowalski is with me.


Outside Leesburg, FL: Whoa. I had no idea. If I can get a full physical that includes a finger in my ass, I'm totally in.


A gas station in Ocala, FL: And you thought the freakshow was outside in the parking lot.


Welcome to Georgia.

Stats:

Left Sebring, FL at 7:42AM. Crossed the Georgia line at 12:53PM. 269 miles total.

Most Recently on the Playlist:

Middle Class Rut -- USA

The Black Keys -- Lonely Boy

Lykke Li -- Get Some