Texas to New Hampshire Drive Report

What could be more fun immediately following an Ironman than hopping in the car and driving almost 1900 miles?  Oh, that's right, just about anything.  But, well, unfortunately I had to get my car and my stuff home somehow.  Immediately after the race I had some really awesome finish line catchers who helped me over to the food area and even got me a chicken burrito and made sure I was all right.  It was very strange to finish and not know anyone anywhere nearby, but fortunately Michelle finished a couple of minutes after me so I wasn't alone for long. 

We eventually got cleaned up after lots of walking back and forth to get the bikes and bags and find the cars and jump start their car because the lights were left on and by about 8:30 or 9:00 we were back in town to try and find a celebratory meal.  Annoyingly, after an Ironman even though you'd think you'd be starving and you've been dreaming about that post-race meal for months, usually your stomach isn't really able to handle much.  After some wandering around, Michelle, Jen and I found ourselves at a nice outdoor table at Tommy Bahamas where I had half a grilled chicken sandwich and a few fries before calling it quits.  Not even a thought about dessert. 

I got back to my room a bit before midnight and didn't bother trying to go to sleep until 1:00 because I knew it would be a futile exercise.  I may or may not have fallen asleep somewhere in there, I really don't know.  I do know that when I rolled over and looked at the clock it was 5:30 and I decided to start packing up my stuff.  I definitely felt sore, but it wasn't quite the crippling post-Ironman soreness I've often experienced.  Probably because of all of those walk breaks and not running that fast.  The blisters were horrendous, however. 

I met Michelle and Jen for breakfast at their hotel where I still wasn't really feeling like eating much, which was a bit disappointing, but oh, well.  I then finally packed everything up and went to the roll down where almost no slots rolled down and certainly not close enough to my sixth in my age group and then headed over to the awards to hang out with some of my award winning teammates.  But before that all ended I decided I should hit the road and begin my long, long, long drive back home.  I wanted to get as many hours as I could stand in that first day so I wouldn't have as much left to go later. 

That first five hours in the car weren't too terrible.  I made it out of Texas and through almost all of Louisiana.  I never, ever want to drive through Louisiana again.  I drove through it last year, then to and from Galveston and then to and from The Woodlands and there is just something about that stretch through that state that is so much worse than anywhere else.  Somehow, I wasn't able to really sleep that night, either.  I expected that somewhere in the middle of my day of driving I'd be ready to fall asleep but somehow that never happened. 

I hit the road at 6am and for some reason I had decided in my head based on almost nothing at all that I was not going to stop until I made it to Pennsylvania.  I had found online a town not that far over the border that had plenty of hotels and that became my goal.  A mere 1075 miles away from where I had stayed in Louisiana.  What was I thinking?  Oh, that's right, I was thinking that it would leave a lot less for the last day, which wound up being a good thing but made that day incredibly painful. 

Mississippi passed quickly since just about nobody drives through it.  Alabama had some slower spots but once I got north of Birmingham it was like being in the middle of nowhere.  At one point for twenty miles the interstate was narrowed to one lane going both ways and traffic was not slowed at all.  I made it to Georgia and my own time zone for the first time in a very long time and fortunately was in and out of there quick since the road conditions were awful.  That must be why there was no sign welcoming me to Georgia, because they didn't want anyone to know how poorly they took care of their roads.

Then I was in Tennessee for the first time in my life.  Not that I got to see much of it.  Although they do love to point out constantly how many highway fatalities there have been this year.  Somewhere around Knoxville was where some on and off rain started.  And eventually I made it to Virginia.  Now, although in order to get to Pennsylvania I still would have to pass through both West Virginia and Maryland, those states were so short that the majority of my drive was in Virginia, which I thought was never going to end.  Somewhere down there was where I saw the cheapest gas of the trip, $3.17 a gallon as compared to the most expensive, I believe $4.26 off the Merritt Parkway. 

I wasn't really indulging on too much road food, either, simply because I wasn't that hungry.  Okay, so most of the drive that day was fueled by little powdered doughnuts, but my big "splurge" meal was a BBQ chicken sub from Subway.  I don't even like Subway very much but that was what they had there, so that was what I'd be eating.  I actually didn't even have dinner on the road because by the time I'd make it to my hotels simply lying down was way more important to me than food.  Torrential rain started hitting through the state, off and on and off and on and causing traffic to slow way down.  Like I needed that.  You could see it coming from far away, too, the menacingly dark clouds off in the distance and the occasional lightning.  I kept thinking I'd gotten through it only to be slammed with more rain and slowed down once again, wondering if I'd ever make it out of that stupid state. 

I guess the only up side was that I saw a double rainbow all the way across the sky.  And I was reminded of driving that same stretch of highway with some friends after my freshman year in college when we took a road trip to Miami and we played the cow game.  That means each side of the car is a team, and you count the cows on your side and keep adding them up and if you pass a church your cow total doubles, but if you pass a cemetery all of your cows die and you have to start over.  There were definitely a lot of cows on that stretch, and if memory serves, my team made it to over 300,000 cows before we lost them all. 

Anyway, finally I survived all the way to West Virginia, which I wasn't in for too long before spending even less time in Maryland.  And fourteen hours and forty-five minutes after I'd left that morning and having lost an hour thanks to crossing time zones, I pulled up to the hotel in Chambersburg, PA.  My whole body was shaking, and you can imagine my legs weren't feeling too great after that whole Ironman thing and having spent all day sitting up in the car.  I actually managed to prop my non-driving foot up on the dashboard, but even in spite of that and the compression socks my feet were unbelievably swollen. 

I slept fairly well that night but was up way too early thanks to the fact that the person who had been in my room last set the alarm clock for 5am and left it on and I'd forgotten to make sure that nothing was going to wake me up.  At least breakfast started at 6 and I had a real meal before getting on the road. 

450 miles to go.  It rained some more, although at least it wasn't too cold.  The traffic was more annoying and I missed the 75mph speed limits of the south but at least I was making progress.  And at least I didn't have to get out of the car in New Jersey.  Over the Tapan Zee Bridge and onto all of those annoying highways to get around New York City.  There was an incredible back-up at one point thanks to pretty much absolutely nothing.  Yes, one car pulled off the side of the road doing nothing, but just in case let's all come to a complete stop before we move on so that traffic can be backed up for a mile. 

Then my GPS took me to the Merritt Parkway because for some reason it loves that road, even though I do not.  Oddly, it doesn't love it when I'm driving south.  In the rain it's even more fun to drive on, as well as when you're really hungry and you know that you're not going to be passing anything resembling real food for miles.  But just like the rest of the trip, I got through it and then was on to interstates I knew and trusted and I also knew I was almost home.  That day was the day I thought I was going to fall asleep at the wheel.  So much so that even when I didn't need any more gas with ninety minutes to go I stopped in Massachusetts to get out of the car and actually sit down and have something to eat in an effort to wake myself up just as much as finally eat some real food. 

Luckily, that worked and got me through the rest and seven hours from when I'd left, I was home!  Walking still wasn't fun, but at least I survived.  I have to say, I don't think I'm going to be planning any more trips that require me driving hundreds and hundreds of miles by myself.  The novelty has certainly worn off.  So New Hampshire might have to get used to having me around a lot.  And, fortunately, sleep has been made up for.  And my bed is just as nice as I remember. 

So, what's next?  Well, hopefully decisions will be made over the next couple of days, but it should be fun, whatever it is.