Buffalo’s Big Adventure (Ain’t Seen a Single Grain of Sand Yet)
Posted: Aug 15, 2007
I have been having a lot of trouble with Mapquest lately. Used to be, I could depend on those wonderful internet cats to guide me safely to and from my destination, whether it be Live Oak, Florida or Dothan, Alabama. But a few months back, I was completely misguided while on a return trip to South Carolina from somewhere deep in Crimson Tide country. Mapquest took me some 65 miles out of the way, and when you tack on the 50-some-odd miles it took to get back on course, that’s 115 miles. Now, I won’t go into the cost of gas, but you get the picture. I went looking for a better mouse trap.
I found one in Google. Google Maps. They have got it goin’ on, brothers and sisters. Just for fun, I did a Mapquest on this trip to North Myrtle Beach. The results contained 29 different turns, back roads, dirt roads an small town 35 MPH side trips. They stated travel time at 5.5 hours.
I did the same search on Google Maps, and the route was narrowed to 9 turns, with a travel time of 4.1 hours. No more Mapquest for the Buffalo. Natch.
So I was off to the beach for the first time in five years. (Being the Gritz guy kind of cancelled out any genuine vacation time for a while there.) A special trip to catch the Billy Bob Thornton concert at House of Blues. I was traveling alone. Well, except for my cell and my iPod, two electronic gizmos I would have never dreamed I’d become so dependent on. Nowadays I absolutely have to carry my iPod. Five thousand songs. Enough to travel from here to Jupiter and back without hearing the same song twice. Just for kicks, I logged an hour of the songs that popped up when the iPod was set on random. I will attach it at the end of this blog.
The drive in was going along nice and smoothly when all of the sudden, somewhere near Conway, I noticed the speed limit sign change from 70 to 55. Now this is no exaggeration. The instant that I read the new speed limit, I began braking. Also, in that same moment, I caught the blue lights of the Police in my rear view. Rats. The first thing I wondered was if this was a “Google thing.”
Long story short, $128 later I was on my way. My attempt to ask why the speed limit dropped so far down so quickly was met by a blank stare from the young officer, who basically ignored my question, slipped on some dark shades, and spit on the road as he handed me the blue ticket.
The rest of the trip was a breeze, and I pulled into the hotel here in North Myrtle Beach, ready to shower the road off of my body and perhaps take a little nap.
When I walked into the lobby, there were three 40-something guys in there, and one turned to face me, saying “You here for the exercise machine?”
I didn’t miss a beat.
“Is that a hint?” I asked.
Of course they all cracked up. The guy saw a repair van parked in front of my Honda CRV and thought I was there to repair a broken machine in the workout room. The guys were all nice, and we talked a little about tomorrow’s show at House of Blues, and they all said they were fans of Billy Bob. Cool.
The room was huge. Two big ol’ beds. My buddy, the late great Jakson Spires always requested two beds. One for sleep, the other for....
Now don’t go down that road. The other was to lay all his business stuff out on. Maps, medicines, jewelry, everything. I got the idea from him and carry it on to this day.
I checked out the swimming pool, but it was over run with kids, so I took a stab at the workout room, doing a little tread mill, a little weight lifting. I went back to the room and changed.
I made my way down to the Coquina Club for one of the best Cobb salad’s I have ever tasted, some iced tea, and a little conversation with some other guys about football. I don’t know a lot about football, but I know what I like. Carolina Panthers, Clemson Tigers and Byrnes High Rebels. (My alma mater.)
Tomorrow would be a busy day, so I just hit the showers, put Jeopardy on the TV, and sat back and answered one out of ten questions correctly. That is, of course, unless they had a category for Southern Rock, Movies or Sixties Music. I can ace them categories. More tomorrow.
Keep it Real Keep it Southern.
Buffalo
The Aforementioned iPod Playlist
Ride of Your Life - The Marshall Tucker Band
Everybody Needs Love - Eddie Hinton
Before Your Love - Kelly Clarkson
Queen of Hearts - Gregg Allman
Hearts Like Mine - Billy Bob Thornton
Getaway Cars - Tommy Talton Band
Fallen Down - Gov't Mule
Atlanta's Burning Down - Dickey Betts
I Looked Away - Derek & The Dominos
One Piece at a Time - Johnny Cash
Angel Flying too Close to the Ground - Willie Nelson
American Street - George McCorkle
Motorcycle Mama - Sailcat
Burn - Deep Purple
Respect - Otis Redding
Are You a Beatle or a Rolling Stobne? - Delaney & Bonnie
Street Corner Serenade - Wet Willie
She Talks to Angels - Black Crowes
She's Rather Be Homeless - Old Dogs
Cool mix, huh? I LOVE my iPod!