Sunday I drove all the way to Philly. Why? I’m crazy is one answer. But I also had a meeting up there with a new client for my job. This was my third trip to PA and it looks like it will finally pay off with new business. Another good reason for driving instead of flying is because flights were a bit high. I don’t mind driving so I hit the road. Went up Sunday. Came back Monday. That’s a lot of driving in two days. So what do I do when I’m driving for such a long time?
– I think a lot – about a whole bunch of stuff. Some of the kind of stuff that makes it on this blog. I need to get comfortable using a voice recorder so I can remember what I thought about when I get to where I can type. I’ve tried typing while I drive and while it is possible it is extremely dangerous.
– I watch people passing – either I’m passing them or they’re passing me. It used to be I passed everybody but I’ve had so many tickets I’ve learned cruise control was made for me. Speed limits are so slow compared to what feels like a natural speed for me.
– I play my trumpet mouthpiece to whatever is on the radio. This gets me a lot of strange looks from the people passing, but it keeps me awake and gives me a little practice – just in case I get a chance to play for a wedding or something.
– I eat and drink – snacks, fast food, anything with caffeine.
– I hold it til I have to pee in a cup. I know that’s gross but sometimes it’s inevitable. Got between
– I watch the gas gauge – Cause I have to use premium and it averaged about $3.35/gallon at all the places I filled up.
– I watch the odometer – So I can calculate gas mileage. I averaged about 26 miles per gallon and it might have been better than that if I hadn’t hit terrible traffic in DC and Deleware.
– I watch the clock – So I know how good I’m doing on time. Anybody with my personality understands this. You’re always trying to make your best time. This is a direct conflict with my effort to reduce my number of tickets.
– I draft – If a big truck is going 5 miles over the speed limit I’ll draft him as long as he’ll let me. This helps on gas mileage. Doesn’t happen often but I got a good 50 miles of draft out of a truck on the way back. Sometimes I’ll follow cars too but you have to get sooo close to cars for it to be a true draft – most people won’t let you draft their car.
– I watch someone draft me – At times when I’m the fastest mover in traffic I’ve had people get on my bumper and draft off me. I don’t mind until they aren’t watching when I have to use the brakes. Almost got hit in the butt at about 80 miles an hour on the way back. Bad words came out.
– I listen to the radio. It is interesting to see what are the best radio stations as you pass through several states in a day. Some places along the way the best thing to listen to is country. Some places it’s R&B. The commonality of all places is my wondering “why in the crap am I listening to this” and “how did these people get a job at the radio station”?
– I watch my map – I use Microsoft Streets and Trips on the computer. It’s poor mans GPS I guess. I check it frequently to see where I’m at and how much farther I have to go, and of course where I have to turn next.
– I call people – especially other Verizon users because it is free in-network. Sunday this would have been perfect because I could call non-verizon users during free nights and weekends, but nobody answered. I ended up not calling anybody on Monday because I wasn’t tired enough. I usually get enough phone to ear contact doing my job so I don’t just make random phone calls for the fun of it very often.
Anyway. I never realized driving was such a busy thing until I started writing it down like this. I’m definitely going to start speaking notes in a recorder while I drive in hopes it will make my time more productive.
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