Friday, October 17, 2008

Sittin' On The Side Of The Road...

I'm on a bus, just about two hours into an eight hour trip to Charleston. Yes, I'm with the volleyball team. There are too many other opportunities I get to be on a bus for eight hours. It delights me (Sarcastic, much?)

Anyway, we are just getting into ATL. We should've been two hours past ATL by now. What was the hold-up, you ask? I'll tell ya.

About 15 miles from the state line, our fast-paced truckin' quickly slowed down to a 10 mph creep. We'd hit some construction and figured we'd be past it in no time. Twenty minutes later, we're still going 10 mph. And soon, we can to a complete stop. Folks, this was no stop-and-go traffic. This was DEAD STAND STILL. We were parked at mile marker 177 on I-20 eastbound for 45 MINUTES! A two hour and 15 minute drive has now taken four hours. We've still got six hours to go to get to Charleston, plus a stop for dinner.

Let me tell you...there's something about a bus that brings out the best in people. We are a pretty funny group of people Each person on this team -- players, coaches, trainers and even lil' ol' me -- we keep ourselved entertained and in stitches. Hilarity ensues with this group on bus trips.

Our girls were throwing out some hum-dingers. Some I can't even repeat because I laughed so hard that I can't remember them now. We made a game out of watching the cars edge onto the median, jump it and travel back up the on ramp to get out of traffic -- going in drive and reverse. There was mud, and we were just rooting for someone to get stuck. A few people peeled out but no stickers. Darn.

We watched as a crowd of people gathered on the side of a newly paved part of the road that was blocked off by orange barrels. We tried to imagine what they were talking about. We think at one point there was talk about riding horses and waving at people, or so we gathered from the choreography from one guy. Maybe they were just playing a harmless game of Charades.

Our girls wanted to go door-to-door or "car door-to-car door" and raise money. For what? I don't know. One girl just wanted to go ask a truck driver what was going on. She said, "They always know what's going on. They know their stuff!" Whatev. Needless to say, no one exited the vehicle.

Meanwhile, we are getting various reports of what is going one up ahead. One report said traffic would be hault for 84 minutes. Sounds about right. Finally, one girl got word from her dad that there was a tractor trailer overturned at an exit about 10 miles ahead. It was blocking the westbound lane and wreckers were blocking the eastbound lane, trying to get the mess of an 18-wheeler back upright.

When we finally started going, applause erupted. You would have thought we just won the NCAA Championship. We were all glad to just finally be moving.

Now we are making our way through ATL, trying to find a restaurant at which to eat. I hope we find something soon. I'm starving.

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