andrew.pilsch.com

Once again, I’m making the 13 hour migration northward to Pennsylvania tomorrow. I plan to be on the road before 8 AM, which should fix my arrival in good old State College around 9 PM. Joy. Anyway, the drive has gotten a lot better since I’ve figured out how to drive it. Here, I would like to offer a few tricks of the trade for driving from Atlanta to State College:

1. Virginia represents over half of the entire drive. In order to stay sane, I find the most pleasing way to deal with the unending landscape is to set your cruise control for 65 mph and stay involved in your driving only to a degree that can keep you on the road. This way, driving through Virginia becomes what it really should be: sitting in a gorgeous field on a nice day with great music.
2. Pick a game and play it. Sometimes, I like to make up silly rules, like “let’s try to do the drive only stopping three times” or “let’s try and make it on three tanks of gas” (I’m convinced this is possible).
3. Packing bottled water is essential. When I drive the entire trip (down and back up), I usually buy a sixer of water in State College and try to limit my consumption so that I have it finished when I get back to 112 Ridge. This also helps when playing the “stop three times” game, if you know what I mean.
4. In West Virginia, there is a 75 mph speed limit on I-81. Also, the state appears too poor to afford a state police. Set cruise control to 95 and enjoy! (it’s a celebration of no longer being in Virginia).
5. Try coming up with wacky routes and see if you have the wherewithal to follow them. For instance, I’ve noticed that US 220 (which runs by State College) runs all the way to North Carolina (where it connects with I-85). Someday, I will drive this route, just to see if its possible.

Speaking of routes, this may be a very interesting trip, as I’m breaking in a new path. Instead of doing the nightmare trip through Altoona, I’m going to Harrisburg (which might actually be worse). It’s an exciting conclusion to an otherwise mundane trip.

Also, as I may not have internet at home in the future, the quantity of posts will probably drop (and I imagine a related increase in quality will not occur).