NJ to the Land of Nod (pt 1)

I knew the day was serious when I got the email.

Until that point, it had been a pipe dream. I figured something would go horribly wrong and our road-trip to College Nationals would never get off the ground. At the moment in which I doubted it most, an email from JP arrived in the inboxes of all roadtrippers:

I find I am so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain... I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope [Ohio] is as blue as it has been in my dreams.

Nothing makes a man feel quite as free as a well-placed Shawshank reference. The plan was to leave at 5:30 from the Jersey City apartment. The thing was that Jimmy was supposed to park his car here the night before. When I got up this morning, the car was not there. When I came home after leaving work a bit early, the car was not here. Oh well. He must've parked it in a garage in the area.

JP showed up at ~4:45. As we BSed about our summer league team and whatever else, we noticed that PTI was just about to come on. SWEET! A perfect way to waste time waiting to get picked up. As we watched the intro, we were filled with disappointment. Kornheiser was replaced by Bob Byan. Boo. Crestfallen were we. As we watched and waited, we decided that there should be an email list to sign up for that inform you when Kornheiser or Wilbon would be out. It would be a great Rage preventer.

It then dawned on us that we had no assurance that Jimmy was on his way or that we weren't in fact supposed to be waiting at Paul's place (also in Jersey City). Contact was made, and while Jimmy wanted us to go to Paul's, we refused on grounds that we would likely get lost. Eventually, after many Mitch Hedberg references, Jimmy and Paul were outside. Gametime. ~7:30? Only two hours late. Not too shabby for this crew.

Get on the highway, and get moving west. It is pretty much a straight shot to Columbus from Jersey City. We even knew which Waffle House we would be rolling into at some god-awful hour of the morning. Googlemaps led the way! Before that breakfast at the end of the rainbow, that carrot at the end of the stick, we needed sustenance. Somehow we ended up at Perkins. I blame DJ Karen Lee who, while she was not with us in person, is known for her rabid love of Perkins. Ew.

For some unconscionable reason, Jimmy ordered the Sausage, Biscuits and Gravy claiming that "If breakfast is available, you eat breakfast." As most of us neared the end of the meal, Jimmy pronounced (in total defeat) that "This is just too much sausage" and quit on the spot. I went with the chicken finger sandwich which, while it was likely the right call for this time and place, would only serve to lead me down the road to the ultimate Waffle House breakfast. More on that later.

We pulled away, leaving the poor waitress to fend for herself against the rampant sausage overpopulation problem. Riding west through Pennsylvania is a trip that works two ways: 1) go with a car of friends or 2) Don't go at all. You see nothing or note and the roads are terrible. Straight, bumpy, dull, identical at every turn, expensive and a host of other negative things. On cue, I began to nod off...
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Workout Total
15 min core workout
15 min wobble board