Head South

Tomorrow morning, I embark on a 1,300 mile trek down to Florida for 8 days of fun in the sun. Well, more like 2 ¾ days driving in a Honda Civic and 5 ¼ days being content trying to find shade, and soaring high on the E.T. ride.

This means, in all likely hood, my personally prodigious blog run I attempted in January will be indefinitely suspended until I return on February 11th, unless I have access to a computer, or build one out of a coconut like The Professor could.

This is the second time I’ll be making the drive to and from Florida. I did it back in June, driving both ways, with the trip home taking longer due to a pit stop in the South West region of Florida to visit relatives and feed these mutated looking swans or flamingos. I can’t remember. They looked so strange.

During my last trip, I kept a log of every album I listened to during the drive, as to measure the distance and time spent in the car, represented through digital sound replication. Here is a list, from the first trip of the albums I listened to, beginning to end. If you want to plan your own trip from New Jersey to Sunshine State, this is a handy measuring tool. Forget maps, clocks, odometers. This is a driving revolution. (Admittedly, on the trip back, I got sick of music and opted for more daydreaming and talking. Snoozeville).

-Begin trip in Keansburg NJ DAY 1:
New Jersey
1. Mix C.D. (72 minutes of Eric Truchan fantasy chart toppers)
New Jersey-Delaware
2.Love of Everything “Superior Mold and Die”
Delaware
3.Optiginally Yours “Spotlight On…”
Maryland
4. Modest Mouse “This is a Long Drive For Someone with Nothing to Think About”
5.Handsome Furs “Plague Park”
Maryland-Virginia
6. The Fall “The Real New Fall LP”
Virginia
7. The New Pornographers “Twin Cinema”
-End of Day one. Check into motel. Wake up next day and begin in Virginia
-DAY 2
Virginia
8. Rob Crow “Living Well”
9.Archers of Loaf “Icky Mettle”
10.Archers of Loaf “Vs. the Greatest of All-Time”
11. The Mountain Goats “All Hail West Texas”
North Carolina
12.Superchunk “No Pocky For Kitty”
13. Superchunk “Come Pick Me Up”
14. Bonnie “Prince” Billy “I See a Darkness”
North Carolia-South Carolina (“Hey kids. Look! There goes South of the Border!”)
15. Smog “Knock, Knock”
South Carolina
16.Pavement “Crocked Rain, Crooked Rain”
17. The Halo Benders “The Rebels Not In”
18.Guided By Voices “Alien Lanes”
Georgia
19.Pinback “Offcell”
20.The Mountain Goats “The Coroner’s Gambit”
Florida-Georgia
21. Arcade Fire “Neon Bible”
22. Chuck Ragan “Los Feliz”
23.Hank Williams “25 Original Recordings”
24.Palace Music “Lost Songs”
Finally pull into our timeshare, exhausted and sick of music.

-The following were listened to during our stay in Florida, driving to and from theme parks and to the super market.
25.Archers of Loaf “Vee Vee”
26. Heavy Vegetable “Frisbee”
27.Superchunk “Here’s Where the Strings Come In”
28. The Beatles “Past Masters Volume 2”
29. Wilco “Yankee Foxtrot Hotel”

-The Drive Home. After staying in Florida a week. DAY 1
Florida
30.Sebadoh “Bakesale”
31. Bright Eyes “Cassadaga”
32.Hot Water Music “Live at the Hardback”
33. Portastatic “Hope Your Heart’s Not Brittle”
Florida-Georgia
34.The Thermals “The Body, the Blood, the Machine”
35. Fugazi “Red Medicine”
36. The Fall “Hex Enduction Hour”
South Carolina
37.Dinosaur Jr. “Bug”
38.Screeching Weasel “BoogadaBoogadaBoogada”
39.Guided By Voices “Human Amusements at Hourly Rates”
40. Medications “All Your Favorite People In One Place
DAY 2
North Carolina
41.Bob Dylan “Bringing It All Back Home”
42. Sonic Youth “Sister”
43. Crooked Fingers “Crooked Fingers”
North Carolina-Virginia
44. The Ex “Dizzy Spells”
Virginia
45. Beastie Boys “Paul’s Boutique”
46.The Beatles “Rubber Soul”
47. Elvis Costello “This Year’s Model”
Maryland
48. Neutral Milk Hotel “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”
49. White Stripes “Icky Thump”
50. The Ramones “The Ramones”
Delaware
51. Langhorne Slim “Electric Love Letter”
New Jersey
52. Silver Jews “American Water”
53. Mix CD (Same one we started out with because I ran out of anything I wanted listen to.)


We arrived back at the house in NJ and I hated anything that had to do with music for two days. I then started listening heavily to WFAN sports talk radio from then on.

-One more post tomorrow morning, then toodles to you and yours.