Ease on down the road

Ease on down the Road

Casey and I loaded up the car ready for our road trip from NOLA to Jacksonville. It was a 545-mile journey so it would be a full day on the road. I was in the passenger seat so I was in charge of navigating. I didn’t want to tell Casey that my sense of direction was not always the best and that I wasn’t great at reading maps. Luckily the route couldn’t have been easier. We only needed to go a couple of miles through NOLA before we picked up Interstate 10 East. We then stayed on the Interstate for 542 miles until we got to Jacksonville. I figured even I could cope with getting us to our destination with those directions.

Casey started up the car and we set off. We had barely pulled away from the kerb when I looked at him and said “Are we nearly there yet?”. Casey didn't respond. I waited about 15 seconds then asked again. Still nothing. Another 15 seconds later I asked for a third time. The look he gave me was enough for me to know that I shouldn’t ask that question again unless I wanted to be kicked out of the car somewhere in the middle of I-10. We were soon saying goodbye to NOLA as we drove by the Superdome for one final time, picking up the Interstate that would take us all the way through the Florida panhandle. I had a feeling that one day I would find myself visiting NOLA again, once my liver had had time to repair itself.

Casey informed me that in addition to being the navigator, my role as passenger also involved pointing out pieces of shredded tyres that littered the Interstate. Casey explained that the last time he had done the journey he had hit a chunk of tyre and ended up with a large repair bill. I pointed out lots of tyres during the journey. In return Casey pointed out lots of things of interest during the journey. I saw the state lines as we passed from Louisiana to Mississippi, Mississippi to Alabama and Alabama to Florida. We also passed over the historic Suwanee River, changed time zones and saw a squashed armadillo on the Interstate. Road kill is much more exotic in Florida.

We stopped off for lunch just outside Pensacola. There had been numerous radio adverts for Wingsday at Hooters but we didn’t go. Casey made fun of my pronunciation of Hooters (it sounding more like Whooo-tus). Instead we ate at a fast food Italian place. I stocked up on the unlimited garlic breadsticks. After lunch and stopping for some gas (and gum to get rid of my garlic breath) we continued our journey along I-10. My contribution to resuming the road trip was to remind Casey that we needed to head East. Later in the afternoon Casey made a detour off I-10 into Tallahassee so that I could see the State Capitol building, which with its large central block and two smaller domed buildings either side had the appearance of a large cock and balls. It really made me chuckle and I was grateful Casey had made the detour just so I could see it.

As we continued towards Jacksonville, I told Casey we could play the “Love/Minge” game to help pass the time. It had proved to be an enjoyable time filler when I was delayed coming back from a trip to Barcelona with a group of friends a few years ago. I explained the game to Casey – all you do is take a song title that has the word love in it and replace “love” with “minge” to make a funny new song title. Simple. After explaining the game Casey asked what a minge was. I explained that it was British slang for lady parts. The game kept us entertained for quite a while and provided plenty of laughs. I think my favourites of the day were “Bleeding Minge” by Leona Lewis and The Bee Gee’s classic “How Deep is Your Minge?”. 

We pulled into Jacksonville just as the sun was setting over the city. We hadn’t got lost, we hadn’t hit any tyres and Casey had survived an hour of being subjected to music from my iPod. After nine hours on the road I was ready to stretch my legs, shower and head out for dinner and drinks with Casey and his friends.

“Ease on down the Road” 
Lyrics from Ease on down the Road from the musical The Wiz