The Weekend Drive

When Abhilash and I started from Virginia for North Carolina last Friday afternoon, hardly did either of us know what lay ahead of us. For the very first time in my life, I thought of my weatherman room mate who keeps me ahead of nature's idiosyncrasies. Our weekend of surprising Manu completely stumped us that stormy afternoon.

We drove through 6 hours of torrential rain storm. A storm so harsh and huge that it stretched from Georgia to Maine and dumped 21 inches of snow in Ohio (a record). Just so that this sentence has more credibility, I have never ever driven at close of 80 mph in such horrible conditions. Visibility was reduced to a less than 20 yards - which at our speed meant close to a second of travel before smashing in to the back bumper of the car in front of us. My PDA said there would be rain - just not how much.

During the weekend of drive I observed:

• 7 accidents- In one of the worse crashes, a SUV was completely crushed and was stuck in between branches of a tree down the incline on the side of I-85. The driver, soaked in blood, could stand on his feet. I was not sure if there was someone inside the crushed piece of metal.
• Harsh weather - One should always make it a point to check driving conditions before making any trip more than 100 miles. It was a pain driving 400 miles for 7 hours with close of zero visibility.
  
• Great weather- Driving through a southern state on a Sunday afternoon with bright sunlight can be mesmerizing. Bring in Kishore da with a sprinkling of Punjabi songs and the 6 hours seem to vanish in the air.
• Great roads and landscaping- North Carolina has beautiful flora lined up on both sides of I 85. With spring setting in the next couple of weeks, its only going to get better. Oh, and they have a huge portion of the highway with a 70 mph speed limit. No cops and that means you cruise at 80.
• Richmond downtown- One of the oldest city in the country, I have promised myself to go visit the Civil war town one of these summer weekends. While on I-95, one can look at red old buildings towering over flyovers near the Potomac river bank.
  
• Road - Over 900 miles (~1450 km) of it. That is a little more than the distance between New Delhi and Mumbai.

Finally, seeing the surprise and happiness on my friend's face was all worth it - just that his face and belly are becoming progressively rounded of late. Blame it on the beer, Manu?