After spending a week in Appalachia, my only important insights now involve the prolonged car rides both to and from the great state of Kentucky. Two large vans holding a total of 20 people, filled to capacity with luggage, college students, a plethora of onion bagels, and coffee. It wasn't so bad at first. Sure, we woke up before the crack of dawn, but I slept for the first few hours and we made a few rest stops. The more coffee I drank, the harder it was to sleep. And let's be serious. Folding yourself up as though you're some sort of freakish acrobat who can fit themselves into a box in order to sleep comfortably in the inadequate space of the car seat that you have is really not all that comfortable - especially for 11 hours, not counting the numerous potty breaks and emergency pullovers due to disappearing contacts, nausea, and missed turns. All this is happening while I am curled up in the furthest seat from the doors in the very last row next to the window. Instead of air conditioning, the rear air blasted heat through the vents; I had to sit and wait for the occasional Arctic gust from the front seat. I tried to read for about an hour on the ride there, before the twisting and turning throughout the Appalachians made me decide that I didn't want the contents of my stomach decorating the upholstery of the car. After dropping people off at Hagerstown on the way home, a massive bag of dirty laundry belonging to a kid who didn't shower all week sat on the top of all the luggage right behind my head. We drove into Philadelphia in the midst of a 100 degree heat wave during the first week of June.
To make a long story short....three cheers for road trips!
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