My Trip to Deliverance

When you hear those banjos strumming in battle formation as Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, and Ned Betty (actually also Ronny Cox but nobody remembers him anyway) go a paddalin' down the river you might get the idea that folks in Georgia might be a little backwards. Heck, you might even get that idea watching Roscoe and Enos chase down them Duke Boys. Well I'm here to tell you that even 80's pop culture rings true today. But more on that later.

We'll start with Metro's bright idea to close the airport stop over Labor Day weekend for maintenance. I understand the urgency to get things done but somebody in the common sense department needs to approve these things first. Due to that poor planning I left the house at 6am on Friday morning in the attempt to board an 8pm flight. When I got to the economy lot, it was just as crowded as I thought and by 10am there were less then 100 spaces left. Parking space, check then off to work.

Once me and the Misses met back up at DCA that night we were all set to start our adventure toward the north Georgia mountains. At the gate we learned that the flight was over sold and they wanted "volunteers" to give up their seats. Since we didn't have to meet up at the cabin until the next morning, we offered. Delta was giving $600 in credit plus a first class seat on the 6am flight on Saturday. We were all set and even began planning what to do with all that credit when they informed us they would only need one person. After a little debate we decided not to split up and hopped on board.

George Carlin did a bit about garbage you deal with on board an airplane, most notably the announcements. His thoughts still ring true today when Captain Scott (or Steve... I don't remember which) told us how great it was that it took less then the normal 24 minutes to push off the gate. Yippy! I started to applaud because it was the only logical thing I could think of. My travel companion was not pleased.

After landing we found the only cab driver in North America who a) didn't know where East Atlanta is and b) didn't have a GPS to show him. But we finally made it to Dave and Stacey's, raided their fridge, and even got in the front 9 on Tiger Woods '10.

Nothing like a two-hour drive at 6am to get the blood flowing and nothing like taking a pit stop at a rural GA gas station where they not only sell condoms in the men’s room (seriously??) but also porn out of the same dispenser. Now that's efficient!

We surprised my MIL when we strolled in and were promptly treated to left over breakfast (but the coffee was hot). We had lots of fun over the two days up there including a trip to the apple orchard and Babyland General Hospital (where Cabbage Patch Kids are born). Actually on this last matter, let the record show that the men folk didn't go in but rather dropped the women off and went to clean out the car and scout a BBQ joint for lunch.

But easily the two highlights of the trip (other then getting a ton of smiles and laughs from my niece and my mistress-not the same person mind you) was OG and the food.

On Sunday I went for a run (crossing into North Carolina 4 times in 12 miles) and on the back end of that run a dog came out from a yard into the street. She came right up to me and liked what she was sniffing. I noticed she lacked a collar/tags but I didn't want to leave her in the street to get hit so I tried to take her back onto the yard she came out of. She followed me, sat but when I took off to run, she followed suit. I figured she would run with me for a few feet and then go home but she stayed with me for the remaining 3-4 miles. When we got back to the cabin I got some bowls of water and food (turkey and carrots) and fed OG - short for Orton (the street I found her on) Girl - she wolfed down the food and looked pretty happy as in this video:

Alas she took off after that and we didn't see her again (insert frowny face emoticon here). I had a feeling her and The Mooks would have been fast friends.

I finish this post with a partial list of foods consumed between Friday Night and Monday Afternoon:

Texvmex Wrap
Hot Cocoa ice cream
Bagels, cream cheese and lox
Chicken salad sandwich
Lots o' apples
Steak
Crabcakes
Asparagus
Corn on the cob
Birthday cake
Cookies
Pancakes
Pulled pork sandwich
Onion loaf
Fried apple pie
Peanut brittle pop corn
Chili
Smores
Omelet (featuring cream cheese, lox, crab meat)
Sliders
Sweet potato fries
5 varieties of hot wings
And because I'm watching my figure... Diet coke and a MGD 64

Let the Detox begin now