I just went on a weeklong road trip with my friend Marc two weeks ago. It was one of the best road trips I've been on. For those who don't know us, we like to argue sometimes, so this was a good test to see how well we could get along. I'll just summarize it by saying that we are still alive. Anyways, it was so much fun that I have to brag about it here. We went to four different cities.

Sun 8/3/2003
Pelham, AL - Oak Mountain State Park
Marc wanted to go camping in the mountains for a day. When we got there, we looked around a little and found a good spot for the tent. Not too close to a large group of people, but still within short walking distance of the public rest room. We had just finished setting up the tent and were gonna go check out some guys... I mean go hiking, when it started to rain. Of all the shit I brought, I forgot to bring my umbrella. Now I can stand a little bit of water on my head, but it was fucking pouring down like we were at the bottom of a waterfall. If that's not bad enough, the tent we were sleeping in was new and we didn't have enough time to put the waterproofing stuff on before it started raining. Lucky for me, my sleeping bag was waterproof...(=P

The next day the sky cleared up, but we didn't have much time for anything cause we had to head to Pensacola.

Mon - Wed afternoon
Pensacola, FL
The last time I went to Pensacola, I stayed in a very shitty run down hotel in the city. I made up for it this time by staying in a nice expensive hotel on the beach. There was plenty to see on that beach also. Our activities included dinning at a nice Italian restaurant, visiting a gay beach(which had about 5 gay people), and bowling among other things. Rain was also part of our visit.

Wed - Fri morning
Orlando, FL - Visiting Phillip
On our way to Orlando we looked at the map and realized there were toll roads on the route. Considering the price of the rental car and the expensive hotel we had just left, we called Phillip and asked him if there was another route that would avoid the toll road and save us a few dollars. Phillip was still cleaning his house so he told us a "better route" that sent us about 100 miles out of our way to Tampa. This did not make the long drive any easier. Adding insult to injury, we still had to pass a toll road.

I didn't realize it till we were on our way, but Phillip worked at Disney World and he was able to get us in free. We spent about 11 hours Thursday running around all the different Disney parks and seeing attractions like the Kali River Rapids, DINOSAUR(a Jurassic Park style ride), Rock 'n' Roller Coaster(0-60 mph in about 3 seconds and 4-5 Gs.), The Tower of Terror(shoots up and down 13 stories), and Star Tours(star wars style ride). We would have seen more, but the day was plagued with occasional rain, and they shut down all the outside rides if it is lighting. I'm not complaining cause I got in for free. We also hit the Pleasure Island Clubs in Downtown Disney.

Fri - Mon
New Orleans, LA - Visiting Justin
Our longest drive of the week, but we made it without incident. It was later that night when we let our tensions rip in the middle of a nice restaurant, but I won't go into that. We had a lot of fun going from club to club and getting drunk in the French Quarter. We even got kicked out of one of them, but I won't go into that either.

We decided to visit Six Flags New Orleans and have some fun. It seemed kinda boring compared to the previous theme park we visited, but we still went on a whole 3 or 4 rides. We rode on Batman: The Ride, Zydeco Scream(a cool reversing ride), and Mega Zeph(rickety wooden piece of shit). Mega Zeph is the first and last wood track roller coaster I'll ever ride. By the way, did I mention that it rained? We were asleep when it rained, but still...

We didn't want to come home, but we couldn't afford to stay away any longer. This was my long needed escape from Memphis and all its bullshit. I want to start going on more road trips with my friends like I used to do, but I'm gonna have to save up some money after this one.

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Wed 8/13/2003
Hot Springs, AR
As if I didn't have enough excitement, I left out two days later with my mom and nephew for three days at her aunt's lake house. My aunt and uncle brought us and their granddaughter along with them for a little fun on the jet ski.