The road warrior

Thank you for the well wishes for a safe trip. They were needed. I departed Columbus around 9:45 p.m. after a screening of The Condemned, a terrible, terrible, terrible film made bearable by the incessant chatter in the room. The amateur commentators had all sorts of inappropriate and hilarious contributions to add to the experience.

I was feeling kind of tired, which isn't the way to begin a couple hours of nighttime driving, so I grabbed a coffee before hitting the road. I plugged in the iPod and cruised west on I-70, the car gobbling asphalt like Pacman dining on pellets. The right music can make time vanish, and I had a good upbeat mix going. The music of Neko Case and Spoon seemed perfectly matched with the night. Case's songs evoke dark, lonely places and car wrecks, the kind of things that don't feel right in the light of day.

Most of the trip breezed by. Few cars were on the road, and I could spot the half moon through the car's sun roof on this crisp evening. The rain started as I got within a few miles of Indianapolis and my exit. I hate driving in the rain at night, but I wasn't troubled since I was near my destination...or so I thought.

I-70 is undergoing major construction in Indianapolis. Much to my surprise, my hotel's exit was closed. No one mentioned it to me when I called to inform them I'd be arriving late. I had the Holiday Inn's phone number written in my planner and gave them a call as I tried to navigate the uneven road and the rain. The front desk clerk said that the exit was open despite what it said--I couldn't tell and it was too late now--but he stayed on the line to direct me where to go. I exited on a downtown street at least five miles past where I wanted to be. As I prepared to turn left to reenter the interstate, someone tore by me on my left. I was extremely lucky not to get sideswiped by someone driving straight ahead from a left turn lane or the wrong side of the street.

As if that wasn't heart-stopping enough, I merged onto the highway with one semi spraying my windshield with water so that I couldn't see and another semi on my rear bumper. Apparently in this configuration I missed where I needed to go because I ended up on I-65 south, not I-70 east. I called the hotel again to confirm that I was going the wrong way. I righted my course and nearly saw two cars in front of me collide. I was quite ready to be at the hotel.

Fortunately I arrived unscathed, although a little rattled. To top off the evening, the internet connection wasn't working in my room. I wonder if a firewall on the college computer was not permitting access.

I booked the hotel via Hotwire. It's the first time I've used the site. I'm pretty happy with how it worked for me. I got a nicer hotel and bigger room for a lower rate than the average nightly cost of the shrunken Red Roof Inn room where I'm staying during the festival. And free internet access, if it would have worked. At least there was wireless access in the lobby and restaurant, so I was able to do the necessary e-mail checks in the morning.

Today's drive to Champaign was less eventful. I-74 past Indianapolis wasn't seeing much traffic, which was just fine with me. It's not an interesting drive, but having broken it up into two chunks made it less of a drag. It helped that I got a good night's sleep, although I woke up at one point and had no idea where I was. I didn't get eight hours of rest, but it was significantly more than if I'd been at home and heard the big dig in the street in front of my apartment kickstart around 7 a.m.

I checked in at my Champaign hotel when everyone is supposed to be checking out, so I had plenty of time go yarn shopping before opening night of Ebertfest. That's where I'll pick up next time...