Woke up comfortably at Cleave and Stefanie’s in the late morning, and the three of us piled in the Prius for breakfast at their favorite spot down the road. It was the first time I’d been in a normal-sized vehicle in over a week and boy did it feel different. Had an enormously restorative breakfast burrito, and a bite of pancakes that made me slightly emotional it was that shockingly good.
Set on back to the house to fuck around with the bus a bit. Cleave and I tried to fix the heat1, tested the air conditioner2, and couldn’t locate a magical knob to click to make the tail lights work. Rode down the street to the nearest gas station, and filled the bus up with what should be the final tank of the trip. Let Cleave drive us home. It was a thrill for the both of us — it’s fun being a passenger in this thing.
Departed from my friends’ welcoming abode in the late afternoon3, and fought across Friday Nashville traffic to make it to the McKay’s in town. I knew they’d have a big parking lot, I wanted to go book shopping, and I had an appointment to meet with the guys from Equitable4 who helped me finally open the accounts necessary to responsibly manage a little bit of money in this life. Two finance dudes in their twenties, Will and Justin, based out of Nashville. Remind me of my homies from the iiQ sales team. No business to discuss — just saying hey and meeting in person as I passed through town. We cracked open a round of n/a PBRs from my stash, and I took them around their first lap around a McKay’s.
Book haul. Each title selected around price and “would I like to read this on the bus?” factor. Bought my first manga at age 40. Will mentioned he was trying to get into manga, and made a point to check out their sizable section. I busted out my “So as my financial advisor…you’re telling me I should buy this.” joke that I use, before I buy things like a comic book or a school bus.
Bought two tapes for a buck, selected more or less at random, acquired as aspirational objects — a tape deck needs to happen on this bus.
Pulled out of McKay’s a little after 5:00, with the aim to make it to the next McKay’s location down in Chattanooga. It’s on the way home, and they have a big-ass parking lot there too. Imagine I could post up for the night there without incident or permission.
I cut on the radio5 for the first time since I’ve driven the bus (sounds great) and struggled out of the clutches of Nashville’s traffic. The heaviest urban jam I’ve been in yet, passed without any incident. Slugged through the worst of it while listening to a two-hour Polyphonic Funk show on Nashville public radio.
It got dark quick, and long before Chattanooga. I was hungry. After the fourth truck flashed me from behind to inform me that yes, I still didn’t have tail lights6 — I looked to get off the road.
Pulled off a tiny exit with a big Love’s Truck Stop and Not Much Else, and it was jumping. No easy parking out front, so I tried looping around back with the trucks. Truck rows were packed tight too. As I was trying to loop back around, I got stuck behind a truck executing a 96-point turn to try and squeeze his rig in between two others with zero margin for error. The process was taking ten minutes, more. Endless backing out pulling forward backing out, cutting it…shit try cutting it again. The queue of impatient rigs rumbled behind me. Said fuck it, threw the parking brake on, got up and took the piss I’d needed to take for the last half hour7.
Once the guy finally squeezed his rig into his space, I looped around and found a very agreeable spot of street parking on the perimeter of the place. I ordered my second Big Mac of the trip8, and texted Darrin about the tail lights. He said I wasn’t missing something obvious on the control panel, they should just come on with the headlights, and I should check the fuses9. Fuse panel is located behind the main location for “shit you want within arm’s reach while driving”. Cleaned off my shelf of gum, toothpicks, and nicotine pouches, and got to the fuse panel.
Wrested out a fuse that that seems like it could be for the tail lights — it was like pulling out a molar. Went back into the Love’s and their fuse selection is pathetic. Bunk, little baby-ass fuses. This sucker was big. Looks like no tail lights for me tonight.
Decided not to press my luck any further, and set up camp right next to this big-ass gas station. Obviously not the most ideal spot to bed down, there’s ubiquitous rumbling, and I’m parked 20 feet from the 24-hour drive-thru on the side of the building.
But inside? Inside it’s still so fucking nice. Threw up my privacy shade, but the stabilizer down, and I’m settled for the night. The bus is so well-insulated, and it’s keeping the din of outside to a low murmur. I’m in range of good wifi, popped on the 9th inning and caught the end of the Yankees-Guardians game. Laid here on the couch, typed off my Posting Debt from the last couple of days, and now I’m going to get what I bet is going to be a great night’s sleep in a fairly inhospitable place for such rest.
Looking to make it home tomorrow. 240 miles to go.
- Didn’t fix it — it’s fine. Much warmer down here at present anyways. ↩︎
- Unneeded at present, but worth firing up. Condenser seems fine, but we couldn’t get it to blow air. ↩︎
- Should’ve taken a shower before I left. ↩︎
- Responded to a cold call one afternoon. A rarity that I’d picked up the phone for an unknown number in the first place. An affinity for the old EQUITABLE sign in the Atlanta skyline weighed in my decision to continue the conversation after the first 10 seconds. Now there’s a shitty digital billboard on the side of that building — fuck you!! ↩︎
- Been using my wireless earbuds exclusively so far. Works fine…the rubber on one of them is getting gnarly though. ↩︎
- Who knows how many miles I’ve been cruising without them. A few hundred at least. Doable in a conspicuous vehicle without incurring heavy penalties or police suspicion, but not recommended!! ↩︎
- Very liberating to do that in standstill traffic, with dignity and privacy, while your engine is running. Check that one off the list. ↩︎
- Good as fuck, I regret to inform. ↩︎
- Figured that would be the next step, and one I really should’ve done this afternoon. ↩︎
bus.hair 