It’s weird how unweird things are sometimes. Like how you can spend a night hanging out with someone you met in a bar in a foreign country two years ago and hadn’t seen since and how it’s weird but not really that weird at the same time.

Like Wednesday.

Wednesday I woke up in a cheap Super 8. I bided my time watching Food Network as I got ready for the day and didn’t check out until right before the 11am check out as I still had no idea what the actual plan for the day was.

Determined to get coffee that wasn’t something I could get anywhere I headed to the downtown area and got myself an iced mocha.

By then I’d gotten a text from Will saying he was in, and I quote, “bum fuck,” so I figured I had a little time to kill. SO I headed out of the way to Natural Bridge, which is a town filled with crazy stuff…unfortunately I totally failed at figuring out where that stuff was! Ah, next time!

I did manage to find a replica of Stonehenge though…

I headed back towards Charlottesville and wasted some time by stopping at all of the scenic overlooks and a rest stop.

And then I got back to town and had no idea what to do…so I pulled into a Target parking lot and was just going to walk around but as soon as I got out of the car I got a call from Will! He gave me his address and it turned out I was only about 3 minutes away. So I raced on over there.

And wow. Was that crazy. Because I hadn’t seen him since Amsterdam two years ago when we met. If I haven’t mentioned it.

We got in his car and headed back towards the downtown for some coffee. And then he showed me around the college campus that took up much of the area.

And then we got back in his car and went for a drive.

And it was awesome.

Because I didn’t have to drive.

Because we were in the mountains.

Because the windows were down.

Because he had the perfect soundtrack to listen to while driving through the mountains with an uncomplete stranger with the windows down.

And then we picked a random town to explore that had nothing open but a tattoo shop. Because in all small towns it seems like the tattoo shop is the only thing open.

And he almost killed us by running a red light.

But we’re alive.

And then we went back downtown to get some dinner. And I had a fish that tasted like a taco but wasn’t.

And then we went to a bar called the Southern and listened to 80s cover bluegrass band. And you haven’t heard an 80s cover band until you’ve heard Don’t Stop Believing done in bluegrass style.

And then we watched Wristcutters a Love Story. And it was good but weird.

And awesome.

By the way…

I made the decision this morning to b-line for Alexandria. I had a few stops scheduled but nothing really stood out and I figured I’d rather make it to Virginia early. And by early I mean early afternoon.

I did drive by a giant cross which was not as impressive as the world’s largest cross.

And I stopped off to see the world’s largest apple.

Which was awesome.

And then I drove to Alexandria to see Rob and Christine. We chilled around their place and watched Plan 9 From Outer Space and played a game of Life, which I miserably failed at. Go figure.

Then we went out for a hibachi dinner. Which was delicious. I’d never been to a hibachi restaurant before and it was quite a show.

We’re just spending a chill night with TV. And I have no idea what I am doing yet tomorrow.

Lesson of the day: while I try to be a good driver who follows the rules of the road there are times that I will break those rules. Like when there is a sign that says no passing for the next seven miles and I am behind a guy driving a horse and buggy.

I woke up this morning at 7am, showered, packed up the car, got a large white mocha and hit the road towards Virginia.

My first stop of the day was a muffler man outside of an Ace Hardware in Elkhart, Indiana.

A man outside told me that someone tried to steal it once. How the heck does anyone steal something that big?

A couple of hours later I made it to the worlds biggest can of tomato soup outside of the Campbell’s factory in Ohio. There was really nowhere to pull over though and the car behind me was riding my bumper so I had to just admire it from my car window as I drove by.

After that I tracked down an ATM machine that was disguised as a horse and buggy…

And then a giant rocking chair…

…and then passed about 20 actual horse and buggies…

…and then found the world’s LARGEST horse and buggy!

My final stop of the night was to Mars.

Mars, Pennsylvania that is!

And now I am sitting in a hotel room just outside of Pittsburgh and eating Wendy’s french fries and chocolate shake and don’t want to look up whether the shake is made of high fructose corn syrup because I am positive that it is and if I am drinking a high fructose corn syrup shake why am I not just having a Coke? And why does any of that matter when I am eating ketchup anyways?