I will never listen to that again
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Artist:
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Album:Soft Parade
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Track:Touch Me - (studio)
Road trips can be the stuff of legends and nothing beats working an entire week, while knowing you will be leaving on one on the following Friday. While making sure you remember to pack all the essentials, the music you bring is even more important. I had a road trip planned 8 years ago to see my then girlfriend in Ottawa, Canada. From Minneapolis, I figured it would be about a 21 hour drive. No sweat I thought, love would show me the way, and the music would guide me as well. I knew I had to bring cd's with a good amount of music on them, so a lot of my punk cd's had to stay back from the trip. I bought one of those nifty holders that would carry 50 cd's and started going through my collection. I added a few each day, until it was Friday and I realized I had room for one more. The last cd I added was the soundtrack to the Doors movie, and to this day I have not listened to it since.Getting to Canada was a breeze, I taught all day Friday, got home and went to sleep. I woke up at 7pm, packed my car and I was off. Aside from the eeriness of driving through Northern Wisconsin at 3am, the drive was not bad. I had an incredible time in Canada, taking in the sites, eating poutine and just enjoying my time with my girlfriend. I was going to leave Ottawa on a Friday to make it a two day trip back to my hometown. Knowing that I would not see her again for a while, I chose to leave on the Saturday instead, and drive the 21 hours back in one shot. This was not the best idea I have ever had.When I left Ottawa, it was in the middle of a snowstorm, but I knew I had to get back because I had to teach that Monday. I also made the mistake of trying a different way home, one that I found out later would add another hour onto my trip. Things were going well, and I hit Chicago at 1 in the morning. Through out the day, I had been drinking cold coffee, and taking caffeine pills pretty much every hour on the hour. At this point I had to decide if I would go stay at my aunt’s house, or try and make it through. I decided to drive on. It was then I realized I had not listened to the Doors cd, so I through it on and drove into the night. I do not remember much of the drive through Wisconsin. For anyone who has driven through this great state, you find out pretty quickly that for some reason they decided not to put lights up on the freeway. What I do remember is the sun coming up, and the realization that I had not changed the music for the last 300 miles. With 80 miles to go, I pulled over and started to throw up. Pills and coffee spilled onto the highway, with the song The End booming out of my car. I have never felt so sick, and the shakes were uncontrollable. I did make it home, and drove the last 80 miles with the radio turned off. Once back, the amount of caffeine in my system would not allow me to fall asleep until 9 that night. The entire day I could not get the sound of Jim Morrison out of my head, and it was about as close to madness as I think I will ever get. A shot of Nyquil finally helped me fall asleep, and the next day I awoke at 6:30 to get ready to teach.The cd, I still have it and it serves as a reminder of that trip I took. I still can not bring myself to listen to it though, and most likely will never put it into my cd player again. While I still like the Doors, that cd puts a sick feeling in my stomach every time I even look at it. One of these days I am sure I will play it again, most likely with out the coffee and caffeine pill chasers.
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