In case anyone is wondering why I've been so quiet online lately, it's because I was up in Minnesota, working to get my house ready to sell, and there wasn't time to spare. I'll have a bunch of blog posts about that later.
Driving up from Atlanta was interesting. Like the driver in Illinois who tailgated me even though there was no one in the left-hand lane and she could have easily passed me. I mean this woman was right on my bumper. It irritated the hell out of me and I'm thinking to myself, when did they start driving like this in Illinois? This is what I'd expect in Atlanta, not here.
It took the chick a while to figure out I wasn't going any faster no matter how close she got to my car and finally, she does go around me. And guess what I saw as she went past? Georgia license plates. Fulton county, no less. For those of you unfamiliar, Atlanta is in Fulton county.
The other thing that struck me as interesting was reaching Minnesota. As soon as we went past the airport and was in my old stomping grounds, I moved into the left-hand lane. I haven't driven in the left lane since I moved in January because it's a flipping NASCAR race on the freeways in Atlanta and even going 15 mph over the speed limit in the right lane will get you tailgated.
Do you have any idea how awesome it felt to be able to drive in the left lane again? I always drove in the fast lane in MN because there I'm one of the speedier drivers. It was freeing and it was so much less stressful to drive there than in Atlanta. Yes, we still have the idiot factor, but at least the idiots are going slower and I don't fear for my life.
The other thing that stood out to me on getting home was the lack of bugs. I don't mean that as in the condo in Atlanta was inundated with them. It really wasn't despite how it felt. It was just that the bugs were bigger (palmetto bugs, shudder) or they were ickier (centipedes, anyone?).
I climbed into bed that first night at home and realized I hadn't checked the bed for spiders or other bugs. Then I realized that I didn't have to do that there. I do a bug check every night in Atlanta—just in case. I've never found anything—yet—but did I mention the bugs were bigger and ickier down here? I'd rather err on the side of caution than to get into bed with bugzilla.
