Peaceful Drives

Can I just say how excited I am that the gas prices are falling. To drive through Atlanta and see they are below $2.50 gets me pretty excited, which is pathetic. When I first moved to Atlanta in 1998, I remember prices hovered around .89-.99!! Now those were the good old days.

Time to hit the road soon, but to where? There are too many commitments that I have to attend to. So in the meantime, I will have to think back to a few short weeks ago when I was camping in North Georgia. My Sunday morning drive just begged to captured.

Close your eyes (don't worry--I'm driving), turn the radio off and just listen as the wind blows in your hair. Feel the sun peeking through the trees and and floods through the sun roof. Nice, isn't it?

Have you been on a long drive recently? What are you waiting for???

Roadside Beauty

Who doesn't love this time of year? The season is changing and the colors of the fall season become vibrant! Flaming oranges, purples, golds and red begin to blanket the landscape.

I was fortunate to take a wrong turn toward my camping destination. Well, not so much a wrong turn...it was Google's fault, I later discovered. What I discovered drive me to pull to the side of the road and stand along a property line so that I may view this blanket of beauty!

If you want to experience this beautiful site:

• Take 75 north to exit 306, GA 140.
• Turn left and head about 2 miles
• Turn Right onto GA-3/Joe Frank Harris Parkway
• Travel about 2 miles until you see Miller Ferry Road on your left.

It appears to be a sunflower farm in full bloom!

How Do You Roll?

This article had me chuckling. I have to admit, I am spoiled! Rich has completely ruined me. A few short years ago I was content with driving long stretches in a moderate vehicle. I didn't care if it had all the bells and whistles. As the years have gone by, our taste in vehicles has become more and more refined.

In the Beginning

When I first drove the 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited with the 5.9 liter engine, I fell in love. Some of you may be thinking, uh, who cares? And I get it. I was like that once too. Until I experienced it's supple leather seats that I could sit cross-legged in for eight hours if I chose to. We have fond memories of tearing up the terrain, too.

Mud...must drive through the mud.

But not to worry! We made sure we cleaned the old boy off!

The 5.9 (as Rich and I affectionately refer to it as) was the best road trip vehicle, ever. And we still wonder why Jeep had to try and improve on perfection. But the day finally came when we had to say goodbye to him (yes, the Jeep was a boy).

The Brief Interlude

So, we bought the 2007 Jeep Overland. This baby was loaded. Alas, the ownership was to be brief. Although it had terrific off-road capabilities she was not to remain ours. Yep, it was a "she". She rattled and squeaked. She made weird noises that no new car buyer should have to put up with.

She was a pretty Jeep, though.

Excess at its Best!

Enter the "Mac-daddy" of Jeeps. The 2007 SRT8 in Red Rock Red. There isn't an option that is not part of this baby. And I had the fortune of working the deal. We were glad we got him (oh, do you think it could possibly be a girl?). He got to stretch his legs on the open road just one week later.

And of course we had to use the Red Rocks of Sedona Arizona as a back drop for this picture.

I admit, reluctantly that the SRT8 is not made for off-road adventures. But be warned! It is not for the faint of heart either, even with it's rain sensing wipers and indifferent female voice turn-by-turn navigation system.

Car buying is a sticky business, gas prices aside. My only piece of advice is, Buy what you like. Get out on the open road and enjoy life. After all, you can't take it with you!

Gas Vampires

Over the last couple weeks, I like many other Atlantans had to really put forth the effort to find gas. It wasn't until this past Monday that it really hit home for me.

I have to give props to my man for letting those primal "hunter-gather" instincts kick in. Rich has been a great sport, and quite accomplished at finding gas when most gas stations were dry 99% of the time.

My car was down to 3/4 and since I had to make the cross-town Alpharetta-Kennesaw trek on Tuesday night for class I decided I would go out and look for gas. At 11:00 p.m. Three days prior this was the way to go! Smart drivers were crawling out from the protection of their suburban (and urban) dwellings to search for gas like cockroaches searching for food...or vampires for blood. It is October after all!

Apparently, the secret was out, along with me and many, many other desperate drivers. Well, I wasn't desperate. I guess I could be classified as one of those people who were causing the gas shortage by "topping off" their tank. Yeah, whatever.

I weaved my way through Alpharetta and Johns Creek only to pull up to the BP on Haynes Bridge near The Varsity, at what can only be described as a ridonkulous line! A very nice man in front of me had hoofed his way to the station and back and told me they had 40 minutes left of gas. I was sitting at the 2-hour point. Nice.

I didn't really need gas all that bad anyway...even after burning an eighth of my tank searching. The good news is I chatted with my cousin for 45 minutes and that help passed the time. My heart was running a little low on family connections, and she helped top it off!