A Tale of Two Burgs...

Due to my unflinching control issues…ie…not letting jeff drive for even one mile on this trip, I have found it quite difficult to keep up with the blog when I am constantly behind the wheel. Hours before we left I signed a “no phone zone” pledge to stick to my daily Oprah diet, thus preventing me from instantaneous updates concerning life on the road. So whilst I sit on a couch in Ann Arbor, MI….I will give all 7 of you reading this an update on the past few adventures.

Harrisonburg, VA….named after hittheroadjeffandmike.com co-creator Mike Harrison…also home of James Madison University….What can I say about my alma mater township that I called home for 4+ years…(it was actually 5 because I was a fifth year senior…or as I like to think of it….a victory lap of education). I do not miss the day to day life in the burg, but must say that turning off I-81 at Exit 245 (insert joke here) is like snuggling up under an old, comfortable blanket. We tried to start the day off classy and completed a beautiful wine tasting at Veritas vineyards where the conversation ranged from 401K plans…to poop. At exactly what age is it no longer appropriate to discuss the details of your bowel movements? I realize that there is also an age where it is appropriate to return back to poop talk just for health issues and war stories of one’s lifelong poop endurance, but there is something amazing to be said about a good ole poop caucus when you’re almost thirty. Many friends (old and new) came out for the summer night in Harrisonburg. Dave’s Taverna, Clementines, Artful Dodger, Fox Hills Apartment party, fried oreos, papa john’s pizza…such a great night but again we will be hitting the road soon so I will keep it brief.

As I sit in the hotel room in Harrisonburg, I think back to the nights events…..sitting in the backseat of Lawton Tufts’ car…in the Dave’s parking lot….at 8 pm…taking a shot of Southern Comfort….or SOCO….then driving to a party in Fox Hills…walking in and stealing a shot of Tequila…then walking out and stealing the two Papa John’s pizzas that this girl had just ordered with Daddy’s Credit Card…..maybe I feel a little too comfortable in the burg. Either way, I had a blast and want to thank everyone that came out to wish us well on our last stop of the Virginia tour.

Camping in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania…..what a freak show. This town is one of the strangest places I’ve ever been and nothing like the movie. Sidenote…I called my father to let him know I was in Gettysburg which we had visited when I was a child due to my father’s affinity towards all things American history and life altering obsession with Jeff Daniels movies…..I also called to ask who had won…I couldn’t remember…details, details, details. Instead of engaging in a light conversation about the road trip and thanking me for my call, he launched into a full campaign on why Martin Sheen was terribly miscast as Robert E. Lee….this casting has apparently been a heavy burden on my father since 1993. Anyway, the town is beautiful and rich with history. Word has it that something big happened here years ago…something so big that people still walk around dressed in wool uniforms in the middle of AUGUST just to play the “remember when?” game.

As we were driving through the auto tour of Gettysburg, I received a phone call that the Walmart commercial was finally completed and ready for viewing. You see kids, I did a little thing that we in the biz call “selling out”. When Walmart calls, you answer. When Walmart waves a check in front of you that can pay for a road trip with your friend jeff, you climb onto that commercial, capitalist bandwagon and ask them how high they need you to jump. Sooooo….without further ado….here is my first commercial as the new face of Walmart.


That’s my little update from the road…well the couch actually….I will deconstruct the night we enjoyed in Ann Arbor, MI from another couch across this great nation.