30-Day Writing Challenge, Day 13 – Your Ride to Work

source – wsbradio.com

Ugh, this is something I can talk easily about. Since I started working at Trinity I have been subjected to something that I have been able to avoid my entire working life – Interstate Commuting. I know, a lot of people have been commuting on the Interstate for a long, long time. Well, it’s still new for me, and it’s still taking me some getting used to.

I have gone a couple of different routes, and they pretty much take the same time, 30 minutes on the way to school, 45 minutes on the way home. Both of these are subject to change with the slightest shift in the wind.

The drive is made better with good music. Usually, that’s a CD, but sometimes it comes from 1690AM  WMLB . This is the most eclectic radio station in Atlanta. I’ll hear all kinds of music on my ride and that makes it better.

The things that make it bad are the bad drivers. And there are LOTS and LOTS of bad drivers. People coming off of 400 south that try to get over to the HOV lane immediately so they either slow down to dangerous speeds or completely stop. When one person does this it causes others to do it, too.

Another aggravating thing is slowing down going around a corner. Not the super sharp corner where 85 N splits off from 75 S. Just going around the corner. “OH! OH! It’s a corner, there might be something around it! I better stop!”

I would say that the traffic radio helps know what’s ahead, but my part of the drive isn’t the part of Atlanta traffic that causes the most jam-ups, so very rarely are the parts that I’m on given traffic updates.

I say all of this, but in all honesty, I know my commute isn’t that bad. I have heard friends say they have done 90-minute commutes both ways. BOTH WAYS! Holy schnikes! The other thing is that I have a job that I love that I go to Monday – Friday. It’s not like I’m making this drive to a place I can’t stand doing something that I loathe. It’s a wonderful place with amazing people doing something I love. So, in the end, I’ll take it.

Little Richard

Coming home the other night I flipped over to 1690AM, because, as usual, all the songs on the multiple FM stations available were total crap, and after some nondescript enjoyable song Little Richard burst onto the radio…


I’m not exaggerating. Burst onto the radio is a perfectly good description of Little Richard’s early catalog. “Long Tall Sally” was the song, and good giggly wiggly, I had not heard it in a long time.
http://youtu.be/jqxNSvFMkag
I grew up listening to Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Elvis thanks to my dad’s record collection. Luckily he taped most of these onto 8-Tracks that we could take on the road with us. These rock ‘n roll pioneers in addition to The Everly Brothers, John Lee Hooker, and Jerry Lee Lewis would keep me more than entertained on long rides in the Buick Electra Estate wagon –

Imagine it in baby blue with the fake wood paneled rocker panels and you’d have the Benefield Family Truckster.

So, back to the point. Little Richard. That excitement. That mania. That full-out, no holds barred drive. Wow. That totally spoke to me as a kid.

“Ooh, My Soul” – http://youtu.be/C0zxESS3djI

Damn. Listen to that. I can only imagine how that scared so many upstanding, good citizens to DEATH back in the 1950’s. If it wasn’t enough for Elvis to be out there wigglin’ and gyratin’, then add Little Richard beating that piano and throwing down some serious rhythm and rock, Chuck Berry being a lyrical mastermind that tapped into the brains of so many teenagers, regardless of their race.


So I’m digging Little Richard and all these other guys and then I discover The Beatles.  And I dive in head first.  All about them.  Then I discover Them Beatles love Little Richard too.   Hot Damn.


Where is this going?  Nowhere.  It doesn’t have to. If nothing else, it got you to listen to two Little Richard songs that hopefully made your day better.  


Do yourself a favor and go read a little bit about Little Richard. It’s an interesting read.  


I leave you with one more for the road…
“True Fine Mama”
http://youtu.be/YewBlXfkAK8