excuse me, sir, which way to maine?

when anything is going wrong in my life, i feel the need to drive. do not listen to anyone says you can't run away from your problems because, honey, if skipping town for two hours will make you feel better, then log as many miles as you need to. yes, your problems will still be there when you get back, but hell, at least you enjoyed those two hours.

i mean, i enjoyed my eight hours. normally i run away all by myself, but i dragged leah and amanda along on my last road trip for two reasons: one, nothing was actually wrong in my life at that particular moment, and two, it was completely spontaneous. at 11:30 p.m., i came up with the brilliant idea that we could get to maine and back in time for both amanda and i to be back for our family obligations the next day. sure, we'd be on no sleep, but we'd be back in time.

we left at midnight. we blasted miley songs. no one was on the road. i downed the biggest coffee mcdonald's had that wouldn't give me the jitters. we took pictures. it was the most ridiculous, strange thing we could've done, but here's the thing - when else am i going to be able to get in a car and drive with my best friends for absolutely no reason other than the fact that this will make a really good story?

plus i have a list of things i want to do. (doesn't everyone?) number one on that list is visit all 50 states. until a week ago, i had never been to new hampshire or maine.

mission accomplished. i still have a few states to go, but i'm one step closer to achieving something on that list. and with everything that's gone on in that last year, that step is a pretty important one right now.