Alabama Getaway Part I

Well I got to Tuscaloosa okay today and to my shock, about an hour or so faster than what Mapquest said. Mapquest said it would take me just over five hours to get here and that was with directions that took me the whole way up to Birmingham and then back down southwest towards Tuscaloosa.

Luckily for me, a friend who had been to Tuscaloosa many times said the quickest route was to pick up Highway 82, just north of Montgomery. When I look at the Mapquest directions for that route this morning, the site said that way was shorter, but it would take me almost seven hours. Fortunately it was a quiet Sunday on the roads and I was humming along in a caravan with a few other cars the whole way here.

Tomorrow afternoon may be a different story when I go back. I'm going to hit Montgomery right around 5 p.m. so there will be some congestion and the state of Alabama hasn't done a great job of snyching its lights. With the exception of some parts of 82, most of the roads I was on were four-lane state highways where the speed limit is 55-to-65 mph, which is great. What I don't get is why they throw stoplights up on a road where the speed limit is 65. They do that in some parts of Ohio, but at least they put up a sign about a quarter of a mile away with a flashing light that tells you if you're going to hit a red light or not

I haven't seen much of Tuscaloosa as I came straight to my room at the Hampton Inn. Nice place as most Hamptons are. My only complaint so far is that the ID that pops up on the screen does not match the actual station. If that's my only gripe, it will be a good trip. I'm schedule to leave here at 3 p.m. (CST) which would put me home at 9 p.m. EST

I've got dinner tonight with the director of Media Relations and a couple of guys from the office then most of the interviews are tomorrow. Tuesday I have two interviews at Florida State with another pair Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon I'll be on a flight back home and I figure by the time I reach Pittsburgh I'll know whether I want to be in Tallahassee or Tuscaloosa. Both places are good solutions and hard to spell.