Me: Are you still cold?
A.L.: Why do you want to stop for food?
Me: Huh?
A.L. Huh?
Me: Are you still cold?
A.L.: Uh, oh...no, I'm good.

That's a conversation I had today with my travel companion A.L. I found out today thru much prodding that he's only ever been on one other road trip in his entire 55 year life. This explains a lot.

I am at the end of my third day on the road, driving from San Diego to New York with all of my belongings. I discovered about 2 hours into my trip that my selection of a travel companion was not good. It turns out that A.L. has only been in a car for more than 2 hours one other time in his life. He's not tuned into the nuances of being a passenger on a road trip.

First, he doesn't talk. Today he spoke 4 sentences in 80 minutes. I know because I timed it. I was bored and the quiet was killing me. The radio in the truck doesn't work and so we are left entertaining ourselves. That's where the talking comes in. 12 hours a day in a truck without a radio means that you have to entertain each other. A.L. doesn't embrace this idea. He spends hours staring out the windows but not talking. If I ask a question to start the conversation he answers in the briefest form possible and returns to staring out the window. Tonight while I was timing the quiet, the conversation above took place. About 20 minutes later he announced that we were almost to Missouri. And then he said something else about 15 minutes later that I don't remember. None of this would be bad if the radio were working but when you've been staring at the road for hour after hour and it's dark and you're tired and your eyes won't stay focused it's up to the passenger to keep the driver awake.

Second, he's not very good at navigating. When he's not staring out the window he's looking at the map. We have a TripTik from AAA so reading the map is easy. And still he can't do it. Today we had a 5 minute discussion about how much further it was to Oklahoma City. He said it was 70 miles, I said it was 104. He insisted saying that we had just passed some small town and it was 70 miles from there. I pointed out that the sign we had just passed said it was 30+ miles to said small town and 104 miles to Oklahoma City. I was finally able to prove my point when we passed the next mileage sign. To make matters worse he's not even good at telling me if I am clear to go or not. It's sometimes hard to see to the right in the truck so I'll ask if the road is clear or not. Today he kept telling me no, so I waited and waited and nothing came. So I asked again and again he said no. I waited and waited and nothing came. I ask him if he was sure and he pointed to a car and said yes he was sure. I then realized he wasn't letting me go because of cars that weren't even on my road. Ugh!!! Then today when we were driving through Oklahoma City during rush hour rather than help me navigate the road he decided getting pictures of downtown were more important so he thrust himself out the window making it completely impossible to see the mirrors or anything to the right. I had to pull him in and explain that if I couldn't see I couldn't drive.

What I have discovered is that A.L. is non-participatory in the trip. He's here to ride and that's it. He doesn't want to make any decisions, help in any way or well participate. This would have been fine if I had known this going into it. But I was expecting some help. I should point out at this point that I have refused to let him drive. Turns out that he hasn't driven anything in over 5 years and I didn't think a 26' Penske truck was the place to learn. Especially when my life and belongings were in the mix.

That's it for my whining for the night. I'll shut up now and be thankful that I am not making this trip by myself. I am in Springfield, Missouri tonight. Drove from Amarillo to Springfield with a pit stop in Tulsa so I could interview for a project that I am hoping to do next summer. It looks like it's mine if I want it so I'll keep you posted. Tomorrow we drive from here to Lexington, Kentucky. I am spending tomorrow night and all day on Thursday at my mom's house. It's the first time I've been home since Christmas so I'll stop by do some errands for her, see some relatives and be on my way on Friday. Should be in NYC by late Friday night at the earliest or early Sunday morning at the latest. As I have an internet connection, I'll keep you posted.