The Cult of Punxsutawney Phil (Part II: Road Trip Delirium)

Now, the voyage to Punxsutawney did consist of more than just fucking with Greg, after all, this was a six hour trip. Our trek took us from civilization (New Jersey), to The Bronze Age (Pennsyltucky), Winter (The last 70 miles or so), and finally, Groundhog Mecca.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, Pennsyltucky is the rural sections of Pennsylvania outside of the Philadelphia and Pittsburg areas. There is nothing except for barns, silos, road, barns, power lines, silos, trees, barns, cattle, barns, mountains, barns, and more roads. It is full of beautiful scenery, and if I had to live there I’d kill myself; just for something to do. It really reminds me of the Bronze Age, large livestock farms emerging across the landscape and trade routs emerge. You can go miles without seeing any kind of shopping center, restaurant, gas station, or human being. When you face this kinda void there is only one recourse, riffing on life.

When I say ‘riffing on life,’ think of Mystery Science Theater 3000, but replace the road with the movie. This is by far the most difficult portion of my saga to chronicle. I really enjoyed riffing the trip down, but it really was an amalgamation of you-had-to-be-there jokes. I wish mere text could properly convey the hilarity, but alas, it can not. I do want to share with you two riff moments that really stand out to me. First, when Bill was about to right down one of our ideas for the future, I glanced at his note pad; I noticed that we only had one item on the itinerary, and it was crossed off. The item was a groundhog celebration that turned out to be in July. I love the fact that we started this trip with only one idea that we crossed out long before we actually went on the road. Second, is this exchange between Bill and myself:

(We pass through a tunnel and Bill takes a picture of the car in front of us)

Me: Was there a point to that?
Bill: No.
Me: Ok.

That exchange embodied the soul of our trip. This trip was about rolling with the punches, living in the moment, and finding fun/humor in whatever life throws at us. Tomorrow, be prepared for Part III: Groundhog Jesus.