***
No wonder I haven’t been in a Zippys in a while. And now that I think about it, I never even got a Zippys burger that day.
Several hundred miles later, I merged on to I-95 south, about an hour into Florida. Having eaten at least my body weight in snickers and fruit rollups I vowed to alter my diet the minute I could escape the car. I didn’t want to meet over a thousand new girls not looking my best.
The weather change over the past twenty-two hours had been amazing. I’ll bet it was over ninety degrees out and it was only 11:00 in the morning. This was vastly different than Michigan’s weather, but in a good way. When I left Michigan the weather was just sixty-nine degrees. That was a bit low for this time of year, but not so abnormal that anyone talked about it or even really noticed. I could get used to ninety degrees pretty fast.
The highway that I was driving on now was flat and smooth and my tires made a hypnotic humming sound on the concrete highway, a very different sound than the clumpity clump, bone jarring weather beaten salt damaged roads of the north. About the only good thing the potholes served, is in keeping you awake. You had to stay awake just to avoid the potholes the size you could drive your car into and never be seen from again.
I felt so relaxed, taking everything in from my newfound freedom, to the warm weather and the new smells of Florida. I swear I could even smell the ocean in the breeze coming through the car window already. Although I was enjoying the drive, the heat and road hum were starting to get to me, making me sleepy. I wanted to finish the drive in one shot so I began mimicking voices on the radio, to keep myself alert.
I hit Coco Beach, just as it was reaching 3:00 in the afternoon. I had made good time. I followed the signs with little palm trees on them directing me into the next town of Palm Bay, where the college was located. Driving down A1A along the coast was a much more interesting and scenic route than the boring interstate.
Rolling up to a busy intersection I stopped at the red light. On the left side of the intersection there were a number of strip mall shops selling swimsuits and tee shirts. There were also some shops selling an assortment of beach toys. They sold everything from plastic pails and shovels clear up to cool looking surfboards in every color imaginable.
Alongside me in the left hand lane, was a Ford Taurus with three girls who looked like they had just came from the beach. There was also a police motorcycle sitting behind them waiting on the light to turn green. Since I was getting tired, I decide to have some fun with this.
The policeman was a big macho looking guy, who apparently didn’t need to wear a helmet. In Michigan there’s a law-requiring motorcyclist to wear a helmet, obviously that wasn’t the case in Florida. Since he wasn’t wearing one, I knew he would be able to hear pretty well. I took a deep breath and threw my voice over to the trunk of the Taurus and in an exact replica of Sheryl Crow’s voice, I yelled out, “Help! Help get me out here. Please, help me get out of here. Please …Anyone?!”
The policeman jumped off his bike in a flash but stayed back away from the car as if to assess the situation for danger. He could see that the girls inside the Taurus didn’t look like the kind of group that would have someone locked inside a trunk. So, he quickly went to the driver’s window reached up and motioned for the girls to exit the vehicle.
The girls scrambling out of the car were all wearing tee shirts that only came down to their belly buttons and each girl’s hair was a wet, tangled mess. They must have spent the morning on the beach surfing. The officer forced them to open their trunk as traffic backed up and impatient drivers started to honk.
The trunk flew up as the policeman stood there looking dumbstruck and totally confused. Four dirty boogie boards were the only things inside the trunk. He must have wondered how the girls could have managed to get someone out of the trunk without him seeing, or if the cry for help was coming from another car. The girls looked at him as if he had just escaped a mental institute.
I laughed to myself as I drove from the scene. Replaying the look on the cops face in my head should help me stay awake and focused until I find the university.
Just a short while later I entered the Palm Bay city limits. You could see the heat rising off the road, like was melting the pavement or something. The road ahead looked out of focus, or it could just be the lack of sleep starting to really affect my eyesight now.
Downtown Palm Bay was much bigger than I imagined it to be. Finding the college though was not going to be a problem, as there were numerous signs marking the way to each building. A large sign standing between two draping palm trees showed that Mendon Hall, Cooper Science Tech. and the Administration building were to the left. Straight ahead I would find the Colonial dorms, Saint’s Gymnasium, and the University Library.
Since I already knew what my dorm assignment was, I headed straight to my dorm room to crash.
My dorm building was a new modern stucco building with lots of windows. The windows went from the floor to ceiling all around the building. While it looked very classy, I’m sure it cost a lot to air-condition, with the sun shining through those windows letting in all kinds of heat throughout the day.
When I got to my room, which was on the far side of the hall, I used the key swipe card that I received in the mail two weeks ago. What do you know, a bit of good luck, one swipe and the light turned green and let me right in. It was a nice surprise how cool it was inside. The cold breeze from the air conditioning sent a chill through my body as it hit the sweat on the back of my neck.
There was a huge guy with his back to me setting up a very large stereo system against the back wall. He must have been 6’-4”, 230 lbs and all muscle. Football player I presumed since he was wearing a Saints football jersey with the name Joseph on the back.
He looked over his shoulder as he heard the door close behind me, and said “Hey, I’m Joe Joseph.”
“Hi, I’m Wilson, Wilson McClain.”
“Where you from kid?”
Kid… he didn’t seem rude or mean so that kid comment must mean he’s an upper classman. At least the guy seemed friendly, and from the look of his classic rock collection we had the same good taste in music. “I’m from Ann Arbor, Michigan, how about you?”
He turned back to finish working on his stereo before replying, “I’m a local brat. The university usually likes to get any decent local talent for their sport teams. It’s their way of giving back to the community or something, I guess.”
I was going to pass out any minute or develop one heck of a headache if I didn’t get to sleep pretty soon. I could tell Joe had some stuff crammed under one bed and his pillow on top of the bed, but to be polite I asked which bed I should take.
Once he pointed it out, I explained that I had made a twenty-six hour drive straight through and asked if he minded getting acquainted a little later so I could get a few winks. He said that was fine, he had some errands to run anyway to get some stereo connectors he needed, and that later tonight he would show me around town.
The bed was soft and the cool AC was blowing right across me. …college felt just like heaven already. I’m not even sure I got my shoes off before passing out…zzzzzzzzZZZ
I was up by 8:30 and the sun was just starting to set. Joe said this was a perfect time to hit his favorite pizza joint and then a couple hot clubs. Joe must have a pretty good time at the clubs since he had the rugged good looks, blond hair blue eye thing going for him. I’ll bet he never had a problem getting dance partners or any other partners for that matter.
All the places we went were right out by the ocean so everything seemed like it had a festive party atmosphere. It made me wonder how I could have wasted so much time anywhere else but right here.
The pizza was great, and the clubs were full of first, second, third and fourth year college students. The new students coming in for the first year did stand out a bit since freshmen don’t have that sophisticated look that the junior and senior students carry. And most of the fre
shmen were also a few shades paler than everyone else, since most of us came from other states. Getting a tan would be a priority so I don’t stick out like a sore thumb. Compared to the surfer girls, I look almost transparent white, not the look you want to have in sunny Florida.
You could tell we were all thrilled to be starting college. We kind of looked like six year olds at the candy counter, eyes wide open, wanting to have one of everything in the store.
I didn’t quite last as long at the dance clubs as Joe, so I excused myself to head back to the dorm around 2:00 AM. I guess the effects of the drive were still taking its toll on me. At least I had four years now to take this all in. I planned to get some sleep tonight and hit the admission’s building in the morning to get registration over with. This was definitely the way to start off college life.