Well actually, it was last night.  Well the night before, whatever.  Anyways, true to my promise, I took a trek out into the great unknown, and right away I knew the night was going to be trouble.  I first made a stop at a gas mart that had a Dunkin’ Donuts, where two Hispanic guys cut in front of me in line, chirping in rapid fire Spanish that quickly reminded me of how much I hated that disgusting language.  I mean really, it’s worse than listening to German.

“Yo, dude-os.  Get-o the #$%^-o out of my way-o.  Comprendo?”

After that unpleasant experience, I made my way onto the highway, right into the billowing smoke of what had to have been a chemical fire that was taking place nearby, because my eyes were watering and my nostrils stunk of burning plastic.  I stopped by a 7-11 (because I never got a chance to get my coffee at Dunkins’, for reasons I best not get into here,) bought some crappy tasting coffee, then got into my car and noticed my engine light was on.

Yep, it was gonna be that kind of night.

So I finally get on the interstate, and I’m trying to understand why the people behind me were driving too fast, while the people in front of me were driving too slow, and this little game of chicken goes on for about 30 minutes or so, until the traffic finally started to break and I could activate my cruise control.  After about a couple of hours driving, I pulled into a shopping center that had a Starbucks so I could get a Gingerbread Latte, only it had closed just a few minutes before.

Yep, it was gonna be that kind of night.

The stores did have lovely Christmas displays though, so I managed to get this nice shot while I brooded in misery:

I pulled into another 7-11 after another 20 minutes of driving, because I wanted, yay, NEEDED, hot chocolate, and of course the machine was broken.

Yep, it was most definitely gonna be that kind of night. 

Things finally started to break my way a little when I came across another 7-11 only 5 minutes after stopping by the first one, and this time they had all the hot chocolate I needed.  I kept on driving past vineyards and whatnot, and started noticing roads with cute names like this one:

Could my dream girl be living here?

My plan was to find a park void of any lights so I could break out my camera and tripod and shoot pictures of the moon and the stars in all their glory.  Of course the one park I could find was closed and locked up.  Sigh.  So here I am, pretty much surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, and not knowing where the flip to go where I wouldn’t be bothered by the park police or neighborhood patrol or whoever.  I wound up driving into a dead end in a private neighborhood somewhere that took me right up to the beach.  There were no street lights so I figured this was as good a place as any, and I just had to hope the houses nearby didn’t see me and call the cops on me for daring to pollute their existence with my non-luxury vehicle in such close proximity.  I got out and the wind sliced through me like an angry cold mother…

But I was determined, so I broke out my tripod, turned on my car stereo to “Bad Moon Rising,” and managed to take the crappiest night shots of the sky that even a 5 year old could have outdone.  Here’s one of the moon:

I also managed a nightshot of 3 stars that I’m always seeing every time I look at the sky.  I wonder what formation this bright group of three stars belongs to, since they seemed to follow me everywhere:

Here’s a closer view of the three stars I’m referring to:

Anyone know what group this 3 star formation is a part of?

After a while, I finally gave up taking pictures of the night sky and trying to capture any meteor showers that were supposed to be happening that night.  They always seemed to occur right out of the corner of my eye too.  I would notice a streak but by the time I turned my head it was gone.  This shower was more like a drizzle to me, so I tried my hand at taking snapshots of the beach instead.  The lights in the background is that of the Connecticut shoreline:

Here’s another one of a nice big rock that accentuated the view:

Once I started losing feeling in my hands I knew it was about time to go, especially since a light in one of the houses nearby turned on and a dark figure appeared in a window.  With visions of Psycho dancing around in my head, I decided to make a quick exit and hauled my heinie out of there.

The drive back didn’t turn out to be so bad.  There was no traffic and when I filled up for gas on the way back, the engine light went out, so I was finally able to mellow out a bit and enjoy some of the small town scenery I drove through, with their Christmas lights and all.

All in all, it wasn’t the kind of night I wished it could have been, but I’m glad I did it anyway.  It got me out of my apartment, and in a way it served as a trial run for future trips.  If I hadn’t done it, then I would have been left to wonder what kind of celestial show I would have missed because I was too lazy to get myself out there and see for myself.

Hopefully though, the next time there’s a moon out like that there’ll be a glow in my heart, if ya know what I mean.  

There’s a glow in my heart!
Whoa, oh, oh, ooooooh,
I never felt before!

There’s a girl at my side!
Whoa, oh, oh, ooooooh,
That I adore!

There’s a glow in my heart!
I guess it’s because…

There’s a…. moon toiiiiiiiiiiinnnnniiiiiiiiight!

Related Posts:

• How I Mooned Myself (6)
• When a Day Starts in Reverse (0)
• Spiraling along in my automobile… (8)
• How The Harvest Moon Almost Killed Me (23)
• A vacation is worthless without pics! (5)

Tags: camera, car, christmas displays, coffee, drive, driving, dunkin donuts, fire, highway, hot chocolate, meteor, meteor shower, moon, night, nightshots, Photos, rock, sky, smoke, star, starbucks, street, traffic, trek
Categories: Lincoln's Personal Log
 
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