The meeting adjourned at 3:30 pm, an hour earlier than we had expected. It was probably because of the long drive home for most of the participants and therefore the chairman wanted to cut short of an hour to allow extra day light, which made it easier to spot the state troopers and stay away from getting speeding tickets. My colleague and I started to bid other colleagues good bye, wishing them a safe and healthy travel season with the hope of crossing one another somewhere along our travel routes. Many of them have exciting geographical territories, like Florida, Texas, and even the Bahamas. I am a little bit envious because of my dull and boring Midwest states. Anyway, we continued our little chit chat here and there, hugs and kisses were exchanged with most of the participants and then made our way to the parking lot getting ready for a long road home.
We left Cornell campus around 4 p.m, stopped by a gas station to fill up the tank (gas price was $3.39/gallon for regular) and found our way out of Ithaca. My colleague took control of the wheels, I became the navigator in charge of the map; we meandered through the local routes on the first two hours of the trip, passing through small villages and towns where cows and horses were roaming free on the green rolling hills and meadows along the road. The surrounding mountainous terrain added the thrill for us; my colleague is a driver on the fast lane, and tended to accelerate at least 10 miles above the speed limit.
It was exhilarating to have the car climbing up to the top of the mountain and then dropped smoothly onto the steep slope just like riding a roller coaster. She took advantages of every single mountain notch and curves that came our way. We both laughed; the high energy permeated the air.
The five-hour drive home was more tolerable thanks to my iPod; it makes the road seems a little bit shorter and the drive less arduous. We were driving under the melodic influences of several top artists and singing out way through. The legendary Luther Vandross was the first one on our music chart; I introduced my colleague to the club remix rendition of
I Rather and she was pumped. I am pretty much tune-deaf but it didn't deter me from throwing a few lines in here and there whenever I recalled part of the lyrics and shook my butt to the rhythmic techno beats. We both lose our inhibitions; showing the sides that could be seldom seen in and around the office. The circumstantial moment capture the essence of our individual characteristics and heighten our mutual bonds.
We were completely overwhelmed by the incomparable and powerful voice of Luther Vandross and were also captivated by his deliverance of
Dance with my Father. The song softened the atmosphere for a few minutes.
Next, I went through my timeless selections of Luther and proceed to bring
Sam Cooke and his 23 greatest hits to the dance floor. With each song he delivered, it was like a segment of his life he wanted to share with us, and all were smooching both of our hearts. After crooning along with Sam Cooke, my colleague requested her favorite song by The Manhattans; I gladly obliged. Searching through the iPod, I found
Kiss and Say Goodbye for her. She was insatiable and started to quench her thirst by putting up an instant performance behind the wheels. Her passion came out as she delivered each and every single word of the song to the right tunes.
The sun began to set as we headed east, connecting to I-90 after spending 76 miles on I-88 with Luther and Sam Cooke. My colleague's on-the-spot performance with
Kiss and Say Goodbye won the Grammy of the day. Getting on I-90 was sort of home-stretched but we weren't close to home at all; there was still at least 2 hours more we need to get by. To fill up the remaining hours with more of an upbeat tunes to balance the receding daylight behind our backs, I selected
Kool & The Gang. We started pumping to
Celebration to inaugurate our last leg of the trip and our night drive. Hey, who wouldn't be pumped to
celebrate good times, come on! Other songs followed the sequence, namely
Get Down on It, Fresh, Too Hot, Ladies Night. As we crossed the New York/Massachusetts border, I softened the drive with Ray Charles and some of his famous hits such as
Hit the Road Jack, Georgia (live), Fever. Lastly, passing through the Berkshires in the darken nightfall, I introduced my colleague to the sensual and yet riveted
Alejandro Sanz whose songs were entirely in Spanish. With the help of her proficiency in Spanish, my colleague translated some of the lyrics; I felt further in love with Alejandro. I wish I had learned Spanish in high school or college just to be swooned by him.
Well, that's the synopsis of my trip. I had a blast hanging out with my colleague for 3 days and the total 10 hours of driving back and forth. It was a great conference; I walked out with more energy and motivation than what I had before. It will be another month until my colleague and I see each other again because she is off to her first leg of the travel season, going off to Georgia, Florida and other states in the southeastern region. I will be off to New York City and then onto a 2.5 weeks in Minnesota and Ohio.
Such is life for admission professionals. Will you keep up with my travel?
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