Athens, where Divya’s college was, turned out to be a nice university town full of students. I have always enjoyed being in such places, and Divya went out of her way to keep me from getting bored.

We walked around the campus, went club hopping on the weekly college night, watched a movie, visited the nearby quaint town called Helen and walked up to the Anna Ruby falls. I had had a good time in Athens, and before I knew it, it was time for me to go.

Even bulldog statues need a hug

I think I could be a pretty good baker lady

Anna Ruby falls

Grazing cows

My plan was to rent a car, drive all the way south to Keywest - Florida, which was the southern-most tip of the continental United States; and then back north to Miami. On Sunday morning, Divya drove me to the closest Avis car rental place, but they were closed as it was the Easter Sunday. It was of course, the Breakdown Gang in action, and I was reminded of my failed attempts at leaving Delhi and riding to the Wagah border.

So we came back home, and I took Divya’s Honda CR-V for a drive to downtown Atlanta. Despite having a GPS device, I got lost as usual and took three hours to get to Atlanta. Downtown Atlanta has so many one-way streets, that it’s hard for a normal person to not make a mistake. But in my case, it just meant that it was disaster waiting to happen. The psychotic woman sitting inside the small GPS unit suddenly woke up for no apparent reason and told me to turn left. So I turned left. In less than a microsecond I knew that I was going the wrong way on a one way street. Thanks to my wonderful luck, I almost drove straight into a policeman on a motorcycle. I first heard the cop shouting, “Hey!”, and then heard his loud siren go off. What followed were the bright revolving lights - the stuff of every driver’s nightmares.

Like a good boy, I stopped by the side of the road while the cop turned around, rode down the road a little and parked horizontally in the middle of the road in order to block the oncoming traffic. Then he bellowed, “Turn around” at the top of voice, which I quietly obeyed. I started driving slowly expecting him to stop me and give me a ticket. But he rode up next to me and shouted, “Pay attention to the signs man” before riding away. I’m sure he didn’t hear me say I’m sorry. I barely heard it myself because my throat had gone completely dry :D

I heaved a sigh of relief, drove into the parking lot of a supermarket, parked there for a good 15 minutes to clear my head, and then just drove back home - not once exceeding the speed limit.