Red River Rock

I intended to drive to Osan over the weekend and take a look around, as well as see how I could manage Korean highway traffic. I drove across the Banpo bridge and immediately found myself in the wrong lane…the one that dumped me onto the 88 Expressway (named after the 1988 Olympics). I did what I would have done in the States…take the next exit, turn right and I would intersect the road I was on soon enough. The detour (indicated in red on the right) was less than 5km…less than 3 miles. In Saturday traffic it took me over an hour to move those three miles.

As I was scanning the Korean radio spectrum I came across a station playing Waltzing Matilda. This was so surreal I had to stop and listen. But it wasn't as surreal as what happened next.

I am a big fan of the movie Planes Trains and Automobiles. There is a piece of music in theat movie that a good friend of mine and I dubbed "The Traveling Song." It pops up now and again while Steve Martin and John Candy are negotiating some vast expanse of highway. A few years back I discovered that the piece is actually called Red River Rock and is from the 1950's. If a soundtrack to my life was ever published, this piece would have to be included. Anyway, as I approached the entrance ramp of Highway 1 traffic began to clear and I was able to shift into third gear for the first time since crossing the Han River the a cappella Waltzing Matilda faded away to be replaced by the familiar opening notes of Johnny and the Hurricanes version of Red River Rock. If I had been planning it, I could not have timed it better.