58 Hour Adventure

As I relax after a full night's sleep, in a quiet house (Owen's at Mo's), I replay the events of our 58 hour road trip to North Carolina. The plan was to stay a week. The plan laughed in my face. This makes me giggle now, not so much then, but I'm giggling now. 

The trip was a success! Owen and I were able to spend all day on Tuesday with my Aunt, Uncle, my two cousins and their children. We stayed with Paw-Paw and Nana and we were difficult house guests (to say the least) and they were very accommodating.

This was the first time Owen had ever stayed away from home (aside from staying with Mo and Pa). 

I have learned many little tidbits from this adventure, here are a few:

• You can pack for everything, but packing for everything will not prepare you for everything.
• I do not miss Charlotte traffic AT ALL. Nope, not one little iota.
• It's best to take small trips before jumping into a huge trip.
• If it can go wrong, it will.
• DO NOT EVER travel during/shortly after the Holidays. EVER.
• Some plans work out, all plans do not.

We departed for our trip at 9:30 am on Monday and hit Charlotte traffic around 5 pm (of course). I began thinking at that moment, "What was I thinking?" Owen fell asleep at 6:40 pm, as we're still in  Charlotte traffic. We finally arrived at our destination in Linwood, NC at 7:30 pm, Owen still sleeping soundly (whew). At 9 pm, the fun begins. Owen wakes up and wants to go home. He wants his bed and his kitty. I did everything I knew to do as a Mother: I rocked, I comforted, I held, I snuggled and nothing seemed to do the trick. Two loooong hours later, we're both exhausted and we fall asleep. 

We wake up to the pouring down rain Tuesday morning and Owen's okay. He had a gift to open and out pops a shiny new tractor, he's good! Yay! Go team! I have a few minutes to shower and prepare for the day. Awesome! Today's going to be a great day! YES! 

We head out (in the pouring rain) to buy gifts for my cousins and visit for the day. I really enjoyed our time with family. This is definitely what made our trip a success. Living in Georgia, I don't get to see my family as often as I'd like and visiting made the entire trip worth it.

Owen falls asleep as we're dropping off my two cousins and heading back to Paw-Paw and Nana's. Couldn't have happened more perfectly right? WRONG! He wakes up and wants to go home. Again. Two loooong hours later, we fall asleep.

Wednesday morning, we wake up and all is good. Owen's playing, having a good time and by this point, I'm running on empty. As I pace the floor, I decide the best thing we can do for the both of us is to go home. I ask Owen, "Woog, would you like to go home?" He replies, "YESSS!" And we're off by 11:30 am. 

The trip goes well down I-85, I-77 and then the fun begins....we hit traffic on I-26 at 4:15 pm and the car starts to run hot. Super. Mental meltdown begins. We start to go and the car doesn't want to go. Thank goodness I'm prepared for anything. I pull over grab one of my shirts, pop off the radiator cap, grab my backup water in the trunk of the car (for things such as this), fill Ebony (my car) to the gills and off we go. Not very fast, I might add. Yessss!, I think.  WRONG AGAIN. The Service Engine Soon light comes on. At this point, I'm in tears (yes, tears) and I call Daddy. Crying like a baby and  asking, "why me?" Of course, he's trying to help (just like I knew he would) and I'm trying not to let Owen see my Mental Meltdown, so I'm sobbing quietly, as he watches Toy Story for the fourth time on the trip home. We're in the middle of our trip, three hours from any safety net possible and I'm in eject mode. 

Fortunately, the Mental Meltdown didn't last but a few minutes, the service engine light eventually went off (I guess the computer reset. Who knows, I'm obviously no mechanic.) and we remain in traffic until I-95 near Savannah. 

Finally, 70 mph down I-95 and it's on. By 7:30 pm, we arrive at Mo's and Owen is asleep. He insisted that I drop him off at Mo's and go home. Sounds good to me at this point. Whew, this 58 hour adventure is over and I haven't even taken my camera out of the car. Do you believe that? That just shows you how much of an adventure it was. I did however, take a couple of pictures with my phone, but that's all.

Sitting in Traffic and trying to find a new route!

BlacK frIday maYhem

This event (I call it an event because it was that, to say the least) started yesterday morning when I decide I would do an experiment. I would go shopping with no money. That, obviously, did not happen and it makes me giggle now because I ever even said I was going to (insert smiley face here).

That thought led to...

I will go and spend money BUT I will carry my Christmas List that I would have gotten anyway and purchase only things from that list that were on sale.

I had a few things in the Wal-Mart circular that I wanted to get: 8 GB Red Flashdrive for $8 (wondering if any of you Black Friday shoppers see the error in the first item yet; get to that in a minute), 24pack of Play-Doh for $8, a 10pack of Hot Wheels Cars for $5 and the licensed pajamas for kids @ $4. Seems a little silly to travel 25 miles just to pick these small things up, but worth it. I was ready for the adventure! 3:15am and I'm ready to hit the road. My partner in crime didn't answer the phone, but I'm not giving up. I'm going.

This is my first time getting up with the chickens, wait a minute, before the chickens, sales paper and sunglasses in hand. No idea why I brought my sunglasses, I'll be home way before I ever need those. But just in case. I've been to Black Friday, but at a normal hour. NEVER four AM. Wow, what am I thinking?

So, after all was said and done...

The lines were insanely planned or maybe it was a lack of planning. Three out of four customer service representatives had no idea where anything was (yes, I asked four people for one item). I'm not sure why there wasn't a map because I had no clue where I was. I knew what I was looking for, I just didn't know where to find it.

The logical solution TO ME is (I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat, right? Ha.):

Slide the shelves to the side (create a large, open area), break out some tables, fill them up with SALES PRODUCT (oh my gosh, right in front of me? yes please, I'll take two!!!!!), noooooooooow break out the lines, CASH AND CARRY!!!! Booyah, in the door + out the door = happy customer AND happy customer service representative. Win, Win.

I did find the flashdrives, although I was a little mixed up in the process. I was looking for the wrong thing. The Red Flashdrive was $14, I think. Duh. Leave it to me. Didn't get the BLACK, 4GB flashdrive for $8 because they musta ran out (oh, of course they did.). I did get the Play-Doh and the Hot Wheels, but no pajamas. I couldn't find them anywhere. NOWHERE!

I had a whole 'nother angle I was working with this entry, but considering I started it about 7 am and it was hanging out so long that it wouldn't even autosave, the enthusiasm has left me. I'm not sure if I'll attend Black Friday next year. I didn't take any pictures or video clips, there were some wild ones out this morning. I'd hate to think someone snapped because I videoed them without makeup and whapped me on the head with one of the infamous televisions everyone in Wal-Mart HAD to have. It was madness, pure madness. I guess that means I fit right in?