In preparation for the trip to Florida, we created a 55 page itinerary detailing
every moment and requiring military-like precision. According to the itinerary,
to make it to Harrisburg Pennsylvania we needed to leave by 5pm. We left at
5:30, so, everything was thrown off. We crossed the Pennsylvania border at
twilight.
Shortly after sun set we found ourselves driving through the
Allegany mountains in the dark. Driving through mountains in the dark is like a
scary version of Space Mountain. Driving at highway speeds through curvy roads
pushes to limits of the headlights. I saw a large black mass in the road and
before I could react? We had plowed straight into it. I hit a large tire
fragment in the road.
When astronauts traveled in the space shuttle, they
had no way to tell if the shuttle was damaged until they tried to land the
shuttle. If the shuttle disintegrated upon reentry? Good sign it had been
damaged. We were traveling at speeds not permitted by the laws of man and it was
impossible to assess the damage from hitting the tire debre. I slowed down just
in case I should have a blow out. We listened to every creek and moan of the
vehicle - would we be OK?
After ten minutes of successfully traveling at
a slow pace, I determined the damage wasn't significant and returned to my
pervious speed. Worse case? We would disintegrate upon reentry.
As the
night stretched on, Linda (my navigator) grew sleepy from a long night of
packing the day before. As a result, her navigation skills deteriorated. It was
10pm and we hadn't found gas nor food, and the kids were ready to wet
themselves. We missed exit after exit (oh! We should have taken that one!) and
several times we got off in a useless attempt to try to back track, but instead
became lost.
Finally, around midnight we approached Harrisburg and found
our hotel. We got the last available room which, I guess, means we pay double
the normal rate. I don't understand that, but the foreign gentleman had no
interest in listening to my complaints. If we didn't take the room? The next car
pulling in behind us would.
We took the room and immediately questioned
why this was the last room? We found the floor hasn't been vacuumed so Linda
became grossed out. She broke out her CSI kit and inspected every inch of every
layer of each bed. Only once she was satisfied the beds were clean were we
allowed to go to sleep.
I'm sure this room is will be fine. This won't be
a problem...
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