ROAD TRIPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!

When I go home for the holidays, I typically fly. I mean, it's the logical choice given that I do not own a car and live 1200 miles from my family. This year, however, a friend of mine and I drove to South Florida. She was driving down to get rid of her car as she had decided she no longer needed it in New York. I was happy to offer up my company for the drive. Road trips are fun. It has been a while since I have been on one. And it was cheaper than flying.

Day one. We got up early. We made it out the city fairly quickly. We drove through New Jersey. And Delaware. And Maryland. And Virginia. And then through a bit of North Carolina to our stopping point just outside of Durham. We had dinner, opened stockings, did a bit of work, made a crazy long driving playlist, and went to bed early to rest for day two.

Plan for day two:

1) Wake up early.
2) Hit the road at a decent hour.
3) Power through the twelve hours of driving to Florida.
4) Be mentally prepared for the probable traffic.
5) Arrive home.

Actual happenings on day two included some of those things. We got up at a decent hour. We left at sort of a reasonable time. We hit some traffic. We powered through about nine hours of driving. And then it happened. The car gave up. She couldn't go on. Three hours from home and 200 miles from home, we were stuck at a gas station that closed roughly thirty minutes after we got there. Dads were called for car consultation.

After a couple hours of listening to the Christmas episode of a podcast (the Doug Loves Movies "Twelve guests of Christmas", if you were wondering) and trying different suggestions from her dad, we called a tow truck and found a hotel. Lucky for us, the car gave up in a very pleasant town. The tow truck driver was nice. The woman at the front desk of the hotel was beyond welcoming. Not only did she put us in a room near the cute boys instead of near the old people, she even offered to go pick up food for us if we couldn't get anything delivered that late at night (you know, 11pm on a Friday). We were able to get food delivered. Pizza. And it was amazing. And yes, we ate the whole thing.

I guess I should also include that we made it home the next afternoon. She called up a repair shop. We got the car towed there. Got a taxi to a car rental place. Rented a car. Hit the road. Made it home. Families were happy. We were the happiest of all.