I haven’t disappeared, well not completely. Last Thursday, Cheri and I headed out to Virginia for a weekend visit. I dropped the kids off at the bus stop and once Cheri got up and ready we were on our way to leave the apartment, but apparently not ready to head out on our trip. We had to run something over to Skyler and then we went to my mom’s house to drop the kids stuff off because they were going to spend the night there and get on the bus in the morning. As we were leaving, I noticed the door to the garage was open. Upon further investigation, the door was forced in because the frame was still attached to the door. So we called them and hung around at the house until they got home. Nothing was taken, I don’t believe anyone could have fit in the door because they don’t normally use it so it had stuff in front of it and the car barely fits in the garage so when it was forced, it would only open 3 or 4 inches. But on to our trip, we finally got going a little later than we had planned. First we hit a McDonalds to grab some lunch, but they didn’t have any sweet tea so we bailed, I told the lady on the speaker never mind, we would hit the next McDonalds since they are on every block. We eventually found the next one and bonus, the McRib was back.
I love the McRib so I got 2 of them. I figured that was a sign that things were looking up after our late start. Now I’ve eaten McRibs while driving, they are messy, but you can do it. I usually hold the box underneath while I eat it, but upon opening the bag, there was bar-b-que all over the outside of the box. So I pulled over to eat so I didn’t make a mess, especially since there were no napkins. Yes, that’s right, 2 McRibs and they didn’t give me any napkins. So much for our day looking up.
We eventually got on the road again but ran into major traffic problems 3 times during the 600 mile trip so we ended up taking awhile longer to get there. When you get into Virginia it turns into 2 lanes for awhile and you are going right up and over the mountain. So it’s 2 lanes that are really curvy and at some spots, nothing but a guardrail to protect you from falling down the side of the mountain. Being as we got a late start, we were going over this part in the dark and I don’t know the curves really well so I would have to really slow down in order to go around them. This is where the one good thing happened, or at least good for me. We got behind a semi with a trailer during most of this part. Now that would normally be a bad thing because there aren’t very many spots to pass, but the dude was flying. Usually around 60 mph and I figured if he could take the corners at that speed, then my little 4 door sedan should be able to do them at that speed as well. The reason I said it was good for me, is because Cheri was freaking out but we made up some time so I was all for it. We finally got there a little after midnight. We talked to our son for a little bit before finally crashing.
We slept in on Friday but when we did get up, the first thing we did was hit Bojangles for breakfast. Cheri loves her some Bojangles and we don’t have them up north so it was one of the restaurants she wanted to hit while we were down there. We then went bowling with Chris which we usually do when we are down there. It’s one of the few things that we have in common so I usually enjoy going. I especially enjoyed it this time because he wasn’t having a good day and I actually won both games, which is rarity. I am a decent bowler, averaged around 160 last time I bowled regularly but he usually still tends to kick my ass. He can be a very good bowler when he wants to be. I don’t think he was really trying on Friday but I’ll take what I can get. We didn’t do much the rest of the day until the evening. We went out with Cheri’s mom, stepdad, sister and nephew for supper. Cheri’s other request was for Japanese food because we only have one place up here and she doesn’t like it. So we had a pretty good supper, I love Japanese food. I sat next to Cheri’s sister and while we have talked, we’ve never really gotten to know each other so I mostly talked to her and her son. They are both sci-fi geeks like I am so we had plenty to talk about. I made plans to hang out with her on Saturday since Cheri was going to be doing her BFF’s hair and I didn’t feel the need to hang out with them.
We woke up later than we had planned but we still made it on time to meet Cheri’s BFF at IHOP. After a late breakfast, we ran to Walmart because I was looking for a cord that would go from my phone to a HDMI jack on the TV and Cheri’s BFF needed formula for her baby. We split from there and I headed over to her sister’s house. The night before I had grabbed Star Trek: Into Darkness from a local Redbox because she said she hadn’t seen it yet so we watched that for a couple of hours and then I hung out for a couple more hours chit chatting. It was a pretty good time, I am a talker when I get going. It was nice because I didn’t know much about her other than what I’ve been told by Cheri and her other sister who lives closer to us. When I left, I called Cheri and they were finishing up doing each other’s hair so I went and hung out at her BFF’s salon until they were done then we went out for some supper.
After supper, I hit a gas station to fill up because my gas light had come on, and we were leaving in the morning so I needed to fill up. Only one problem, it wouldn’t take my debit card. I figured it was an issue with their computers so I went to another gas station and once again, no dice. Now I was pissed because it was our card not working and we had just used if an hour ago at 5 Guys. So we went back to the condo where we were staying and got online to find out what was going on. We got the number to call and of course, their hours are Monday thru Saturday and they were no longer open so nobody would tell me why it wasn’t working. We left to go back to her BFF’s place to drop some stuff off and hit another gas station. Once again, denied. So I ended up using our credit card so we could get home. We went over there and then stopped at her mom’s to say goodbye before heading home.
Once again, we got up later than we wanted and got a late started heading home. First, we had to check off the last restaurant on Cheri’s list, Pal’s.
This was a daily stop for Cheri when she lived there. Every morning before work she would stop for some Cheddar Rounds and a sweet tea. So we grabbed some breakfast and heading out. We got through the mountains unscathed but once we hit the interstate in Kentucky, it was massive downpours that slowed all the traffic down. We finally get through it and start to get into some sunny skies before turning west onto the next Interstate. But I’ll let you read that on my article that Yahoo paid me to write (that means I can put paid publisher on my resume now right.)
Upon returning home, we had power and all was good. Until a couple of hours later it went out. Go figure. We had just ordered a pizza and then it goes out so we enjoyed pizza by flashlight for supper. It was a good weekend while we were down there, the traveling itself could have been better but we survived.
On Monday, Cheri called our bank to find out about the debit card. Apparently we have to notify the bank when we are leaving town. They said they deny any charges at gas stations, drug stores and grocery stores when it’s used out of state. Except that we used it in Kentucky to get gas on the way down there, and Walgreens on Friday. They say it’s for our safety but they are just covering their own asses. How do I have to get permission to use my own money when I travel? Stupid banks.
