Traveling can be a pain
Liz and I are in Virginia Beach for Meg's wedding. (Note: Meg's site appears to be down right now). I tried the planning ahead thing and we procured two days off for travel (Friday and Monday). The wedding is at 6:00 tonight, so we planned on leaving Friday morning and arriving sometime Friday evening for the dinner event. Then we would have most of Saturday to bum around, run some errands and do a load of laundry that we brought with us.

We had not, however, counted on the interventions of Fate. We more than used up our "Oh, Shit!" factor in yesterday's travels. First off, I had not counted on Thursday having been such an exhausting day. I'd planned on working, going to play for a bit with the guys and then having a quick dinner and packing. I only expected packing to take about a half hour to 45 minutes or so, seeing as we're only going to be gone for four days. Thursday was a ridiculously long and draining day at work. I had to finish the faculty folder mailing that we started on Tuesday. We're sending out folders full of information about the bookstore to some 1400 faculty members, and someone had to collate the things, stuff them in envelopes, then label and seal said envelopes. I got elected, even though I'm already behind from having a week off. To add to the general joyousness, I get to spend all day Tuesday hand delivering these things to a bunch of department secretaries, putting me another day behind. For various other reasons, Pat and Bill were also quite tired at the end of the day, so we expected not to play very long. We were all surprised when we ended up going over two hours. It was q productive day, though. We got through three songs, which is three more than we've managed to make it through previously.

James and I went back to his place to meet up with Liz and Jill to grab dinner. As always, James and Jill had to start an argument about the fact that he didn't tell her we were planning on going out after. That was because he didn't know. I mentioned that Liz and I were going out after and asked if he wanted to go. Eventually, we made it to Hafner's, and had a lovely dinner (I had a bacon cheeseburger with Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, some awesome French Onion soup, and part of a coconut rum shrimp appetizer). By the time we got home, it was pushing midnight and I just wanted to sleep. I decided that I would sleep and pack in the morning, as I was still expecting it to not take too long.

Next morning, I woke up late (running occurrence this week), grabbed a shower and started packing. All told, we were on the road at 11:00. I had originally hoped for 9:00, which I revised to 10:00 when I realized I would be packing in the morning. Not too bad, really. We got stuck in traffic a couple of times, but nothing too bad, on the way to Pennsylvania. We stopped at Damon's Grill in Clark's Summit for lunch. We stopped at one on the way home from DC a couple of weeks ago, and it was decent for chain food, so we decided that would be a good place to stop, as after Clark's Summit, there's nothing but Turnpike fast food for a long time. The service was a little slow (particularly for lunchtime), so we were there longer than anticipated, and once we left, we got caught in a monstrous rain storm outside Wilkes-Barre. We had just driven out of it when I realized that I had left my CD case in the restaurant. We drove to the next exit, stopped at a Wawa so Liz could use the facilities, and hopped back on the Turnpike.

After driving back through the rainstorm, we arrived at Clarks Summit, and I ran in to see if my case was still there. It was sitting on a counter next to our booth. I grabbed it and ran back out to the car. With two hours wasted, we hit the road again, this time missing the storm. It must have headed east a bit. We made decent time until we hit Philadelphia. Thanks to my gaffe at the restaurant, we hit Philly at rush hour time and sat in traffic from the Turnpike exit until right before we got on I-95. I'm hoping the great slowdown wasn't due to the limosine full of high school students parked on the shoulder, but the road did seem to clear up once we passed them.

We arrived in Delaware in desperate need of fuel. I missed the exit I wanted off of Route 1, and so drove by the first, overpriced, gas station expecting to see more. After driving a few miles into nothing, I turned around and we hit that station. I filled up, noting that our credit card wasn't working. Better get that sorted out when we get home. The only restroom was a port-a-potty occupied by a rather surly fellow who kept hollering that he was in there. Like it's our fault the "occupied" indicator was broken.

With the car satisfied, we made our way back to Route 1 without further incident. We decided to look for dinner in Dover, because we were getting hungry and it was getting late. If we waited much longer, everything would be closed. As we neared Dover, we headed into a lightning storm. There was no rain, but there was a bit of lightning off in the distance. We stopped at Kirby and Holloway Family Restaurant on US 13. Remembering that we were near the shore and noting the abundance of seafood on the menu, I decided to go with one of the fish specials. Liz and I both ordered the broiled sea scallops, which were prety decent. Not the best I've had, but not bad. Right after we sat down to eat, the rain started. Not a little rain, but great sheets of rain. Then the lightning and thunder moved in. The rain let up a little, but the lighning knowcked the power out about halfway through dinner. The other side of the street was not affected, so we ate by what bit of light leaked in the windows from across the way. The rain let up by the time we were finished, but we drove through it one more time outside Dover. The lightning, however, continued for the rest of the drive.

The rest of the drive was uneventful, but we didn't get in until 2:00, which puts a bit of a damper on the day's plans. Right now, it's time to drag Liz out of bed so we can wash that laundry. Then we'll decide what else we can accomplish before we have to be at the Duck In at 6:00.
- posted by John @ 11:50 AM (1) comments

 
Traveling can be a pain
Liz and I are in Virginia Beach for Meg's wedding. (Note: Meg's site appears to be down right now). I tried the planning ahead thing and we procured two days off for travel (Friday and Monday). The wedding is at 6:00 tonight, so we planned on leaving Friday morning and arriving sometime Friday evening for the dinner event. Then we would have most of Saturday to bum around, run some errands and do a load of laundry that we brought with us.

We had not, however, counted on the interventions of Fate. We more than used up our "Oh, Shit!" factor in yesterday's travels. First off, I had not counted on Thursday having been such an exhausting day. I'd planned on working, going to play for a bit with the guys and then having a quick dinner and packing. I only expected packing to take about a half hour to 45 minutes or so, seeing as we're only going to be gone for four days. Thursday was a ridiculously long and draining day at work. I had to finish the faculty folder mailing that we started on Tuesday. We're sending out folders full of information about the bookstore to some 1400 faculty members, and someone had to collate the things, stuff them in envelopes, then label and seal said envelopes. I got elected, even though I'm already behind from having a week off. To add to the general joyousness, I get to spend all day Tuesday hand delivering these things to a bunch of department secretaries, putting me another day behind. For various other reasons, Pat and Bill were also quite tired at the end of the day, so we expected not to play very long. We were all surprised when we ended up going over two hours. It was q productive day, though. We got through three songs, which is three more than we've managed to make it through previously.

James and I went back to his place to meet up with Liz and Jill to grab dinner. As always, James and Jill had to start an argument about the fact that he didn't tell her we were planning on going out after. That was because he didn't know. I mentioned that Liz and I were going out after and asked if he wanted to go. Eventually, we made it to Hafner's, and had a lovely dinner (I had a bacon cheeseburger with Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, some awesome French Onion soup, and part of a coconut rum shrimp appetizer). By the time we got home, it was pushing midnight and I just wanted to sleep. I decided that I would sleep and pack in the morning, as I was still expecting it to not take too long.

Next morning, I woke up late (running occurrence this week), grabbed a shower and started packing. All told, we were on the road at 11:00. I had originally hoped for 9:00, which I revised to 10:00 when I realized I would be packing in the morning. Not too bad, really. We got stuck in traffic a couple of times, but nothing too bad, on the way to Pennsylvania. We stopped at Damon's Grill in Clark's Summit for lunch. We stopped at one on the way home from DC a couple of weeks ago, and it was decent for chain food, so we decided that would be a good place to stop, as after Clark's Summit, there's nothing but Turnpike fast food for a long time. The service was a little slow (particularly for lunchtime), so we were there longer than anticipated, and once we left, we got caught in a monstrous rain storm outside Wilkes-Barre. We had just driven out of it when I realized that I had left my CD case in the restaurant. We drove to the next exit, stopped at a Wawa so Liz could use the facilities, and hopped back on the Turnpike.

After driving back through the rainstorm, we arrived at Clarks Summit, and I ran in to see if my case was still there. It was sitting on a counter next to our booth. I grabbed it and ran back out to the car. With two hours wasted, we hit the road again, this time missing the storm. It must have headed east a bit. We made decent time until we hit Philadelphia. Thanks to my gaffe at the restaurant, we hit Philly at rush hour time and sat in traffic from the Turnpike exit until right before we got on I-95. I'm hoping the great slowdown wasn't due to the limosine full of high school students parked on the shoulder, but the road did seem to clear up once we passed them.

We arrived in Delaware in desperate need of fuel. I missed the exit I wanted off of Route 1, and so drove by the first, overpriced, gas station expecting to see more. After driving a few miles into nothing, I turned around and we hit that station. I filled up, noting that our credit card wasn't working. Better get that sorted out when we get home. The only restroom was a port-a-potty occupied by a rather surly fellow who kept hollering that he was in there. Like it's our fault the "occupied" indicator was broken.

With the car satisfied, we made our way back to Route 1 without further incident. We decided to look for dinner in Dover, because we were getting hungry and it was getting late. If we waited much longer, everything would be closed. As we neared Dover, we headed into a lightning storm. There was no rain, but there was a bit of lightning off in the distance. We stopped at Kirby and Holloway Family Restaurant on US 13. Remembering that we were near the shore and noting the abundance of seafood on the menu, I decided to go with one of the fish specials. Liz and I both ordered the broiled sea scallops, which were prety decent. Not the best I've had, but not bad. Right after we sat down to eat, the rain started. Not a little rain, but great sheets of rain. Then the lightning and thunder moved in. The rain let up a little, but the lighning knowcked the power out about halfway through dinner. The other side of the street was not affected, so we ate by what bit of light leaked in the windows from across the way. The rain let up by the time we were finished, but we drove through it one more time outside Dover. The lightning, however, continued for the rest of the drive.

The rest of the drive was uneventful, but we didn't get in until 2:00, which puts a bit of a damper on the day's plans. Right now, it's time to drag Liz out of bed so we can wash that laundry. Then we'll decide what else we can accomplish before we have to be at the Duck In at 6:00.
- posted by John @ 11:50 AM (0) comments