I’ve journeyed up north so many times in my lifetime that I
wouldn't even be able to try to count, and just about every time, things have
gone relatively smoothly. Sans one year on the trip home when I was about 10
that the alternator blew out in my mom’s Safari. But I was 10 – I really didn't
care. Okay, I cared. But I didn’t have to deal with it.
But this time, I can say with certainty, it was the trip
from Hell.
My mom and I left our house (three minutes early!) at about
5 AM. My mom said she got about one and a half hours of sleep, and I didn’t get
a wink. I laid in bed with my eyes wide open from midnight to 3 AM. I finally
decided to get up early because sleep was not in the cards.
So we both started out exhausted already. My mom always
takes first shift driving. Morning’s not really my bag.
We were both pretty awake for the first couple hours, and I
caught a 15 minute catnap right after Chattanooga. Then disaster struck (it’s possible I’m being a little
dramatic).
Oil life: 4%.
Now, I know exactly nothing about cars, but I know that’s
not good.
And I was confused because I was 1,300 miles away from the
mileage and one month from when I was supposed to get my oil changed next… So
what the frack?!
I know you can go over your mileage or whatever, but
honestly, we were 3 hours into an 18 hour trip, so my mom and I were not in the
gambling mood.
We were coming up on Murfreesboro, TN, so we decided that
we’d try to find a place to get the oil changed. *huge sigh*
I looked it up on my phone, and since it was so early AND we
had just crossed into central time, I could only find one freaking place that
was open at 7 AM!
I mean, really, though? Who is open at 7 AM on a Saturday? I
think we were lucky to find this place. But then actually finding it was
another thing. Yikes. Both my mom and I are both exceptionally directionally
challenged even with GPS, so it took us a couple tries to get there.
But we did, and they told us it would be an hour wait… So we
waited. I swear time was standing still. One cool thing about the place we
stopped though, you could actually watch the mechanics work on the cars. There
was a big glass wall between the waiting area and the work stations (?). I
thought it was pretty cool. Every other place I’ve ever been they take your car
somewhere else while you sit in the waiting room reading an old magazine
wondering if they’re trying to pull any funny business on you.
I’ve never given it much thought before, but it was kind of
comforting that I could pretty much see what everyone was doing.
So two hours later, we were back on the road. Now exhausted
AND perturbed.
It definitely could have gone worse… Definitely. But as far
as all the travel experiences I’ve had, this one was the worst. If I had been
fully rested, I think it would have been fine… But I was not.
And since both my mom and I almost fell asleep at the wheel,
we have decided that on the way home and for any future road trips, we will be
springing for a hotel. Because neither of us care to ever do that again.
Anyways. We made it. Now with 4,000 more miles to run on my
oil. So thanks, Quick Lane of Murfreesboro. Without you, we still probably
would have made it, but I might have an ulcer right now because I would have
worried about it the whole way.
We've been in Clear Lake for a week and a half now, and it's the same as ever!
XOXO Ness
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| Infamous water tower! |
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| This girl! |
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| Love this. Wish I could remember what she was doing! |
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| I'm sure she's telling me something very important ;) |
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| The view from the farm. One of my favorites. |
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| Farm sunset |
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| Clear Lake |
