Left NH late because it is so hard for us to say goodbye to everyone, and of course even harder to everyone there to say goodbye to Ghoulie, even if it is for only three weeks. Got on the road, finally, around 1:30 or so. Filled the tank and took off. 93 went smoothly enough -- until Jake missed the ramp for 495, because I had the atlas out trying to decide where our new house should be, provided he gets the job he wants. Somehow, that distracted him.
Once we were on 495, decided to skip 290 due to construction, so staying on the Mass Pike added a few minutes to our drive. Then to 84, where we hit rush hour in Hartford. About the same time, the rain started. Oh, yeah, and we both had to pee, being all coffee-ed up for the drive. And since last week I started suspecting that my coffee consumption is closely related to Ghoulie's high spit-up quota, it was the first time I'd had caffeinated coffee in days, so I was a little nauseous.
For dinner I ordered terrible, overcooked Long John Silver's, because for some reason popcorn shrimp sounded appealling. But after my french fry actually actually crunched and the first shrimp practically bounced off my teeth like a rubber ball, I had to brave the pouring rain again to exchange it all for Taco Bell. Thank God for these roadside fast food restaurant partnerships.
The rain continued well into the night, heavy enough that Jake thought about us stopping at a hotel. I didn't want to spend the money or the extra time. Fortunately for me, the rain cleared not long after that debate (which wasn't really much of a debate, more like a lot of sighing). But once the rain cleared, the traffic started. At 11:40, it stopped. I mean, ground to a screeching halt in the middle of an otherwise deserted highway. We sat for 45 minutes until Jake took out the road atlas again, looking for back routes. Found a decent one, and we happened to be right near an exit. So we exited to the middle of nowhere, missed the first turn and wandered the countryside for a bit, and of course had to turn around again. On the next try, we found the creepy back road we had to take for miles. Made it back to the highway without a hitch. Until the person in the passenger seat, who will remain nameless, but wasn't Jake and wasn't the dog and certainly wasn't the Ghoulie, said, "Take this right." Followed by statements such as, "Yes I am sure! Why do you always have to question me?!"Once on the highway, we saw that we were heading back in the opposite direction, because the first sign for 80 east wasn't actually next to the turn for 80 east, which meant that that second turn, of which said passenger was so sure, wasn't 80 west after all. It was 80 east. We verified that when we did the entire route over again, since 80 took us all the way back to the exit where we got off in the first place.
The good news, when we pulled up to the house at 3:30 am, is that we're actually glad to be home. When we left NH, I did not expect to be so happy about it. Funny how fourteen hours in a car can change your perspective.
Ghoulie, of course, slept all night. Which seemed really good at the time. Except that she woke up at 9:00, ready for the day, and we're still zombies. Typing this waiting for Jake to awaken and take his turn, so I can squeeze in a few more hours' sleep.
***
The highlight of the trip was this (and the mundaneness of it should tell you how not-fun the trip was):
Stopped at a rest area. We practically live at rest areas. At this particular stop, two women entered the rest room behind me, making stranger-to-stranger small talk.
Traveler One (AKA, Woman Desperately in Need of a Geography Lesson): (stretching sounds) I've been driving forever. I've been driving for almost five hours.
Traveler Two: Oh? Did you come from way up in Maine?
Traveler One / WDINOAGL: Just about. Northern Vermont.
Perhaps, if you aren't a New Englander, it's all the same. Thankfully, soon I will be a New Englander again. 20 days and counting.
