Holiday Trilogy Part 2 Driving Through Dixie

Holiday Trilogy Part 2 Driving Through Dixie

Bright and early Tuesday morning, it was time to disembark after our 10 day cruise on the SS Assisted Living.  I bid my new friends, Ruthie, Gert, and Doris, a fond farewell, gathered up the last of our belongings (of course we did leave one phone charger still plugged in) and exited the boat. We found a van, for a great price to ferry our family and belongings over to the airport. At 10am, we had checked our luggage, gotten our boarding passes, made it through security, and had great seats at the gate. Our flight was not due to depart till 1pm, but there was a Cinnabon and Starbucks kiosk nearby, so we were happy. And then it fell apart. I knew things were going far too smoothly.

They canceled our flight.  Due to the blizzard, the airlines were canceling flights left and right. Off we went to the front of the terminal to get on the 2 hour line, to rebook. My husband stood in line, the boys watched over our carry-ons, and I went to try and retrieve our checked in luggage. I have to admit, this was a lot less painful than I had anticipated.  The baggage department was able to locate our bags (because they were the only ones checked in for the non-existent flight) in under an hour. I lugged them back upstairs, in time to see my husband headed our way, and he wasn’t smiling. The earliest they could rebook us was 5 days later. Hello Hertz!  We are driving through Dixie!

We rented the biggest car we could, but even so, the boys had all the carry-on bags, and 1 large garment bag sharing the backseat with them. So we’re off.  Well not yet.  My husband is genetically unable to do a road trip without a cooler! The local Piggly-Wiggly had Styrofoam coolers, ice, water, soda, and chips so after a short shopping spree we were on our way.  The big old cooler sat up front between me and my man.  “Lets’ hit 95 north, and go home!”

We figured we would stop at 7:30pm, and spend the night.  The question was where would we be 7 or so hours on the road?  We had chips, we had water, we did not have maps. We knew we needed to head north, but had no idea how big the states we were driving through were. How big is Georgia? How many miles from south to north? I mean I could do the math. My beloved was rocking down the road at 80 MPH (he feels speed limits are suggestions) so that meant roughly 560 miles. Just for future reference, if you leave Fort Lauderdale at noon, you will hit Savanna Georgia by 7:30pm.

We checked in to a nice hotel right off 95, and headed out for a bite to eat.  Now as anyone who has ever taken the Dixie tour will tell you, there is always a Cracker Barrel nearby. However my extended family doesn’t eat at Cracker Barrels. Some years back, my sister talked her husband and assorted relatives into stopping at one for breakfast one morning.  Not only was there a 3 hour wait, the food was inedible.  Things have to be mighty bad, for my relatives to judge any food as inedible! Ever since that day, we use the catch phrase “Cracker Barrel” to describe the type of day we are having.  For instance if you get a flat tire on your way to an important meeting, you are having a “Cracker Barrel” morning. We found a nice non Cracker Barrel restaurant, and had dinner.  The wait staff showed us Yankees the famous Southern hospitality that they are known for, they just do it really  s l o w l y. I guess their motto is “when God made time, he made plenty of it.” Two hours later we were back in our room, with the 2 queen beds. Each adult took one son, and we turned in for the night.  This was not the only turning that took place. My sons are like whirling dervishes when they sleep. It was like sleeping with a 100 pound Mexican jumping bean. I can’t tell you how many shots to the head I took.  Of course he slumbered on peacefully.

We hit the road by 8am, and were in South Carolina in no time. Interstate 95 north, is really just one long advertisement for “South of the Border.” It seemed like every quarter mile there would be another billboard extolling their virtues.  One clever sign said “you never sausage a place.” Another announced that everyone left a “wiener!” We were on a mission to get home, so we didn’t stop by to see Pedro and the gang. Maybe next time.

Soon enough we entered the State of North Carolina!  No more South of the Border billboards.  Now we were reading billboards extolling the great buys at J&R.  One of their signs said they carried everything from Brassieres to Chandeliers.  Having stopped at this fine establishment a few years back, I knew this was not just hype. You could purchase a wedding gown, while the next aisle over carried carved coconut head sculptures. If they don’t carry it at J&R, chances are you don’t need it.  Apparently North Carolina had received an inch of snow (more like a dusting from what I could see) and was in a full blown state of emergency. Lucky for us, everyone was hunkered down, and we had the road to ourselves.  A friend called to see where we were, and requested we stop and pick him up some fireworks.  Who was he kidding! If my husband could have figured a way to gas up while in transit, we would all be wearing adult diapers, and be on fluid restriction. He was a man on a mission, and that mission was to get home to New Jersey before midnight!

Now the Styrofoam cooler was starting to get on my nerves, so I tried to tuck it down by my feet. That was not one of my better ideas. The leg area was only big enough for either one set of legs or one Styrofoam cooler. I was fighting Charlie horses in my cramped limbs for the entire length of Virginia! I thought about telling my husband that this car was not big enough for the two of us (cooler or me) but after all the delightful conversations we had enjoyed for the preceding 8 hours, I decided to keep my opinions to myself.  I didn’t fancy a solo trip on the Metro Liner DC to Jersey!

Driving through DC during rush hour, enough said.

Only Maryland and Delaware left! We were in the home stretch. The snow situation still didn’t look like it amounted to much.  True we were on an interstate, but looking off to the sides, we still couldn’t see what all the fuss was about.

Then we hit New Jersey. The snow wasn’t too bad at the southern end of the state, but grew higher and higher the further north we proceeded. We exited about mid-way through the state, and headed for home. Most of the main roads were cleared, but we ran into some icy patches here and there.

Finally, we turned into our development.  A veritable winter wonderland greeted us. The streets had not been plowed, and everything had a 3 foot covering of icy snow. Luckily, my husband had called a service to plow out our driveway, and they had done a magnificent job!  We pulled into our driveway at 10:30pm!  Now to just open the garage doors and head inside!  We were home and Driving through Dixie, was just another fond memory of Christmas 2010.

But the story doesn’t end.  Stay tuned for Holiday Trilogy Part 3 Homecoming