Georgia...
Tuesday, we made our trip to Georgia... This was one hell of a trip. It woulda been one hell of a trip if it were just me and the Mrs., but we also had our three year old, and 6 month old along as well.
The trip down was fairly uneventful. We left a little later that I wanted to, but that's usually the case when you're trying to leave at 2:00AM. When all was said and done, with last minute things, we got on 83S around 3:30AM. Because of leaving while the kids were still sleeping, we covered a lot of ground.
Around 7:00(ish), when the kids were waking up, we had made it into North Carolina. I'm not real sure I'm a big fan of this state. It just seemed dirty. That could be because all of our stops were right off of 95S. We were making real good time though. We were right around half way there, and we weren't expecting to get there until sometime after 3:30PM. Yahoo Directions estimated the trip to take just shy of 11 hours. Google estimated it to be just shy of 14 hours... We were about to do it in less than 9. So, because of this, we slowed down. We even stopped at South of the Border and farted around there for over an hour. Even doing all that... we still wound up arriving at our destination ahead of schedule, but we were glad that half the trip was over. For the record, Augusta, GA... nasty...
The trip home was a little more eventful... We started heading back around 4:30PM(ish). We got through Georgia with no problems; we stopped to refuel and got some dinner. By the time we got back on the road, it was dark. After being awake since 1:30AM and traveling more than 700 miles with two kids, I was not looking forward to driving in the dark... I was tired and it was being enhanced by the darkness. The Mrs. wound up driving a majority of the way back because I just couldn't do it... she got us through South Carolina and into North Carolina where we decided it would be best to get a room for the night. It was 9:30PM when we stopped.
We wound up stopping at the shittiest motel North Carolina had to offer, well... for all I know, that was one of their best. We got in the room and the kids went right back to sleep. The baby... did not. So, to recap... the wife and I are exhausted, we're in a crappy motel room in nasty North Carolina, the heater doesn't work in the room, and some ass head keeps calling our phone and waking up Natalie (so I took the damn thing off the hook).
Natalie did not go to sleep. She bitched off and on for three hours. The wife was going out her mind. At one point, she handed me Natalie, and ran out the room pulling her hair... seriously. Since she wasn't getting any sleep anyhow we decided we could make better use of that time and start heading for home. As we finished loading up and pulled out, here came the cops. It appears that Natalie had been keeping some other guests up... and because I took the phone off the hook, someone called the cops instead. The wife was so frantic she just left and didn't bother stopping to chat with them. The police didn't seem to mind and just let us go. We did not get a refund for the room.
As we were heading back I nodded off in the truck a few times in between Natalie's bitchings. Did I mention that as soon as I put her in her car seat when we left the motel, she passed out? Anyhow... it was my time to drive. I was tired, but I was going to "man up." The last thing I remember before falling asleep at the wheel was that we were about 2 hours away from DC somewhere in VA. When I woke up and realized what happened I asked the wife if she was able to drive a little more. Thankfully she was. She got us just south of DC before she couldn't drive anymore. By this time, I'd got enough rest that I could bring us home.
Time to recap... Natalie now has a cold... we didn't realize it at the motel, but by this time, we see some of the symptoms. It's not a real big surprise since her sister got the cold on Monday... it was only a matter of time. She does not want to be in her car seat anymore and she does not want us to stop so... someone has to be holding her at all times. Neither of us have had enough sleep to drive and we are still over 2 hours from home.
I now took the helm and started heading for DC. I'm not real sure what time it was... by now, everything's a blur. It was still dark out, but there were a lot of cars on the road. You should not make this drive while tired... All the roads are so similar; it's kinda easy to get lost. I could punch the dumbass that decided to number every damn road in DC and Baltimore with a "95." We were on 95/495... we got to a point where we needed to decide whether to take 495W, or 95N to Baltimore... I got confused where we were and thought 95 was gonna take us into the heart of Baltimore, so we took 495 all the way back in to Northern Virginia... DAMMIT! We just left here... We eventually got turned around, and this time... took 95N.
Everything else was pretty much uneventful and we pulled into our driveway around 7:00AM on Wednesday. I'm sure I missed some details that could be filled in from the wife's blog. The kids were nice and rested, for the most part... because they got to sleep in the truck, so there was no chance of us getting any sleep when we got home.
I would not recommend making a trip of that caliper with a 6 month old... ever... Actually, just don't go to Georgia... it's a terrible drive to get to a nasty state. Unless of course you are looking for a fireworks store or a Waffle House. I swear there are more Waffle Houses than McDonalds.
The trip down was fairly uneventful. We left a little later that I wanted to, but that's usually the case when you're trying to leave at 2:00AM. When all was said and done, with last minute things, we got on 83S around 3:30AM. Because of leaving while the kids were still sleeping, we covered a lot of ground.
Around 7:00(ish), when the kids were waking up, we had made it into North Carolina. I'm not real sure I'm a big fan of this state. It just seemed dirty. That could be because all of our stops were right off of 95S. We were making real good time though. We were right around half way there, and we weren't expecting to get there until sometime after 3:30PM. Yahoo Directions estimated the trip to take just shy of 11 hours. Google estimated it to be just shy of 14 hours... We were about to do it in less than 9. So, because of this, we slowed down. We even stopped at South of the Border and farted around there for over an hour. Even doing all that... we still wound up arriving at our destination ahead of schedule, but we were glad that half the trip was over. For the record, Augusta, GA... nasty...
The trip home was a little more eventful... We started heading back around 4:30PM(ish). We got through Georgia with no problems; we stopped to refuel and got some dinner. By the time we got back on the road, it was dark. After being awake since 1:30AM and traveling more than 700 miles with two kids, I was not looking forward to driving in the dark... I was tired and it was being enhanced by the darkness. The Mrs. wound up driving a majority of the way back because I just couldn't do it... she got us through South Carolina and into North Carolina where we decided it would be best to get a room for the night. It was 9:30PM when we stopped.
We wound up stopping at the shittiest motel North Carolina had to offer, well... for all I know, that was one of their best. We got in the room and the kids went right back to sleep. The baby... did not. So, to recap... the wife and I are exhausted, we're in a crappy motel room in nasty North Carolina, the heater doesn't work in the room, and some ass head keeps calling our phone and waking up Natalie (so I took the damn thing off the hook).
Natalie did not go to sleep. She bitched off and on for three hours. The wife was going out her mind. At one point, she handed me Natalie, and ran out the room pulling her hair... seriously. Since she wasn't getting any sleep anyhow we decided we could make better use of that time and start heading for home. As we finished loading up and pulled out, here came the cops. It appears that Natalie had been keeping some other guests up... and because I took the phone off the hook, someone called the cops instead. The wife was so frantic she just left and didn't bother stopping to chat with them. The police didn't seem to mind and just let us go. We did not get a refund for the room.
As we were heading back I nodded off in the truck a few times in between Natalie's bitchings. Did I mention that as soon as I put her in her car seat when we left the motel, she passed out? Anyhow... it was my time to drive. I was tired, but I was going to "man up." The last thing I remember before falling asleep at the wheel was that we were about 2 hours away from DC somewhere in VA. When I woke up and realized what happened I asked the wife if she was able to drive a little more. Thankfully she was. She got us just south of DC before she couldn't drive anymore. By this time, I'd got enough rest that I could bring us home.
Time to recap... Natalie now has a cold... we didn't realize it at the motel, but by this time, we see some of the symptoms. It's not a real big surprise since her sister got the cold on Monday... it was only a matter of time. She does not want to be in her car seat anymore and she does not want us to stop so... someone has to be holding her at all times. Neither of us have had enough sleep to drive and we are still over 2 hours from home.
I now took the helm and started heading for DC. I'm not real sure what time it was... by now, everything's a blur. It was still dark out, but there were a lot of cars on the road. You should not make this drive while tired... All the roads are so similar; it's kinda easy to get lost. I could punch the dumbass that decided to number every damn road in DC and Baltimore with a "95." We were on 95/495... we got to a point where we needed to decide whether to take 495W, or 95N to Baltimore... I got confused where we were and thought 95 was gonna take us into the heart of Baltimore, so we took 495 all the way back in to Northern Virginia... DAMMIT! We just left here... We eventually got turned around, and this time... took 95N.
Everything else was pretty much uneventful and we pulled into our driveway around 7:00AM on Wednesday. I'm sure I missed some details that could be filled in from the wife's blog. The kids were nice and rested, for the most part... because they got to sleep in the truck, so there was no chance of us getting any sleep when we got home.
I would not recommend making a trip of that caliper with a 6 month old... ever... Actually, just don't go to Georgia... it's a terrible drive to get to a nasty state. Unless of course you are looking for a fireworks store or a Waffle House. I swear there are more Waffle Houses than McDonalds.
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