Road Trip!

Last Thursday I drove three hours one way in the snow just to pick Taylor up from where he was being dropped off by a friend from school. While that might sound horrible to some, it was truly one of the best days of my life.

For starters, I sang ALL.THE.WAY.THERE. I belted it. Aretha has nothing on me. Alternative, classic rock, worship, Motown, pop… it was awesome.

Not only that, but I was alone with just me and my own thoughts for three hours – and I had many thoughts during that time, some of which I’m going to share with you.

It was about 24 degrees out when I left and it seemed to take the car forever to warm up.  I’m guessing that’s because I kept stopping before it had a chance to heat up – first at Wawa for some cash and then over to Starbuck’s where I ran in for my ride fuel and a gift card for Taylor’s friend.

Can you guess what drink I got at Starbuck’s? Venti White Chocolate Mocha with whip? Oh, you know me so well. But, no. That’s not it. I decided to mix things up a little bit, be daring, live on the edge. So I ordered a Venti Eggnog Latte with whip. Oh, yes I did. And you know what? It was delicious!

But that’s not really part of my story. The whole point about the car being so very cold is that as I was driving I saw this man driving an itty bitty, very old car and he had a very bushy beard. Very bushy. And I thought to myself, “Wow! I bet his face is warm!”

Um, yeah. That’s all to that little story. Not as funny on the screen as it was in my head.

Moving on.

Some of the most exciting news for us Phillies fans is that Cliff Lee has come back home to us, back where he belongs. It was heartbreaking when he was traded to the Mariners. I mean, he’s practically family, you know. No really. I’m sure I  bragged wrote about it before, but he’s from the same town in Arkansas we lived in. My parents know his grandfather. A lot of my friends there know Cliff and his family. Now that he’s coming back to Philadelphia it’s just a matter of time before we’re invited to sit in the owner’s box and swing with the big hitters. (Pun may have been intended. I’m not sure.)

Back to the ride, though. As I was driving through Reading (as in Monopoly’s “Reading Railroad”, pronounced “redding” which makes no sense to me – but I digress) there was one of those big, LED billboards with Cliff Lee and the phrase, “Welcome Back, Mr. Lee”. It gave me the same kind of warm fuzzies I get when I see pretty Christmas ornaments. It could have been the enormous glittery red sign that looked a little like a Christmas ornament. Or it could have been the thrill of seeing him in his Phillies uniform. Or maybe a little of both.

So I continued to drive and sing and sing and drive. I took the turnpike through Lancaster and other pastoral settings and saw a lot of poor cows standing in the falling snow. They looked cold.  I also drove through tunnels under three mountains and passed a beautiful old farm with wooly sheep standing in the falling snow. They looked warm.

I kept driving and singing and singing and driving.

When it started snowing it was a light, powdery snow and I didn’t even have to use my wipers. But the farther west I drove the wetter the snow became. Do you know what happens when you use your windshield wipers in 20 degree weather with wet snow? It’s not pretty. But not to worry. We have the heated windshield fluid for that very reason. But it wasn’t working and I finally had to pull off for gas and to do something about the windshield.  [This is the part we need to keep from Todd, okay? So don’t tell him.] I figured the fluid was empty so I bought some at the gas station, but when I went to fill the tank it was already full. **insert questioning “hm” and head scratching** So then I thought maybe the wiper fluid washer thingy was broken which was a lame thought because it was getting kind of hard to see through. After closely examining the wiper lever in the car I discovered I’d been pushing the wrong button. Turns out the heated wiper fluid works really well!

I finally made it to Breezewood and hung out in a travel center, aka fancy gas station, for about an hour until Taylor and Mary made it to Breezewood. I didn’t mind, but I do wish I could have kept singing. I suppose I COULD have kept singing, but it would have quickly gone from being just fun in the privacy of my own car to really weird. It would be like one of those flash mobs without the mob. Just me. In a gas station. And with my luck it would have ended up on YouTube and then all over Facebook and it would go viral and, well, yeah. Embarrassing to the nth power.

The ride home was just as good as the ride there, but for a different reason. I had Taylor all to myself for over three hours! There was nowhere he could go. Mwahahahahahahahaha….