The Rest of the Trip

We left Howe, Indiana yesterday at 11:00.  We were at the Ohio border about 45 minutes later.  I drove for four hours, almost the entirety of Ohio except like the last 5 minutes.  I am sad that I wasn't in Leigh Ann's corner of Ohio, although she may not have seen my best side anyway. 

It was just before the last 5 minutes of Ohio that I purchased a Snicker's bar at the gas station.  It was actually a package that contained two small bars, and one bar alone was 6 fucking points on Weight Watchers.  So I only had 10 points left for dinner, and I was fine as long as we went to a Subway, but sometimes when you're driving through the middle of nowhere you don't have control over these things. 

We ended up at some quaint mom 'n pop cafe called the Pine Grill in Somerset, Pennsylvania.  Apparently it was near the crash site of the United flight that was aimed for the White House on 9/11, because there was a framed newspaper up about that.  I'm not sure that would be the kind of memory I'd want to evoke in the entryway of my restaurant, but I guess not much goes on there. 

So, at the Pine Grill, I attempted to order a shrimp dish ("fish is your friend"), but they were out of the shrimp dish, so I got a salad instead. 

The salad had French fries on it. 

Yeah.  If there's ever a physical manifestation of the fact that you can't win, it would be a salad with French fries on it.  Like, "Bob, congratulations, you're the big winner!  Please accept this GIANT TROPHY!  Tom, you came in dead last.  Here's a salad with French fries on it."

So, I left about 4 of the fries for garnish and put the rest on a plate.  BTW, fries are delicious in a salad.  And then I barely had any dressing and left the place disappointed. 

We passed a Subway on the way back to the freeway.

The thing is, I've done Weight Watchers before while traveling, but this is the first time I've done Weight Watchers while on a massive drive along a road with very limited food options.  At lunch the only place to stop along the highway was Hardee's (seriously, every travel plaza had a Hardee's).  Hardee's is the eastern U.S. equivalent of Carl's Jr., like they have the star logo and everything.  And then Carl's Jr. has a Mexican restaurant partner called The Green Burrito, whereas at Hardee's it's called The Red Burrito.  So, I assumed the two different-colored burritos would have the same Weight Watchers points value, and the Weight Watchers book had the values for the Green Burrito.  It said that the Green/Red Burrito had various items I could eat ... none of which the small, scaled-down roadside version offered.  I ended up with two chicken tacos, and the cashier asked me if I wanted the combo plate with rice, beans, and chips, and I wanted to say, "Yes, I do, but instead I'm just going to have these little piddly tacos and eat my own hand on the side." 

So, the thing is, I was running on limited food, which meant I was only pleasant and willing to drive right after I ate.  After the French fry salad we had two hours left to go, and by my calculations Bill and I each had an hour left to drive to make the driving times completely 50/50. 

I took the first hour.  Things became pretty mountainous in Pennsylvania, and mountains are not my strong suit, driving-wise.  I especially don't like curvy roads where you're still supposed to drive 65 mph, and I don't like darkness, rain, tunnels, or bridges.  All of this was starting to happen toward the end of my hour of driving, and I was close to tears.  Oh and also that was around the time Nathan opened the car door from the inside, because somebody (probably Nathan himself) switched over the locking function that prevents the door from being opened from the inside. 

By the time we pulled over at a rest stop in Somewhere, Pennsylvania, I was close to tears.  It was Bill's turn to drive.  Which was a good thing because it was at that point that the GPS decided to take us on a 40-mile trip through the death trap known as U.S. Route 30.  It was all the afore-mentioned darkness, rain, and curvy roads, but this was also downhill with low visibility and many runaway truck ramps.  You know what runaway truck ramps mean?  There might be a runaway truck ramming into your ass at any minute. 

Eventually we got back on a main freeway, though not before several minutes of terror that probably took years off our lives.  A quick trip down the freeway and we were at the Best Western Shippensburg. 

(We also found out today that U.S. Route 30 is totally unnecessary in terms of trip expediency.  My stepdad said we must have had the GPS set to "most use of pain-in-the-ass roads.") 

So, we arrived at the hotel about 11 p.m., and of course Nathan was so wound up.  He found the complimentary paper and pen in the hotel room and told me he was just going to do a little writing before he fell asleep.  This sounded so sweet and wholesome, until I realized that half the writing he did was on his own skin. 

Today we slept in late, and then Nathan and I went in search of coffee and breakfast.  The GPS found us a Starbucks, but unfortunately it was on a university campus with no parking.  So I guess we're in the only town without a freestanding Starbucks. 

We ended up at a Wal-Mart, which is a store I don't usually shop at, but I was able to get some fruit and the bagel Nathan was begging for (because the other hotel had a buffet that included bagels).  Also cool was that there were a lot of Mennonites shopping in Wal-Mart, all of whose kids were better behaved than Nathan.  I'm thinking if we go Plain and Wal-Mart is the most exciting place we ever go, maybe Nathan won't be quite so over-stimulated and crazy. 

Before the Wal-Mart I had entertained thoughts of driving the Hershey today, which is an hour's drive one way.  But then I couldn't find where I parked the car at Wal-Mart, and then we walked over to a Subway in the same mall, and I couldn't find the car again after that, and Nathan was tough to keep under control in a parking lot because my hands were full of Subway food and drink.  So since I was totally frazzled from shopping, and since I was in the middle of two massive power-driving days, I thought maybe we had too much going on for Hershey.

We went to my grandpa's house for a little while, and I scared the crap out of his two cats.  On the way home I tried to find the Amish store, but I was not successful.  I want to see a damn horse and buggy before we leave! 

Nathan and I swam in the hotel pool, which was incredibly nice for a Best Western hotel pool.  It smelled like cedar in there. 

Tonight is the big birthday party for my grandpa, so I'll report back tomorrow.  Or the next day. 

Then we