Amanda's Road Trip Shenanigans

Preface:
I didn't really announce my trip to Illinois because it would have meant explaining to a lot of people that I did not have time to see them during my three-day stay. I'm nothing if not non-confrontational, so hush-hush it was- and I'm sorry that I didn't have more time to spend with everyone.

A couple weeks ago, I was talking to Scott about how long it's been since I've been to Illinois, and how I miss our family and such. He pointed out that I had taken off the entire week of Christmas, and could drive home for a few days if I chose. I mulled that over for a bit, and decided to go for it. I called my sister (Andrea), and she graciously agreed to house me for a few days. I would drive in on Saturday the 19th, and leave on Wednesday morning.

As my departure drew closer, I started keeping an eye on the weather. By Friday it seemed like some great, cosmic force was really trying to screw me over- the weatherman was calling for record amounts of snow starting Friday night and going all day Saturday. In many states this wouldn't be a huge problem, but Maryland has some serious deficiencies when it comes to snow removal. But I figured I only had to get out of the state, and then I'd be fine- besides, I had four wheel drive! How bad could it be?

Friday evening I went to the grocery store, where I learned of the term "snowpocalypse." The place was nearly cleaned out, as people apparently thought there was a good chance they'd be trapped in their houses for a week or more. To be fair, it does seem that the entire state of Maryland has seven plows and a bag of kitty litter to combat snow removal- these folks just aren't accustomed to dealing with snow. Regardless, when I went to sleep that night I was still confident that I would make my trip the next day.

The first thing I did when I woke up was look outside... It looked like a solid 3 inches of snow had fallen- nearly double the estimated amount for that time, and it was still coming down fast and heavy. I jumped in the shower, packed up my things, and listened to Scott as he subtly tried to convince me to stay. It's not that I'm particularly stubborn, I just have a very strong desire to prove people wrong when they think something will be too difficult for me. Not just Scott, but several coworkers had told me driving in all that snow was just too scary. "Psshht!" I thought, "I'll show them!" And with that thought still in my head, I started the Jeep.

At six in the morning on a Saturday, there wasn't a huge effort to clear the roads. I put the Jeep in four wheel drive right off the bat, and made my way to the interstate where I hoped the plows had already gotten started. Taking the entrance ramp slowly, I strained to see through the snow to the road ahead. The plows had not been there. This was going to be interesting. I crawled down the road, doing my best to stay in the tire tracks of the semi-trucks that had come before me. Eventually I caught up to a line of trucks and other cars/SUVs that were daring enough to brave the snow. We crept along, following each others' tail lights through the blizzard. Every now and then, some crazy fool in a Hyundai would blow past us all at 40 mph, and I'd make a note to look for that car up ahead- upside down in a snow drift.

By the time the snow tapered off, I was nearing Pennsylvania. Traffic would pick up here and there where the plows had made a brief path, and daylight made seeing the way easier. Unfortunately, it was still very cold. While salt made the street more wet than frozen, and speeds increased, the spray from other cars' tires would freeze into an icy brown coating all over the front of the Jeep. I had to stop every 30 min. or so to chip the ice off my wipers, headlights, and grill.But like everything else, this too would pass, and as the temperature rose, the ice became less of a problem. Or so I thought.

Now, I can't be sure since the problem still hasn't been diagnosed, but about halfway through Ohio three warning lights came on- electronic stability, traction control and ABS. I assumed (and still think) that ice melting into the dashboard caused this. The Jeep still drove perfectly fine, and those things aren't really integral to running the vehicle, so I just marched on. After thirteen hours of driving and nearly $30 in tolls, I finally arrived at my sister's house.

Frankly, that first night wasn't quite awesome (due to no fault of my family), and for a minute I really thought that the whole trip was a mistake. I was so exhausted and overwhelmed, I already missed my husband, something was amiss with the Jeep, and how was I going to make that whole trip again in just a few days? Despite being so happy to see my siblings and the kids for the first time in two years, I really just wanted to go home. Luckily a tasty meal and a good night's sleep made all the difference in the world, and I woke up the next morning ecstatic to be there and ready to rock!

We did gifts after dinner Saturday (the Christmas knitting went over well, I think) while my brother and his girlfriend were in town. They stayed through Sunday, and we all had a late breakfast together before walking over to say hello to some extended family (my uncle lives across the street from my sister). I was really excited to see my uncle, aunt, and some cousins that I hadn't seen since before we moved in 2005. Then, by early afternoon it was time to pick up Cassidy!

I got to her house, and the two of us drove over to Scott's Dad's house. I got lost for a second (Cass got me back on course), and realized just how much I had forgotten about my hometown (it's spooky). It was great to see Ray and Dorothy again, and hear about what's new with them. There was dinner and gifts and chatting and chocolate-pumpkin cake, and before we knew it, it was time to head home. As I dropped Cass back at home, we made plans to go shopping the next day as her Christmas gift (because despite our best efforts, she refused to tell us what she wanted). Back at my sister's house, I hung out with her and my nieces before it was time for bed.

Monday morning, my sister and I ran a few errands and I got to see her use an ear candle on my nephew- it was amazing and gross at the same time, but after reading the linked article, apparently also useless. Hmm. Later I picked up Cass, who said she wanted to go to Woodfield. Those of you familiar with the suburbs of Chicago may recognize how nutty that seems (Woodfield? At Christmas!? lolol!), but we actually lucked out with parking, and lines moved pretty quickly. Really, the only difference was the sheer volume of people we had to navigate through. We learned that the new iPhone is $700 if you're not eligible for contract renewal (we're not), so that was right out (but we're considering it for her birthday if she's extra super good). So we spent the rest of the afternoon getting clothes and shoes and such. Several shopping bags and two Cinnabons later, it was time to go. I dropped her back at home, and we said our sad goodbyes.

Tuesday was Sister Time Day. Andrea and I drove to Dundee to visit a couple yarn shops. Whee! First we went to Fishbed Knitting Emporium, and what a great shop. Just awesome. A nice lady (who I assumed is the owner) was teaching a class when we got there, but was still very helpful and friendly. She had a great selection of yarn, told us about the open knitting times and classes, and pointed out the sale room. I picked up some yarn, and Andrea got a Norah Gaughan pattern book. We had a great time there. Then we went to The Gifted Purl on the other side of the river, which honestly sort of sucked. I'm really not that picky when it comes to shopping, but this place was just ugh. Nobody said hello to us, my sister got a sideways glance, and I was completely ignored. The yarn was 85% novelty yarn, 10% baby yarn, and some Lambs Pride Superwash. I get the whole different strokes for different folks thing, but, well... shouldn't they think about that too? I mean, no sock yarn? No lace weight? Only one choice of yarn that would work well for a sweater? It seems like they cut out a large demographic by not stocking basics. Add in the cold shoulder we got, and well, I'm not even going to bother linking their shop. Boo to them. If you're looking for yarn in around the western suburbs of Chicago, definitely go to Fishbed Knitting Emporium (they have locally dyed stuff too)!

After yarn shops, we stopped by Michaels, an organic pet store, and Anna Shea Chocolates- which is freaking awesome! I highly recommend the Grand Marnier Orange Liquor Ganache. Andrea particularly likes the Jewel of the Nile Spiced Praline and My Precious Cinnamon Caramel. I just learned that you can order custom boxes online, and somewhere Scott just felt a distinct feeling of dread but isn't sure why.

Tuesday night, I had dinner with my best girl, Kimmie. Last time I was in town we had a scheduling snafu and wound up not seeing each other, so it had been a while. But I was glad to hear that she is still doing super, and is still the same, awesome, Kimmie. She and I are similar in that we share an affinity for coloring books and making home-made pop-up birthday cards, but where we differ is that Kimmie is always into something good- usually a charitable organization of some sort. I will occasionally knit for charity, but mostly I'm a lazy bones. She sort of gives me something to aspire to, and one day maybe I'll be less lazy and do some good for the community too.

Also on Tuesday, it became apparent that I had contracted whatever bug my youngest nephew had (probably). I tried to suck down a lot of water, and will it away, but by Tuesday night it was clear: I was a Sicky McSickerson. Not the type to let a sniffle get in my way, I started the long drive back Wednesday morning anyway, armed with lots of water. The Jeep had started acting up a bit the night before, compounding my increasingly icky mood. Whenever I started the Jeep and tried to drive, I would hear a grinding-ish noise and it would sort of hesitate. I was pretty sure it was the traction control going schizo on me, and after a few seconds it would go away and drive normally (until I started it again). So let's see: sick, busted my new Jeep, and then to top it off- I got my first speeding ticket ever.

Yup. In over 11 years I'd never even gotten pulled over. Not once! But there I was on 294, lights flashing behind me. Now, I'll admit that I was speeding... the speed limit on most IL expressways/tollways is 55 mph. I was doing between 65 and 70. Yes, it's speeding, and speeding is wrong, blah, blah, blah... but when nearly every other expressway in the country is 65 mph, it's just sort of what you do. Anyway, the cop pulls me over, and I unzip my window. You want to know what he says? He claims I was doing 80. 80! There is no way I was doing 80. And what kills me, is that he had passed me about a mile or two earlier. When he didn't seem interested in me then, I just kept doing what I was doing. We both went through a toll, and as we were getting back up to speed (he's still in front of me at this point), he jams on his brakes, hits the flashy lights and gets behind me. Ok, yes I might be stupid enough to do 10-15 mph over the limit when a cop is so close... But 25 over? When he's right there? Nobody is that retarded. But not thinking it's a good idea to call a cop a liar, I just said "Sorry I really didn't think I was going that fast." He goes back to his car and comes back with a ticket that says I was doing 75- a slightly lesser ticket than doing 21+ mph over the limit. I can live with that, since it's the same as if he'd said I was doing 65-70 mph (which I was), but it really sticks in my craw that he tried to give me a ticket for doing 80 (you can see where he changed the speed on the ticket). I hope karma bits him in the ass for being a liar. Liar! I guess it did point out to me that I no longer drive a family sedan which blends with the masses and is therefore less likely to get pulled over for anything.

Anywho, the rest of the trip home went well (despite the Jeep's problems), and getting back to my own house felt great. My sister is a wonderful host, but there really is no place like home. The Jeep has an appointment next Tuesday, and hopefully I will have recovered from this bug by Monday morning. If not, I honestly can't say I'd be sad to have to miss a day of work. Now that all the holiday knitting is over and done, I'm really looking forward to starting some new projects. Hmm, I bet if I start a hot water bottle cozy, I'll feel better by the time it's finished...