We made it alive to my sisters. The drive from Virginia to New York normally takes about four and a half hours. Today it took six and a half. Of course, we stopped a few times to let Jack run around when he (and we) started getting a but stir crazy. But the traffic was brutal. We hit traffic jams due to congestion (usually near toll booths) in Maryland, Deleware, and for roughly a third of the New Jersey Turnpike. Clearly, today was a big travel day. I guess we should have expected that. Luckily, I had the foresight to pack us a lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and beaucoup de fruit. It allowed us to only use the rest stops for bathroom breaks and to get bottled water.
On the road we saw the usual range of idiots. The people who go five miles per hour below the speed limit and refuse to move over for anyone at all. Of course, the result is a long line of cars who honk, flash lights, and flip them off when they are forced to go around them on the right. You think you’d notice. There were the people who were in the right lane when I was in the left. I signalled that I was moving to the center lane and began to move. When I was half-way over, they decided to SHOOT into the center lane. I jerked back to the left and threw up my hand in frustration. They clearly took exception to that and made a point of staying in the right lane and cutting me off when they needed to move to the left. Nice, very nice.
What amazed us is that Jack never slept. The whole drive up he was wide awake. Wouldn’t you know it, when we saw the exit for Hastings-on-Hudson, that’s when Jack finally fell asleep. We rolled in and tried to slip him quietly inside to continue his nap but nothing doing. He woke up and spent the rest of the afternoon outside with his cousin Nellie playing.
For dinner we grilled steaks and portabellas. And now we will play the ritual Scrabble game (my sister and I have been playing for years).
Tomorrow, Rhode Island and Jack’s first birthday party. Be afraid, be very afraid.
