And we're off!

Well we started out our trip last night and got 3 miles from the house and sat in a parking lot on the Southern State parkway, that’s always fun! Luckily traffic cleared up and we didn’t do too bad and got to our first stop around 10. I can’t say exactly what time since I’ve learned that Brian is one of those people who doesn’t put the right time on his car clock. Seriously, what’s the point?!? I don’t understand why people do this, to trick themselves? But don’t you know it’s fast? It’s really just simple subtraction… Jess agrees, that’s one of the many reasons why I love her! Let me tell you, this couple knows how to take care of their guests. Not only did Tom buy an air mattress for us to sleep on but he got us the air mattress with the couple playing cards and laughing on the box, that’s how you know it’s good! And when we realized we remembered bowls, plates, spoons & silverware for our road meals but forgot cups for our OJ, that’s when they really stepped it up… Styrofoam AND plastic cups! Oh and did I mention we now know how to check for bed bugs? Which is very important to me as this is like my 3rd biggest fear of the trip and since there’s an epidemic and 1 in 8 people has them – eek!! So anyway, since we’re not at all old and we’re still so cool, we actually stayed up until 1 am!!! That’s right folks, we’ve still got it! Yea that was fun waking up at 5:45… But it was well worth it to get to see Tom & Jess even just for a little bit. If anyone’s planning a trip, I would definitely stay with them, email me and I’ll send you their address and info…that’s cool right guys? ;) Thanks so much to the Baggios (Tom, Jess & baby Baggio!) for being the best first stop ever!!

So we got up, got ready and were on the road by 6:30. Again, we sat in traffic… but this time I had a cup of OJ so all was good! So far we’re doing pretty good with time, thank you to the residents of PA and OH for staying off the road for us! My favorite thing about the PA turnpike is that they play games! I love games so when I was driving and my Assistant to the Captain -oh yes, background- I requested for Brian to call me Captain. At first he told me he would have a few other names for me but since then he’s changed his mind, I think I swayed him when I told him he could be my Assistant to the Captain (he is my Dwight for any Office fans). I digress… so I was driving and my ATTC was out cold. All of a sudden I see a sign that says “remove your sunglasses”… so I thought about not removing them but then got nervous, there’s rules for a reason! So I removed… next sign “turn on your headlights” so now I was so excited, this is such a fun game, what’s next?! Well the game ended and you go through a tunnel that runs through a mountain. But it was fun while it lasted… the 45 seconds.

Okay so speaking of games, we have a few. Brian’s sister Michelle & husband Michael sent us the license plate game! This is not your ordinary shout out when you see a license plate, this is serious. It’s an entire board with every state’s license plate. You flip the block when you get one and BONUS points for getting the capital! As of last night, the score was 13-4, I’m sort of killing him. He’s getting better though, I think he might be a hustler just trying to psych me out. Second game, the always popular Would you rather? Just in case we run out of creative ones, I have a book full of them (thanks to my BFF Liz who gives awesome gifts). And finally back to the Baggios they taught us the alphabet game. So far I got nothing, I think we’ll have to wait until we hit Albuquerque.

To save time and allow myself to get some sleep at night (maybe) I’ve decided to type while ATTC drives. This could be amazingly efficient… or I could get carsick and feel like death, wish me luck! So far we’re doing pretty good with splitting the driving. Only difference is ATTC naps while not driving so he’s probably on about 4 extra hours of sleep… I type so I’m on about 20 minutes extra, FUN! So we’ve gone through a few states so far today. We started in PA, went down the block to DE to get gas before leaving in the morning then through Ohio to IN. Besides boring rest stop & gas stops, we stopped in Pittsburgh at Klavon’s Ice Cream Parlor. If you’re ever in Pittsburgh or anywhere near, you have to go. It’s from the 1920s and it’s super cute! It’s one of those places where they knew we were tourists because they didn’t know us. Literally a guy walks in and everyone says “Hi Bruce!” and when another guy leaves and says “yea yea yea” the waitress tells us that his brother does the same thing. We thought it was really cute… oh and the ice cream was awesome too so that doesn’t hurt! Once we were done, we got back in the car for some more driving. Today’s final destination is Fort Wayne, IN. We’ll be staying with my Great Uncle Teddy (Dad’s Dad’s brother) who I haven’t seen in about 12 years. And now I feel old…

More to come! =)