Day 3

Our day started at 04:15 due to a domino effect. Angus woke up quite upset (we forgot to put a diaper on him at bedtime...no further explanation needed), which woke up Oliver, who in turn woke Henry. The hotel offered complimentary Starbuck’s beverages, and if you know me well (presumably you do if you’re reading this) you know of my deep-seeded love for all things Starbucks. To my shock, there were no barristas on-hand eager to caffeinate me at 05:00. It was an omen.

As Ryan navigated through the dark and the rain, we talked about how the invention of that third brake light on vehicles was genius (the one in the bottom-middle of the rear window). How did people ever know when other vehicles were braking; especially during the day? We also laughed at how according to the GPS, our “Eco Travel” had declined considerably. On day 1, we were excited and thought it would be a neat challenge to see how much mileage we could get from one tank of gas by driving economically. We recorded gas prices, distances travelled and average speeds. By day 3, we were hammering, just trying to complete the drive in the quickest time possible. BTW, gas in the States is ridiculously cheap. To fill our van in the US costs about $50; in Canada, about $90. Plus, our dollar is on fire right now, so it really only does the USD amount.

We encountered several meltdowns on, this, our third day of travel. At this point, we anticipated nothing less. I don’t believe anyone can spend 72 hours straight with ANYONE, and expect to be skipping through meadows while holding hands and teaching the world to sing in perfect harmony. I won’t go into detail, but until we actually set foot on sand, the ride was hairy. I tried to infuse some humour at certain points, but my pointing out each Target store and yelling “Thure’s anuther Turget!” using my best Kristin Wiig impression was wearing thin by day 3. Angus was trying to keep it interesting by playing “I Spy”, but tweaked the rules a bit so that (a) he was always asking people to guess what he was spying...even if they asked (i.e. Me: I spy with my little eye something that is blue! Angus: Ok, that’s good. I spy with my little eye something that begins with orange!) (b) The ‘thing’ he spied always ‘started with [insert colour here]’, (c) if he already spied something in a particular colour, no repeats of that colour were allowed, even if it was a different item, and (d) the item he spied may have been something he spotted 2 days ago in Maine. Ryan tried his best, too. The day before we left, he watched a Dirty Harry movie for the first time, and was randomly reenacting Clint Eastwood saying “Stick it up your a**!” complete with sneer and gritted teeth. It’s was actually really funny, and I’m laughing as I type this just thinking about it.

We drove through so many more cool parts of the US today...Delaware*, Maryland (esp. Baltimore because we’re huge fans of The Wire!), Washington DC (so close to seeing 1600 Pennsylvania Ave - but maybe on the way home when we have more time), and Virginia. By the time we crossed into North Carolina, it was like we’d found summer! People were wearing shorts! Flowers were in bloom! Bug guts littered our windshield! At one point, a truck passed us with New Brunswick plates...I was driving at this time, and tried my best to follow them...to me, seeing NB plates this far south felt like it was immediate family! The people in the truck were probably just trying to get away from a crazy chick driving a black mini-van who was tailgating them (Ryan was sitting in the back so it looked like I was driving alone). As we got closer and closer to our destination, I was amazed at how many locals were showing their support of TI (he’s a rapper who recently did a stint in prison) by slapping “TI” stickers onto their vehicles. It was only on Day 4 that I would realize the TI stickers referred to Topsail Island.

We finally pulled into the driveway shortly after 16:00. The sun was shining, and the temperature was 25. It was immediately apparent that anything negative we’d gone through to get to this place was completely and absolutely worth it!!

TODAY’S GRADE: In like a lion (F), and out like a lamb (A++)

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*Delaware is not a cool part of the US