And now to continue the epic saga of our trip. Hmmm, we left off with Emily and I at the Waffle House, dealing with communication issues many a social faux pas. We were getting constant weather reports from both the Weather Channel and the boss under whom we were both supposed to work in the coming days. Neither could have properly prepared us.
It was true that the weather was no longer in a state of freezing rain, or snow. And the tempertures weren't too terribly bad, in the 20's (F). What we didn't know was that the aftermath was so much worse than any reports were stating.
So, off we went, leaving behind a wonderfully humid 71 degrees only to head towards...well, we didn't know at the time. The plan was simply to drive as far as possible until we no longer felt safe. So we drove all the way back to the Smokies before we actually decided to make a scenic stop. Many picture attempts were made, and some even worked out.
Not the most successful of attempts. Clearly, a third person was needed. If you look in the lower right corner....yeah, there. Mountain! But fortunately, we were introduced to the condom-making baloon ways of the Smoky teenagers.
Yes, the Smoky Mountains are actually smoky. You can even see it rolling down the mountains, this was my favorite part.
My favorite picture from this entire trip is this one. After seeing all this beauty, I just couldn't contain myself.This was in North Carolina and was the calm before the storm. Because we were about to embark on the fury AFTER the storm. We drove from here all the way back to Knoxville, TN and actually ate at the same exact Buddy's BBQ (located ONLY in Tennessee) again, we had enjoyed it so much. At this point, we had decided that if things were too bad ahead of us, we'd just stay here, and maybe even look around a little. Ripley's Museum anyone?
What turned out to be a series of unfortunate events began with a phone call stating that the weather was "perfect" ahead of us. We would be fine to continue on that night. Oh, how misinformed we were.
The plan was to try to get to Lexington and stay in the same hotel as we had on the way down south. In Emily's words, that was an epic fail. We tried to stop at a gas station at one point, and were met with nothing but the darkness of businesses and the bright blue lights of traffic cops, directing where the stop lights were reduced to mere frozen dangling decorations. We then got back on the interstate and began calling the hotel. It's been said that the whites of my eyes were visible in the darkness when we were met with nothing but a high pitched screech on the other end of the phone. Another hotel. Another ear piercing screech.
It was at this point that we began to panic. Could we keep driving all night? No, no gas stations. Could we stay in the car all night and sleep? It would be pretty damn cold. How far back could we get? As we were taking a mental inventory of what we had for food and clothing, we decided we had better call some more hotels. We did finally get through, but nothing was available in a radius of...? I'm not sure how far really. We finally ended up getting a room that had been canceled by an elderly couple 40 miles back from where we currently were.
Upon arrival, there was a cat. That cat, seemingly lost and alone caused quite a bit of grief for us both, but mostly for Emily. No, we can't drive it all the way home, that would be suicide. And the hotel doesn't allow animals inside...Cheerios will save the day. Surely the cat will eat Cheerios. Nope, not so much. Poor Emily got 3 hours of sleep while listening to that cat meow all night long. I got quite a bit, I was absolutely exhausted, both physically and mentally.
Next morning, we decide that driving out of our way west and then north is the best plan. The further we got, the worse the roads and power situations were. Pretty much everything looked like this, but worse in real life. Oh, and the cat was in the hands of a very nice looking man.
We stopped at cute little place to eat, where I was told by the guy at the counter that power had just come on at the store that morning, and at his own place...10-12 days was a good estimate. My oh my.
And now a break for your regular Starbuck's moment. Next to the little sandwich place, there was a Starbuck's, but no easy way to get there. Now someone who wanted coffee very badly, to hide her identity, we'll call her Amelia, had decided to wear warm weather footwear as long as was humanly possible. But it was cold and icy now, so what do you do? You put cold weather footwear along with it. Now these two together are not the best match for what we had to deal with.
Especially when you have to run through the icy drive thru to get around the back... After getting called out on this sock and sandal...thing...we left to drive as far as we possibly could.
We made it to the border of Illinois before we both decided we were too tired and possibly cranky to drive. Another laugh was had when we drove through Effingham, Illinois...come on, Effing Ham? Really? I actually can't remember the name of the town we stopped in anymore, I was just too tired.
After smashing my head into the bottom of a stairwell, bleeding, cursing profusely (poor Emily...I'm sorry you had to deal with me at my worst!), we kicked back, got some dinner at the local Applebee's, and left it at that for the night.
What turned out to be a series of unfortunate events began with a phone call stating that the weather was "perfect" ahead of us. We would be fine to continue on that night. Oh, how misinformed we were.
The plan was to try to get to Lexington and stay in the same hotel as we had on the way down south. In Emily's words, that was an epic fail. We tried to stop at a gas station at one point, and were met with nothing but the darkness of businesses and the bright blue lights of traffic cops, directing where the stop lights were reduced to mere frozen dangling decorations. We then got back on the interstate and began calling the hotel. It's been said that the whites of my eyes were visible in the darkness when we were met with nothing but a high pitched screech on the other end of the phone. Another hotel. Another ear piercing screech.
It was at this point that we began to panic. Could we keep driving all night? No, no gas stations. Could we stay in the car all night and sleep? It would be pretty damn cold. How far back could we get? As we were taking a mental inventory of what we had for food and clothing, we decided we had better call some more hotels. We did finally get through, but nothing was available in a radius of...? I'm not sure how far really. We finally ended up getting a room that had been canceled by an elderly couple 40 miles back from where we currently were.
Upon arrival, there was a cat. That cat, seemingly lost and alone caused quite a bit of grief for us both, but mostly for Emily. No, we can't drive it all the way home, that would be suicide. And the hotel doesn't allow animals inside...Cheerios will save the day. Surely the cat will eat Cheerios. Nope, not so much. Poor Emily got 3 hours of sleep while listening to that cat meow all night long. I got quite a bit, I was absolutely exhausted, both physically and mentally.
Next morning, we decide that driving out of our way west and then north is the best plan. The further we got, the worse the roads and power situations were. Pretty much everything looked like this, but worse in real life. Oh, and the cat was in the hands of a very nice looking man.
We stopped at cute little place to eat, where I was told by the guy at the counter that power had just come on at the store that morning, and at his own place...10-12 days was a good estimate. My oh my.
And now a break for your regular Starbuck's moment. Next to the little sandwich place, there was a Starbuck's, but no easy way to get there. Now someone who wanted coffee very badly, to hide her identity, we'll call her Amelia, had decided to wear warm weather footwear as long as was humanly possible. But it was cold and icy now, so what do you do? You put cold weather footwear along with it. Now these two together are not the best match for what we had to deal with.
Especially when you have to run through the icy drive thru to get around the back... After getting called out on this sock and sandal...thing...we left to drive as far as we possibly could.We made it to the border of Illinois before we both decided we were too tired and possibly cranky to drive. Another laugh was had when we drove through Effingham, Illinois...come on, Effing Ham? Really? I actually can't remember the name of the town we stopped in anymore, I was just too tired.
After smashing my head into the bottom of a stairwell, bleeding, cursing profusely (poor Emily...I'm sorry you had to deal with me at my worst!), we kicked back, got some dinner at the local Applebee's, and left it at that for the night.
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