To Philly & Beyond

[To my husband, if you are reading this: I think there's a new episode of COPS on tonight. You'd probably be happier if you watched that and skipped this post!]

Silly me. I thought I was taking a short trip to the other side of my beloved state. Nine hours later, I feel like I went to the other side of the country. (For those of you geographically challenged folks, Philly is supposed to be about 5 hours from Pittsburgh!)

Interspersed between my continued thoughts of “what in the world am I doing?” were just a few humorous impressions that make me wonder what I did before there was blogging?

For instance, what in the world prevented me from stopping to use the restroom or eat while I was merrily traveling along the PA turnpike? Oh, perhaps it was the blinding rain or something like that. So what in the world possessed me to stop in Downingtown, PA at one of my company’s satellite warehouses for a “quick” meet and greet? This is not a business trip people! Someone should have told me that. Well, at least I got to use a restroom and a tour of one very dirty carbon warehouse.

Talk about bad directions though. It turned out to be almost an hour off the beaten path . . . and the directions “back” to the turnpike were equally as bad. In fact, I never actually made it back to the turnpike. Nope, we just bypassed that and headed straight for the heart of Philadelphia. So where was the brotherly love, you ask? Well, it was all sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

I’m working on a post about limits. Let me just say I realized a new one of my own today. I cannot see to drive without my glasses. But with my glasses on, I cannot read. Not a good situation when you need to navigate the road while checking your atlas. I gave up. I called my office and a few friends got on the internet and voila! They were better than On-star and free too! Soon I knew I was within the vicinity of my hotel.

My hotel. Ah yes. I see it. Over there. Six lanes over. No kidding. There were six lanes going in one direction – two sets of three lanes divided by a barrier. Let me tell you, Pittsburghers do not know what to do with more than two lanes going in the same direction. Especially not more than two lanes without construction work of some kind. So there I was, in the outer set of lanes. I need to be over there. Just get over and merge right where the barrier breaks. Yeah, right. I don’t think I’ve ever had to merge right before. Oops – excuse me sir. No, I really wasn’t trying to get over in your lane. I’ll just drive another twenty miles and turn around!

Anyways, I made it. I think I can find my way to the meeting site tomorrow. I didn’t dare venture out for dinner tonight, even though I hadn’t eaten more than a pop-tart and apple all day. The over-priced hotel restaurant suited me just fine. Top off the evening with a cup of hotel room coffee with powdered creamer and a pack of cookies from the vending machine. A perfect reward for not totally losing my mind today! But I must say, I am still asking, “What in the world am I doing here?”

To be continued and hopefully answered in the next two days!