I never want to sit in a car again...

Longest. Day. Ever.

From the beginning, today was already supposed to be a long day – coming in at thirteen and a half hours. That was, of course, before I made a MAJOR error in driving directions near Washington DC. Instead of skirting the city, my GPS rerouted me RIGHT through DC. Traffic wasn’t ideal (it wasn’t rush hour, thankfully) but I ended up driving straight down Constitution Ave. As annoying as it was to add 45 minutes onto an already long day, it was kind of nice to drive through the nation’s capitol. I have always loved DC, and today was no different.

I ended up driving through Delaware, Maryland, DC, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and finally made it to Alabama. There was a huge traffic jam on the interstate in Tennessee (an RV caught fire). Sarah was about an hour ahead of me and was stuck in that mess. My GPS must have known the traffic was bad because it had me get off the interstate just before the jam. I was then traveling on a side road, which, come to find out, ALSO had a traffic jam. The reports from people on waze were over an hour old and said that traffic was at a standstill and many cars had all turned around. I spoke to a local who said it had been held up for almost three hours. After waiting for almost 20 minutes, and speaking to another lady (who had more teeth than the other guy), I decided I needed to find another route. Thankfully Google maps found me a way around BOTH traffic jams and back onto the interstate… 45 minutes later.  So what should have been 13.5 hours of driving turned into 15.

All I wanted to do was get to the hotel and sleep. That is, until I actually got to the hotel. Now… I have stayed in some terrible places before. But this one takes the cake. It was a Motel 6 in a “not-so-desirable” part of town. The door handle to the room didn’t work, the police paid the hotel a visit while we were in the parking lot, and the real clincher was the review on TripAdvisor from 2011 about a patron who was held up at gunpoint in his room. Needless to say, we promptly asked for a refund, and went on our merry way to a nicer hotel down the street. I didn’t even bother taking my bags out of my truck. I feel safe, clean, and comfortable in our new hotel…. Even if it is three times the price.

Time for bed. Nine and a half hours of driving tomorrow.