We're Here!

In Baltimore! At our hotel!

Here's how everything went down so far:

I slept in on Saturday and then got up and finished packing, an activity that was intermingled with several trips to various stores to grab things I forgot, and a trip out for lunch, too. I tried to go to bed again around 8 so that I would be rested up for the trip, because the plan was to leave around 1 am. I set my alarm for 11:45 pm and got in bed and closed my eyes and laid there until about 10:45 or so when I finally settled down enough to sleep. I woke up before my alarm went off, so there was just under an hour's worth of sleep there. I got up and jumped in the shower. While I was in there, Chris called. He hadn't had time to get to sleep yet because he was running behind on things. We decided to push back our departure time until 3 am. Chris was going to call me when he got up. I reset my alarm for 2:30 and tried to sleep some more. I fell asleep around 2:10, so there was another 20 minutes of sleep. I got ready, packed up my car, and went back in to say goodbye to my dad. It was three by then, the time we were supposed to leave, and Chris hadn't called, so I called him. He didn't answer. I waited a few minutes and called again. Still no answer. I left and got some gas, stopped at McDonald's to pick us up some "breakfast," dropped off a bill I had to pay, and drive out toward his house. I called again. No answer.

Finally, he called me back and said he reset his alarm without thinking. So, long story short, if it isn't already too late, we left around 5 am instead of 1 am.

We stopped in Gladstone to get gas and cappuccinno and orange juice and air up the tires. The air didn't work. We stopped again in Rapid River for air. Worked this time, and we started our video recording of the trip. Lots of fun! It started snowing.

We stopped again in St. Ignace for cookies and donuts and a bathroom break. It was still snowing. We crossed the Mackinac Bridge. Still snowing.

Roads were mostly okay, but there was enough snow to make a person worry, and then the windshield washer fluid ran out. We drove blindly on.

Our next stop was in Birch Run, to eat lunch at a place called Tony's that has awesome food, good prices, and fun staff. We had WAY more potatoes and eggs and toast than we could eat, along with some country fried steak. Then we gassed up again, bought windshield washer fluid and filled the holder, and took off. The fluid squirters didn't work. For the rest of the trip, we had to stop every so often to squirt washer fluid from a water bottle onto the windshield. Pain in the BUTT!

And that was basically the rest of our trip. Drive through snow and ice with short periods of good driving conditions. Stop. Wash windows. Drive more, mostly in silence. Stop. Wash windows. Get gas. Wash windows. Drive more. Stop. Wash windows. You get it.

But finally, after 17 and a half hours, we made it! The hotel had really horrible reviews online, but it was all we could get. I was afraid. Not too bad, though. Our room is a smoked room but barely smells. The bathroom door is filthy, but everything else is basically clean. And our room door, which leads outside, not into the hotel, is a little bent and broken, but it seems to lock fairly securely.

I unpacked some stuff, got some things ready for tomorrow, set my alarm for six, and came online to do this. Now it's time for sleep. On tomorrow's agenda: take train in at 7:40, go to governor's reception, pick up inauguration tickets, go to congressman's reception, and then do whatever. Come back to the hotel, maybe, and relax. We'll see.

For now, good night. Wish me luck getting through everything tomorrow!