Crazy Trip

Okay.  I'm back.  In case you wondered where I was, I took a little road trip to visit my dad up in Cleveland.  Let me tell you about that trip.

First of all, it rained from the moment I left Cincinnati, to the moment I got to Cleveland.  I mean, we're talking downpours all the way!  It's not like I can't handle that sort of thing.  I'm from Cleveland, after all.  It's just not fun.  Especially when you have two noisy kids in the back seat arguing about Pokemon.

The real fun happened when I got to the Columbus area.  It's a catastrophe there.  Every conceivable road is under construction.  And to make matters worse, the freeway was shut down, due to "severe construction."  Yeah.  That was the exact terminology.  Now you would think they'd have plenty of detour signs for us folks who aren't that familiar with Columbus.  Nope.  What they had was one of those big electonic signs that said, "650 W to 315 N."  Okay.  At least I saw it, even through the pouring rain.

650 W was no problem.  315 N wasn't even that bad.  Until it took me smack dab into downtown Columbus.  Which of course was under construction.  There were no further detour signs indicating where the heck I should go to get back on the freeway to Cleveland.  Of course, I took the wrong way.  I have a special knack for doing that.

I knew I was messed up when the sign said I was heading for Wheeling, West Virginia.  It was time for a stop.  I saw a Wendy's sign.  Good.  I was getting hungry, and it's never good to be lost when you're hungry.  I asked the worker how to get on the road that would lead me back home.  At this point, I was ready to forget about this little trip.  She had no idea.  "I'm not the one to ask," she said.

"Okay, then," I said.  "Can you find the one to ask?"

She thought about that.  "Just a minute."

Out came the manager.  A nice Indian lady.  I explained my predicament.  "No. I can no help you," she said in fine broken English.  Then she called out to another Indian worker.  This guy had a clue.

"Take the first light.  Go right.  Then two lights down.  Go left.  You'll find it." 

Great.  It was broken Englsh, but at least it made sense.

Of course I screwed that up.  I took the second street rather than the second light.  I was hoping my kids wouldn't notice.  Didn't work.

"Mama," my daughter said.  "You"re going in circles."

Yeah. The story of my life.

So I looped around past the Wendy's and did it correctly this time.

Except the freeway I wanted was closed.  Imagine that.

But I did find the freeway to Cleveland.  I hopped on that.  Three hours later we arrived at our destination.

Did I mention it was raining? A lot?

The good news is, my son picked up three new tadpoles at Grandpa's house.  So now we're back up to 29 pets.  (Is that good news or bad news?)

Oy!