Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

It’s 12:30 am, an hour past our bedtime.  But we just got home from Virginia and I’m all hopped up on caffeine.  Since I can’t sleep, I’ll tell you about our saga getting home – Jeff’s saga, actually.  If you’re a Steven Martin and John Candy fan, you’ll appreciate his struggle.

JetBlue called Jeff on Saturday to say that his Sunday morning flight from Florida to Boston was cancelled.  Not to worry, they said.  He was booked on the next flight out.  Too bad it was on Thursday.

Cross planes off the list.  He made a reservation with Greyhound to take a bus leaving Florida Sunday evening and getting to Virginia, where the boys and I were staying, at nine Monday morning.  From there, we would all drive to Boston together.

Too bad they didn’t tell him that the five o’clock bus had already been cancelled and that  the next one wasn’t leaving until eleven. Super too bad they didn’t tell him that they were going to stop the bus in Podunk, North Carolina, stranding dozens of passengers who were expecting to go to New York.

Cross buses off the list.  Take out the iPhone. It said that Jeff was 5.5 miles from the airport and 3.5 miles from the nearest car rental place. Since there was no public transportation in Podunk, he opted for the car rental.  He walked across train tracks, through subdivisions, along roads with no sidewalks, lugging his luggage, until he arrived at Enterprise.

Finally, in control of his own destiny, he made his way toward Virginia, driving several hours until he needed gas.

Cross gas stations off the list.  Which was unfortunate.  It turns out that if your town has no power, it has no gas.  Town after town of no power and no gas.  When he finally arrived at a working station, he waited forty-five minutes for gas.

Cross good times on the open road off the list.

At two p.m. today, my ‘Neal’ rolled in to the Enterprise in Woodbridge, Virginia.  After lunch with my parents, sister, and her boys, we hit road just in time for DC rush hour.

The boys are no match for John Candy, but they did their best.  They talked Jeff’s ear off as he was trying to sleep and snuggled him up good in the back seat.

Somewhere along the New Jersey Turnpike, I think I heard Jeff admonishing one of them, “Those aren’t pillows!”

Add good times on the open road back to the list.  We were safe, we were together, and we were almost home.