Semi-Charmed Kind of Life

The travels through the concrete jungle of the US interstate system went relatively smoothly.

We managed to leave early enough to beat rush hour on the interstate in Chicago, something I am very, very thankful for. I can do it, but I don’t like to. That, and who really wants to spend who knows how long in wall-to-wall traffic that is moving slower than a snail? No one who is sane, that’s who. (And yet, thousands of people still find themselves on the Edens, Kennedy, Eisenhower, and the Dan Ryan.) I only had one idiot from Indiana literally pull right in front of me when changing lanes. I’m talking, she pulled her piece of shit so close in front of me I had to hit my brakes not to hit her. I blazed my horn and she gave me the typical “I’m a fucking idiot who doesn’t know what I’m doing” looks and keeps going. She speeds up, though, and never pulls a stunt like that again. I think part of her look was of pure fright, because she wasn’t expecting me to lay on my horn (come on, we’re in CHICAGO). As if I’m just going to let some dumb bitch cut me off and not honk my horn? Fat chance. Am I going to play road games? No. Am I going to let you know that I am severely pissed off by your actions? Hell yes.

Anyhow.

We make it through Indiana without much thought. There was some snow and some salt trucks, but nothing exciting to report. Ohio raped us with tolls. The road and weather conditions got worse by this point, as well. We made it to I-77, though, which was my goal for that day. We got on the road around 1 pm, which is really bad and we stopped around 10 pm, which made up for the bad departure time.

It was a new day by the time we made it into West Virginia. A very beautiful state, I might add. It wasn’t what I was expecting, not that I can really articulate what I was expecting. We did stop at this one gas station that was a bit creepy. The doors on the bathroom stalls didn’t have locks and the place looked like if a strong wind came by it would knock the building down. There was also an abandoned house across the street, which made me deeply regret forgetting to bring my camera with me, as I love taking pictures of abandoned buildings. (I love abandoned buildings, I find them fascinating.)

We made it through West Virginia and Virginia that day. We finally stopped north of Charlotte, North Carolina for the night. When we woke up the next morning, it was cold and snowing. Oh joy, right? Not. We were on the second floor and when we were bringing our luggage down to my car, I nearly fell down the stairs. I was being as careful as I possibly could be. The stairs were metal and they were iced over. When I went to get my receipt from the cashier, I told them about the problem and that they should put some sort of protection on their stairs to prevent someone from falling down them (as I almost had) and suing them. The ass clown told me it was “God’s will”. I was dumbstruck. I don’t give a shit about what is or is not “God’s will” – that ain’t going to help you in a lawsuit. Even worse, the guy was thinking I was talking about putting the grip adhesive stuff in the bathtub. I don’t know how he got “bathtub” from “metal stairs”. I had to correct him several times before he finally wiped the dumb, blank look off of his face and got what I was talking about. This is when all the “God’s will” bullshit came in and he also tried to tell me that there “was nothing he could do”. Fool, I’m from Chicago and never fell down a set of stairs there (although, no one that I have seen so far has been stupid enough to have metal stairs outside, either – I’m sure there is one person or business, though). I have seen the protection they at least attempt to provide. I tell him so much and now he doesn’t know what to say. But hey – they’re money, not mine. They want to give it to someone else when they get sued, that’s their problem.

Anyhow, we made it into Georgia that day and I signed off of leave. We emptied my car and now there is absolutely no room for me to walk on my side of the room. I have no idea what I’m going to do with all of this stuff, especially since I will be moving soon. I need some of it, so I am going to have to unpack some of it. The rest will have to go to a storage cage that I’m going to have to borrow for the time being. Even worse, there are two trunks waiting for me in my battalion’s mail room, as well. (I hope they don’t toss them or anything stupid. I was supposed to go pick them up today.)