Let me just start by saying that we had a great time in Maine. We ate delicious lobster, stayed at a beautiful inn on the coast, attended my cousin’s wedding, and overall enjoyed the time reconnecting with extended family. Simona LOVED swimming and playing with her second cousins.
We may have had a little too good a time, though. The plan was to leave Maine to drive to NYC fairly early on Sunday. I didn’t realize, however, that there was a family brunch planned for Sunday morning. I decided we should go, since the whole point of traveling to Maine was to spend time with family. I figured we could spend just a little while and then still get on the road at a reasonable time. That was my first wrong assumption.
Once Simona and her cousins got into the pool, though, there was almost no getting her out again. It took us until early afternoon to finish swimming, get dressed, eat some lunch, and head for NY. We left Maine at 2, and I figured that we may hit a bit of weekend traffic heading south out of Maine but that we’d be out of that by the time we passed Boston. Second wrong assumption.
So the GPS said we’d arrive in Brooklyn, NY by 7:21 PM. I figured stops, etc. would put us at our destination at 8:15. Third wrong assumption. For the sake of not boring you with the details, suffice it to say that at 9:30, I called Caleb from the car in a traffic jam in NYC to tell him that I was living my own personal hell: Andreas was sitting a few feet from me, screaming his head off because he was hungry, but I was unable to help. (I did finally cave in and pull over on the side of the highway in Brooklyn to nurse him. . . I figured traffic wasn’t moving anyway, so there was no reason to force A to suffer more.) With all of that, I FINALLY made it to my friend’s apartment at about 10:20. . . only 8 hours, 20 minutes for a 5 hour, 20 minute drive!!
But, it got even better. The next morning, I decided to wait until 10:30 AM to leave the city, figuring we’d hit the least possible traffic that way. We pulled out at 10:40 for a drive that should take about 4.5 hours. I was shooting for 6.
Of course, we hit traffic the entire way out of the city and then had the privilege of paying an ELEVEN DOLLAR toll to cross the Verrazano Bridge. I shook the dust from my sandals, vowed that I would never again drive anywhere near New York City, and, for the first time in my life, was THRILLED to be in New Jersey.
We merged onto the Turnpike around 11:45, and at about 11:45:02 AM, the people in the car next to me waved at me, pointed at my front tire, and mouthed, “You have a flat tire!”
SO, we fortunately made it about 4 more miles to the next service plaza, pulled off, and spent an hour and a half using the bathroom, eating our lunch, getting gas, and changing a tire. Many, many thanks to Jim and Tom from Charlottesville, VA, who helped with the tire change. Driving on a donut doomed us to having to travel at about 55-60 mph the rest of the way. Fortunately, the kids fell asleep, and I hoped I could at last make a long, strong push towards home.
Traffic was, for once, mercifully light, and we had about an hour of smooth sailing. I was getting a bit tired and began debating pulling over to buy something to drink, but figured that I should push through while the kids slept. I passed a service plaza with a sign telling me that the next one was 25 miles away and figured I could easily make it that far.
About 2 miles past the sign, however, Simona woke with a start and announced that she had to use the bathroom. Urgently. I thought about pulling over on the side of the highway, but the traffic was busy enough that it seemed unsafe. (I also didn’t want to leave A alone in a parked car on the side of the road while I took S to pee in the grass. . .) So, I began trying to distract & encourage her to make it 20 more miles. I sang and cheered while she whined and cried, both of us increasing in our intensity and desperation. Finally, though, she exclaimed that she had wet her pants. Honestly, it was actually a relief for both of us, since she finally stopped her pained cry.
BUT, it added another lengthy stop, with a change of clothes and some clean up. Andreas got a diaper change and wasn’t hungry. Since I had left my wallet in the car, I decided to skip the drink and hit the road again.
We made it as far as Delaware- only about 20 minutes away- before A decided he needed to eat IMMEDIATELY. And, of course, S had to use the bathroom again. So, we took YET ANOTHER 45 minute stop. I vowed that it would be our final stop, and for the only time on the trip, I was right. We pulled up to our house at 6:00 PM- a mere 7 hours, 20 minutes after leaving NYC.
Lessons learned: Too many to list. Memories made: Tons. Desire to repeat the experience: Absolutely none.
(PS- hoping to get some new pictures up soon.)
