Before the trip

I have to start my travel blog by describing the events of the previous day before we hit the road because it gives a glimpse into my anxiety riddled mind. First of all, my husband decided he would join us this year on the trip to Indiana.  I wanted to do something different, but the girls love the Mason reunion, Evansville food and friends, and their cousins. So Tom agreed and said we would drive. I agreed, but insisted on renting a car instead of driving one of our over 100,000 miles cars especially when he booked a ticket to fly home early leaving me to drive home. He grudgingly agreed and reserved a car that had to be picked up an hour south of where we live. 

Secondly, Connie had her foot appointment in the afternoon of the day before we left. She then scheduled another doctor for that morning, with the thought of grocery shopping and hair cutting in between appointments.  I made sure to get tons of stuff done for the trip beforehand so that I would have minimal chores that night. 

Lastly, I made the mistake of butting in on the car rental. I decided on Tuesday night to check Hotwire to see if I could save Tom from having to drive to Sarasota. Sure enough  I found a great price, only $11.95 a day, picking up in Tampa. We canceled our other reservation and paid Hotwire for the rental. Good to go. 

The day started off nicely. Both girls hopped right out of bed to accompany me. Grammy Connie was waiting and off we went for her to get an epidural in the back.  At some point after the shot while the assistant was helping her down off the table, Connie's leg got shoved up against a round metal bar on the table.  Because her skin is so soft and thin from medication and age it ripped a hole in her leg.  Connie thought it was down to the bone.  The staff wrapped the wound and suggested I take her to a walk-in-clinic. I vetoed that and said I would take her to the ER if bone was exposed. The doctor didn't like that idea and instead called the Foot God because "he is a surgeon, isn't he?"

The Foot God agreed to see her immediately and I frantically drove across town where his staff was waiting for us. Luckily, the rip was only to the muscle and the Foot God put in quite a few stitches, cleaned the wound, and wrapped it. Then he went ahead and checked out her foot wound and we were good to go to finish our errands.  We left Connie at four and started home. 

Halfway there, it is a half an hour ride from her house to mine, a huge storm descended on us flooding the streets.  My engine shut off and I coasted into a gas station where we sat and watched the lightning and rain rage around us. Eventually my car started and I got home where I dropped off the girls, hopped into Tom's car with him and headed to Tampa to pick up our rental car.   It was now almost 6:00. 

The rental agency did not have a full size car and sent us down the street to another agency that would honor our Hotwire contract. The agent there began the paperwork and causally asked where we were headed. When he heard IN he shook his head. "Our cars don't leave the state." Back we went to the original agency. They had us call Hotwire to get a refund and then shrugged their shoulders over our predicament. Hotwire gave us the refund and $20 Hotwire bucks for our "inconvenience". Gee thanks Hotwire, that will help me. 

Back in the car Tom called Dollar Rental, his original choice, and explained our issues,, they offered up a decent deal and sent us to the airport.  At the airport the Dollar clerk was very nice explaining to us that what we had was a tiny clown car without cruise control and for millions of dollars she would upgrade us. We declined when we heard the total amount as we could fly for that price. We left. 

We drove back across the bridge to Tom's office. It was now after 8:00 and we hadn't eaten. We grabbed some snacks from the training center, Tom spent an hour cleaning up his desk and finishing

up his work, and I tried to find a good deal on a car. Eventually Tom finished and joined in the car search. We bid on one with Priceline and they counter offered. We took the good deal and headed back across the bridge and back to the airport to Alamo. We had no trouble this time, which was good considering I was planning on forgoing the entire trip if it hadn't sure I was being given a sign. 

We got home a little before midnight. We ignored all of the work that needed to be done for the trip and instead went to bed. Tomorrow we would try again.