Graduation Part 2 - Part 1

Tapping the mic…Anybody out there? Seriously, I can’t believe it has been so long since I posted a blog and not one that was scheduled. I will say I did it purposely, because I didn’t want folks to know I was out of town and trying to get everything done prior to leaving took more time than I thought. Anyway, I am back from Virginia Beach, Virginia and we all returned the way we came, intake. So no one got hurt because we got on each other’s nerves. I am going to try to recap as quickly as possible over several days.


We left on June 11th and although we were supposed to leave at 8 pm, we ended up leaving at 8:25 pm, not too bad. And if you factor in the fact one of my cousins was in the shower when we got to her house, I think that was good. For the record, this cousin is going to be late for her own funeral. Her grandson told me he wasn’t going on this graduation trip and in my head I was like, ‘damn, skippy’. The next stop was Atlanta to pick up my cousin JT and my other cousin AJ. JT’s graduation was a few weeks before so he was going to support his bestie, my niece. We left Atlanta at about 11 pm or so.

My cousin, Kay was driving and I co-piloted because someone needed to stay woke with the driver. I don’t drive at night but I can stay wake. So with good music and snores in the background we set our minds on stopping in Charlotte and someone else taking over. Although I worked that day, I was amped so I was good until about 3 am and I was cranky and ready to go to sleep. However, in South Carolina we had a nice little treat. (sarcasm) We had made it to Greenville and we were pulled over. We were in the middle lane and we saw the Trooper when he merged from the ramp. We also noted he was behind us for several miles. Then he pulls us over at first we didn’t think he was pulling us over, but oh, he was. He asked for license and registration, we were in a rental. Anyway, when asked why we were stopped he said Kay was being passed on the left and right which means she was going to slow in the middle lane and she was weaving in her lane. Not weaving onto another lane but in her lane. First of all, really you stopped us because we were going to slow, but the cars passing while we were pulled on the median were obviously going 80 to 90 miles per hour because our mini-van was shaking? And she wasn’t crossing the lane, but weaving inside the lane. Secondly, she was weaving because I was struggling to find the defrost button and she was trying to help. Damn! He gave us a warning. However, I felt some kinda way about the stop he could have just warned us when he first pulled us over. And yes, she should have gotten in the far right lane, she slowed to 60 because he was behind us and we all tend to react in that manner. Like I said he followed behind us for miles. So middle finger to South Carolina and their bullshyte troopers. Of course, those other 5 folks in the van woke up and offered all kinds of assistance on how we were weaving and going too slow in the middle lane. Did I mention all their asses were sleep? Yeah. Needless to say Kay was mad and we took the family right into Charlotte doing well above the speed limit to hand over the keys to the next driver.

My cousin Gail, who was still in the bath when we go to her house, decided her blind ass will take over because the sun would be coming up in the next hour or so. Whatever. I got my ass in the back took two sleeping pills and my Dramamine because she slings your ass while changing lanes is a well documented fact. She hadn’t been driving but about 10 minutes and my brother called and I was slurring my words because the meds had taken affect so I was like I am going to call you later. And proceeded to sleep for about 30 minutes. Then we pulled off on an exit. I thought folks needed to go to the bathroom, but um no. Gail was done driving. After 45 minutes. Really. I was done because I thought we had been driving for at least two hours, but we had only driven 45 minutes and all the time Kay had gained was lost because Gail was driving 55 miles an hour. OMG! I was so tired and mad I didn’t know what to do. We lost time, man! AJ said he saw her driving 55 mph and said, “Auntie Gail, just pull over at the next exit.”

AJ is a seasoned road driver so he got behind the while and we ate up the lost time and I thank Baby Jesus because we had a 2 pm lunch with the graduate scheduled. We got to our hotel at 11:30 am, we made good time. Even though I had to relay my sister’s message to AJ, “Don’t speed in Emporia. It is a speed trap. You are okay after Franklin. Slow down!” He did, but not that much. We were on a time crunch, but we made it without any problems.

Randoms from the trip going:

*  Folks know to go to the bathroom at every stop.

*  Snacks help you stay woke.

*  Some folks will fall asleep as soon as the vehicle moves.

*  South Carolina…never mind.

*  My family can sniff out a Shoney’s on any road trip. Yes, we had breakfast at Shoney’s    
    and I did eat off the bar. I didn’t overdo it though because the food is still subpar at best.

*  No motion sickness.

To be continued, because this is too long already.