Emily and Mom's big adventure

So this isn't going to turn out exactly how I want it to because I am not smarter than the blog website but I think you'll get the picture. My mom and I are in Port Charlotte, Florida!!! We finally arrived around 4:30 pm and are all settled into the hotel. We are currently watching Michigan vs. Michigan State men's basketball (yes we are just sitting in our hotel but we are exhausted - we will start exploring tomorrow). So here's a re-cap of the past two days. Some of you have heard of our entertainment from yesterday but most haven't so here goes....

After a nice little sit-down breakfast of Rhodes cinnamon rolls (thanks mom!) and packing up the car, mom and I finally left Adrian at about 8:30. The first three hours of the ride went without a glitch. My mom and I are both gifted with the uncanny ability to snack. In our haste, we left the house without a single bag of goldfish or chex mix in sight. To remedy this, around 11:30 we decided to kill two birds with one stone and stop for gas and lunch. I pumped gas while she went inside the gas station to fix our ever so brainless mistake (bought us some snacks) and came back outside just as I had taken the gas pump out of my car right as a gust of wind swept through and spilled gas on my pant leg and shoe. Needless to say, our car smelled horrible as we made the short trek next door for our dieter's special lunch. As we got out of the car at McDonald's (ok I may have lied about the diet part but who doesn't crave french fries on a long drive?!) I had my camera in my pocket of my coat and pulled it out to take a picture (because it was our goal to document every part of our super adventure). We snapped a picture (meanwhile avoiding the stares of the other fast food goers) and got lunch. Then it was back on the road for us. We had finally made it out of the most horrible state (Ohio, of course) and into Kentucky when I began to feel warm. I wanted to take my coat off but before doing so, I asked my mom if I gave her the credit card back from getting gas at our stop. She replies, "yeah, I think so" and then proceeds to check her wallet. Unfortunately for both of us, there was a big empty spot in her wallet where her card normally spends its days. My thought at this moment "UH OH!" After searching the entire car while still driving, we finally decided to pull over and check every where. Nothing. Frustration set in and we felt helpless. With nothing else to do, we called the gas station (we had the number from the receipt for the gas) and had one of the maintenance people look around for the card. Nothing. With hope dwindling, I used my iphone to look up the number for the McDonald's in Franklin, Ohio. I tried calling 4 times and no answer. We decided to just turn around with no real idea if our card was lost forever or not. Finally, someone picked up at McDonald's. I was in no mood for games and the man who answered told me that he had the card in his pocket but had already gone on a shopping spree. Finally after more banter, I was about to yell but remained calm and got it out of him that he indeed had Sue Allshouse's visa card. We were 50 miles away. It was a long ride back north (and we had to go back to Ohio - who wants to do that?!?!) We finally arrived at the McDonald's and the manager gave us back the card. From there, it was back South.....again.
I have to say the entertainment of our journey ends there. Every stop from that point on, mom would hand me her card for gas, I'd swipe it and immediately give it back to her and then make sure she had it before we pulled away. We stayed with a good friend in Atlanta (Thanks, Megan) and it was so nice to get somewhere and sleep in a nice bed after 13 1/2 hours of driving.
We left for leg number two of our journey this morning around 8:00am. There was no traffic and everything was smooth sailing. I got a call from my boss on the trip and now don't have to start work until Monday. Mom and I now have 5 days to tear up this town and explore all that Port Charlotte has to offer. I feel that I am scaring people when I walk around here with how ghostly white I am - might have to try to remedy that a bit in the next few days....but there will be plenty of time for that in the next 7 months as a resident of the great state of Florida.
Bottom line: Mom and I made it to Florida in one piece, we are still speaking to each other after 1400 miles in a 2-door grand prix, and life is good and we have no complaints!!
Until next time, Em

Here is our photo documentation of the trip....