L&K Take America

Stop #40: Like many others, I traveled abroad in Italy when I was in college. It was a great experience and I met some great people. As things go as we grow up and our lives get more complicated, I have fallen out of touch with almost all of those people. However, the interwebs makes staying in touch a little easier, even if it’s just on the peripheral. When I started this trip, one of the girls, Paula, who I was closest to in Italy reached out and said to stop by if I was near her in Myrtle Beach. One of the greatest parts of this trip is that having people to see in different destinations leads you to beautiful parts of the country that you may not otherwise consider. That is how I ended up in Asheville, NC – it is on the way from the Great Smoky Mountains to Myrtle Beach.

It was really great to see Paula. She is all grown up from our Paderno del Grappa days (many many stories not appropriate for this forum from those days) with a beautiful house and family in Myrtle Beach. She has a little girl who just turned 2. This little one is a riot. She quite honestly has the my robust grasp on the English language that I’ve ever seen in a toddler. She is speaking in full sentences and has an amazing little imagination. My favorite part may have been that she called Luna “Aunt Luna.” It was hysterical. “Where’s Aunt Luna?” Everyone should call her that from now on.

Paula is doing an amazing job with that little one. She is really a fantastic little person. Paula’s husband stayed with the tiny tot while she and I went to dinner. It was a lot of fun to catch up and relive some of our shared stories.

On day 2, we made our way down to the beach for a walk and then to lunch before Aunt Luna and I headed out. (pictures are actually from the night before)

Thank you so much for having us, Paula!! So good to see you. 

In my original “plan,” I was going to head North up the East Coast after Myrtle Beach. However, when I was in Asheville, I got a call from the car shop in Dallas and they said that they had mad great progress on my Jeep and that it “might” be done next week. They are waiting on one last part. Naturally I asked, “Sooooo, liikkkkeee, early next week, or….?” and he said, “let’s say tentatively, later next week.” Now the question then is, do I:

1) drive North towards Boston, drop the rental car off and fly back to Dallas to pick up the Jeep and camper and drive back? OR

2) drive South and West, see a few more places and friends, drive back to Dallas to pick up the Jeep and camper and drive back?

It’s about the same distance from Myrtle Beach to Dallas as it is from Myrtle Beach to Boston. Flights might be cheaper than gas. I would probably leave Luna in Boston rather than trying to fly with her if I flew from Boston back to Dallas. Decisions, decisions…

Well, of course I have made my life even more difficult because a couple of nights ago when I was trying to fall asleep I had the realization that I had brought the large trailer hitch for the camper with me from Dallas. It’s in the back of the rental car. Why you ask? Well, when I was in California, Uncle Tony told me not to leave it on the Jeep when the camper was attached. He said that THAT is what people will steal. So, when I was in my tizzy after the accident and trying to pack up stuff from the Jeep into the rental car, I heard his voice in the back of my head. In addition to his voice in my head, the shop made me sign about 15 times saying that they were not responsible for anything left in the vehicle. As a result, I put it in the back of the rental car. What I’m realizing now is that it’s going to be preeettttyyy difficult to get it back to Dallas if I am flying. I know this because one time I was flying to Detroit and I had dumbbells in my carryon. What??? You don’t travel with dumbbells? Anyway, I had the dumbbells in the carryon and as it was going through the TSA security checkpoint, I was stopped for a bag search. This wasn’t your typical bag search though. This created a security event. Even though I laughed and said, “Oh yeah, there are dumbbells in my bag” when they asked what I had in there, it created quite the scene. No joke, there were about 30 TSA agents called from all areas of the airport. I had to explain over and over that there were dumbbells in there. Some of them laughed, others didn’t find it so entertaining. Apparently, if you have something in your bag that they cannot see through with the x-ray, it’s a problem. They can’t just take your word for it and they can’t just open the bag. So it shut down the security checkpoint because I was trying to get buff in my hotel room in Detroit.

Eventually they gave me the option for them to just take the dumbbells and I eagerly agreed that was a great idea, as my flight time approached. They then informed me that the same thing would have happened if I had checked a bag with the dumbbells. Lesson learned. However, this brings us to the current day. Now I have this 25-30 lb hitch (NOT your typical car hitch) that is solid metal. Pretty sure I can’t take it on the plane. Pretty sure it would cost me an obscene amount of money to ship such an object. Pretty sure it would be difficult to find one to rent that would work with the whole rig system. Well crap. This is the predicament I have been struggling with over the past couple of days.

If I flew, I would also have to potentially wait around a couple of days because we are going on the “tentatively ready at the end of the week” timeline at this point. I would also have to figure out getting another rental car once there. Not that big of a deal typically, but with the insurance situation, it is a bit more complicated. However, all of this has helped to make the decision of which direction to head tomorrow. To avoid trying to line up my ducks with this hitch, car, flight, etc. I have decided to meander South and West back towards Dallas. South we go!

Lesson of the Day: Think through bringing a large metal object with you when you travel.