Day 28: The Road Trip Begins

Early this morning, Brandon and I began our first road trip as a married couple! We are making our way from Boca Raton to Mendota - from one home to another! It's 1369 miles from Point A to Point B, and our only hope is that we are still in love when all those miles are finally behind us! After all, we're heading to Illinois for the "Main Event" of our wedding festivities.

We did over half of our drive today. Brandon worked last night, and he woke me up when he got home just after four this morning. We made some coffee, packed the car, and hit the road. Twelve hours, 800 miles, and several adventures later, we arrived here in Manchester, Tennessee.

We're still in love at this point and about to go grab a beer and a bite. But first, I must tell you the adventures of the first day...

Everything went really well at first. Brandon drove the first leg and got us almost all the way out of Florida. That is one long state! I took over just before we hit Georgia, and Brandon took a little nap. He woke up about two hours later; we grabbed some snacks and drinks from our cooler, and we continued on our way - making good time and even enjoying the drive.

After a while, it started to rain; we were getting closer and closer to Atlanta, and traffic was getting heavier all the time. But we barely noticed; we were singing and laughing and playing the "What-Would-You-Do-With-20-Million-Dollars?" game, when, out of nowhere, we heard a CRACK! I just kept my eyes on the road, but I heard Brandon say, "That was a rock." I looked over at him, and he looked up at the windshield. In disbelief, I said, "Is that real?" "Yup," Brandon said, "and it's growing." The six-inch crack in the windshield was growing before our eyes. And I continued to say, "Is that real? Did that really just happen?"

Two hours, several stressful phone calls, and a stop at the Atlanta Airport Enterprise later, we had a new rental. (You will remember, of course, that our own car was damaged in the crash on our wedding day, so we have been driving a rental for several weeks.) We continued on our way, having to fight Atlanta's rush-hour traffic, due to our delay.

But we made it to our day one destination: Manchester, Tennessee! And, despite the lack of sleep, the crack in our windshield, and the high-stress conversation about whether we'd ever get a break with our vehicles, we are still in love!

So I'd say, overall, today was successful. We'll see how tomorrow goes!