The Spotsylvania Adventure...day 2

So yesterday’s blog got me to Charlotte and my sister, Anne’s, home on Thursday night. She has two of the sweetest boxers you’ll ever meet. They “helped” me up the stairs and then pouted because Annie put a baby gate up to block them from my room. Apparently, I would have had a boxer sleepover if she hadn’t. She told me Friday morning over breakfast that Nova had taken up patrol at the baby gate and probably would have stayed there all night if Annie hadn’t had her come to bed. As it was, she positioned her body on Anne and Greg’s bed so she could stare down the hallway at my room. When Anne woke me up, there were two forlorn, but oh-so-sweet, boxer faces staring at me across a baby gate. They also “helped” me back down the stairs when I came down for breakfast.

Anyhow, Anne and I were going to do this next portion of the ride together, which I truly appreciated. The Hair Nation, 80’s on 8, 70’s on 7 stations on my XM radio got me from Atlanta to Charlotte, but I didn’t want to see if their music selections could hold up all the way to Virginia. We decided that the smartest thing would be for Annie to take the first leg of the trip since she knows her way around Charlotte (natch!) and then I could drive us into Virginia. Things are going well, Annie drives a lot of rental cars in her business travels so the Equinox’s blind spots were no match for her. However, a work zone was. About an hour or so outside of Charlotte, Annie is passing a car and in the grassy median she sees a policeman and mentions it. We both look at the speedometer and Anne says, “No worries, I’m going about 80.” Then as she’s checking her mirrors (as good drivers do), she says, “The policeman just pulled out.” And then, “Uh-oh, he’s got his lights on.” Me, being the amazing deductive reasoned that I am said, “Is he pulling you over?”  To which Anne replies, “Yep” as she’s slowing down and pulling over. Okay, so I have this bad habit of getting the giggles at really bad times. And, yes, this was a really bad time to get the giggles. Luckily, Annie is a lot more mature than I am because if this had happened back in the day, she’d’ve probably gotten really upset with me. So I’m trying to get my giggles under control and have pulled them back into just a dopey looking grin on my face when the police officer’s face pops into my window. And then, I turn moronic for a moment as I can’t figure out how to roll the window down…IN MY OWN CAR!!!

Officer: “Ma’am, do you know why I’ve pulled you over?”  Anne: “No, sir, I don’t.”

Officer: “You were traveling 77 mph in a 55 mph work zone.” Anne and I look at each other incredulously because neither of us had any idea we were in a work zone.  Anyhow, long story kinda shorter: we had totally missed the signs saying that it was a work zone although we had noticed the barrels. But since there were no workers ANYWHERE, no machinery ANYWHERE and nothing torn up ANYWHERE, we obviously didn’t process the barrels. They are pretty much all over the place on the highway. Annie is now required (REQUIRED) by North Carolina law to show up at court because she was going 15+ miles over the speed limit in a 55 mph or higher zone. She’s looking at a 30 day suspension of license, 4 pts, and, well, toot, I can’t remember the other part. I checked NC statues and it also looks like she’ll be charged with a Class 2 Misdemeanor and have at least a $250 fine (because it’s a work zone). She can get a lawyer to appear for her in court (which is nice since the date they set is during our family vacation) but in doing a little googling on the situation, it looks like North Carolina is notorious for setting up fake work zones like these and trying to rack up on out of town drivers. Yes, we should have been paying attention to the signs. However, a trap is a trap is a trap…and I feel this was a trap.

So guess what occupied our attention for the rest of the trip? Yep, talking about what happened, texting her husband Greg as he researched what was in store (the person in the passenger seat did the texting. No texting and driving, thank you very much), and keeping an eye on the speed limit and cops.

“What’s the speed limit here?” was heard probably a hundred times during the rest of the trip…it was funny, but not.

So, we make it to the hotel in Fredricksburg (town next to Spotsylvania), check in and do the potty thing, check on Lori/Lorie and find out that they AREN’T  going to check in in the next hour because they haven’t even left yet.  We are meeting a cousin that my dad found while digging around for information about Horatio. His great-grandpa and Horatio were brothers, is how we are related. His name is John, as well, so we called him either “cousin John” or JW. We drove out to his home in Spotsylvania for dinner.(Oh…my…word…”gorgeous” doesn’t even cover it!) We got to unwind with beautiful view of the lake, watch as his wife fed the swan in the lake (a SWAN!!),  enjoyed grilled burgers and then got to see some of the cool stuff that was handed down through John W’s family which really made what the soldiers in the Civil War had to go through come more alive. Lori and Lorie drove up in the middle of this and we got to give out hugs and squeezes. It was so nice to have my sisters and one of my girls where I could lock eyes and giggle or make a comment in their ear. <le sigh>

I started noticing that dusk was upon us and as I knew how tired I was, how disoriented I get when I’m in a new place and how not-so-good I drive in the dark, I had to say my goodbyes and thank yous to John W and his wife, Patty, and get going. None too soon, either, as it was quite dark by the time we got into Fredricksburg and my eyes were so tired, I couldn’t read the street signs. Between OnStar and Lorie, we made it back to the hotel and sleepy time.

Tomorrow: “gunfire makes me firsty!”

On an unrelated note: good heavens! They have the air cranked UP in here and I took home my heavy sweater last week. I’m going to be frozen solid by lunch!!