Today is a new day and is so much brighter than last night's circumstances. The thought of picking the kids up tomorrow has my friends and me powering through the day with positive attitudes after a day yesterday in which everything seemed to go wrong.
Last night, at 9:30 pm, the headlights on the van wouldn't come on. We used the highbeams to get to the Walmart across the street, only to find out that the part we needed wasn't available. We had a reservation at a hotel in SC and still had quite a few miles to go to get there but we couldn't drive with just high beams. My friend called the hoyel nd asked if we could cancel the reservation but the woman she talked to was extremely rude, had no compassion, and basically told us to sleep in our van. We tried having the reservation transferred to another one in the area we were stuck in and that seemed like a go until the rep in customer service called the hotel in SC to make the arrangements and got the same rudeness. We were able to get a lower price room in the area and this morning, my friend called the hotel in SC to work things out with the general manager. He was really nice to talk to and is reimbursing the charge and he had already been made well aware of the rudeness of his employee before we even called him. So that situation has been rectified.
We stopped at an auto parts store after leaving the hotel and my friend's husband and nephew popped in the new bulbs and all was right with the world.
We're still behind our original plans by 5 hours of driving,
8:40 pm - I've been writing this throughout the day. We're finally in Florida now and about 10 miles north of Jacksonville. We still have a few hours until we get into Orlando for the night.
We stopped at a Subway in Yulee, FL and I had been craving a meatball sub since we started this trip. We didn't realize that it was only 10 minutes before their closing time and when the girl behind the counter heard me talking to my niece about a meatball sub, she said they were out. I couldn't help the reaction that came out: "Son of a..." I caugt myself before the last part came out. The girl felt bad for me and heated some up for me so I could have my sub. It was delish!
The drive through Jacksonville was so pretty at night. We saw fireworks in the distance and a beautifully lit blue bridge. The skyline and all the lights are were gorgeous.
In just 12 hours from now, I'll be seeing my girl-child for the first time in five weeks! I'll also be meeting up with a long time online friend, Bethany, for a round of mini golf with Girly and my niece, Hannah. Good times!