Rick and Nick’s Incredible Journey

Ever heard the term "a day late and a dollar short"? Well, I’ll explain later, but first Rick and Nick’s incredible journey.

Nick finally committed to moving to our lovely state of Delaware from his home state of Texas. He flew back to Dallas a week before I did in mid-September to start packing up what was left at the condo. I flew down that Friday and we started packing for the drive back to Milton on Monday.

Sunday was Dallas Gay Pride, so we took the day off to enjoy the festivities. Well, it rained on our parade. The parade did go off, but it was soggy. After the parade, we all marched down to Lee Park to take in the vendors and the entertainment. It didn’t go as planned. We stood there soaked to the bone. Ever take a shower with your clothes on? That’s what it felt like. The emcee appeared on stage and said everything had to be cancelled because a very severe storm was coming. Was he ever right! Nick and I just barely got to a restaurant to meet some friends for lunch when we were hit by a cloudburst. Oh, my! You couldn’t see a thing. The streets were flooded and a tornado watch was issued.

After lunch we went home to pack. We had the best of intentions, but we got a phone call from two of Nick’s former clients who invited us over to their home to see their new addition and to say good bye. Kim’s work is sometimes featured in Architectural Digest so you can imagine this "addition" they did. Awesome doesn’t do it justice—spectacular does. We stayed till after midnight. We got back to the condo with the best intentions of packing but exhaustion won out and we went to bed at 1:30 a.m.

We had to pick up the U-Haul truck by 9 a.m., and managed to get there by 9:15. I drove the U-Haul truck with it’s 10 foot box and extra large cab, and followed Nick back to the condo.

We immediately went to work. Don’t know about you, but packing is not my forte. We finished loading at midnight, but we had to drive to Nick’s dad’s house in Richardson, Texas and drop off his pick-up truck. Nick’s cousin drove us back to the condo. It was nearly 2 a.m., and we planned to leave early the next morning.

Since we had no furniture—or bed to sleep on—we crashed at our friends house. Mark has a really great old 3-story Arts and Crafts house. We slept there; it was now 3 a.m.

Tuesday morning started out with beautiful weather. After breakfast, we climbed on board and started our journey back to Delaware. First stop: Nashville, Tennessee. Nick has a cousin there who he hasn’t seen in a while who was as eager to meet me as I was to meet him. Plus I would meet his partner of 7 years.

Nick pulled out of Dallas at 11:15 a.m., heading east. We drove through Texarkana (a big tourist trap) and gassed up at Arkidelphia, Arkansas—ooohh, gas was expensive there! $2.39 a gallon for regular. In Dallas it was $2.19 a gallon. I drove from Arkidelphia to the outskirts of Nashville. Let me tell you, we drove through Memphis and I was impressed. I’d like to go back to check it out, it was a beautiful city.

The truck needed filling up again and since we were really close to Nashville, Nick drove to the rest stop in Nashville where we met his cousin Jeff and followed him home. The drive time? 11 hours. Brutal. We were actually sore–physically exhausted. It was midnight. We stayed up till Jeff’s partner Curry got home from work and chatted a bit. We got to bed at 2:30 a.m.

Sleeping in was a luxury for us. Jeff went to work and Curry took us out to IHOP. What I saw of Nashville was okay. My impression was that one side of town was a little run down and tired looking. But then again, we didn’t see all of Nashville, which I’m sure is a wonderful city. Nick’s brother-in law’s brother owns a restaurant there called The Alley Cat. An adorable place in a converted gas station. We joined Steve and his wife Shelley and Jeff for dinner. It was great Tex-Mex food; we left at midnight! We were exhausted. See a pattern here? We watched John Waters’ Female Trouble on TV with Jeff and Curry until 2:30 a.m.

We had to leave early Thursday morning because Curry had to be at work by 9 a.m. and Jeff had already left for work. We followed Curry out of Nashville and he got us back to Route 40 East. Once we got out of the burbs onto the Interstate we were on our way home. Nick pulled over shortly thereafter. He was exhausted and needed a nap, so I took over. Next big city? Knoxville, Tennessee. Traffic, traffic, and more traffic compounded by stop and go due to road construction. We sat and sat on the interstate—finally getting out of Knoxville.

Next state? Virginia. We decided not to stop. So close to home but so far away. The Appalachian Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are truly beautiful sights to behold. We figured it was all downhill from there.

For some reason it seemed that driving through Virginia was pretty easy. It wasn’t easy when we got to the DC beltway. Nearly had 2 accidents from speeders cutting me off or pulling in front. I was a nervous wreck! You really appreciate that sign that says "Route 50 East" so you can get off the beltway.

And that feeling gets better once you cross over the Bay Bridge. We pulled up to our house here in Milton at 1 a.m. We just did a 13 hour drive. Tomorrow we get to unload it and unpack it. Nick and I were sore and exhausted. Our legs hurt, our backs ached, and our necks were stiff. We were physical wrecks. Total drive time? 24 hours.

I gathered up the mail and newspapers and while looking through it noticed an article on how to survive a long car or plane ride. It said to keep moving your muscles—stretch, stop, do some isometric exercises, pull over and nap if you have to, stop to eat, travel at night when it’s less crowded.

I showed it to Nick and said, "A day late and a dollar short." We could have used this advice for Rick and Nick’s incredible journey. We were soooo sore.