Heading off to Orientation...

Last week, Ian had Orientation at college. He’ll be a freshman in Mechanical Engineering. We’re pretty darned proud of him.

Along with the Student’s Orientation, they also offer a Parent’s Orientation. This being my first and only kid, I wanted to attend so that I would be as “in-the-loop” as I could. Doug also wanted to attend, since this is his last kid off to college.
So, the plan was to drive up Wednesday afternoon. This way, we’d be in Raleigh and wouldn’t have to get up at o-dark:30 to drive up. I told my fellow co-workers that I was leaving around lunchtime on Wednesday so I needed to get any work they needed done before that. I was hoping I’d be home early enough to spend a little time with the puppy, pack and leave shortly after Doug got home. Maybe, if we got up to Raleigh in time, we could call Doug’s oldest son, Douglas and have dinner with him. At 8:30 am, one of my co-workers drops red-marks for about 11 small projects (all prototype branch banks) on my desk. With a Friday deadline on these projects, I knew I had to fully complete the work before I left for the week. I worked through lunch, stopping only long enough to pop some Curves popcorn for a lunch/snack. I was finally able to leave the office at 4:15.

I’d like to say that the drive up to Raleigh was uneventful, but it wasn’t. Doug and I took separate cars. He needed to be back in Greenville on Friday morning for a very important meeting with the client. I drove lead and Ian rode in my car with me. We had left around 6:30 pm; much later than I had hoped. We finally stopped in Burlington for dinner. Once we got back on the road, it was dark. Getting closer to Mebane, there was some road construction. It had just dawned on me that my vehicle was due for a safety and emissions inspection, due to expire the very next day. Ian was talking about something or other and trying to find a decent radio station. I knew that one lane of traffic was being closed; the flashing arrows and cones alerted me to this. I guess I was distracted by everything and evidently I missed the sign that informed me that it was actually TWO lanes being closed. By the time my lane was being narrowed by the big orange and white barrels, I realized I needed to merge left. Looking in my side-view mirror, there was a mini-van… and an 18-wheeler right behind it. My lane was getting narrower but I couldn’t merge, yet. Do I brake? I can’t merge, that’s for sure. The way I was being squeezed between the truck and the barrels, I HAD to brake some. The 18-wheeler was not passing me quick enough and BAM! I made a very quick right hand turn… clipping the barrel at my front passenger quarter panel and I headed into the construction zone of the highway. We came to a stop to gather our wits and examine the damage. I looked left and saw Doug drive right by us. He didn’t see us. Well, he saw us, he just didn’t realize that it was us. Later, he told us that he saw NO brake lights ahead of him. No one even attempted to slow down to let me merge. Ian got out to assess the damage; most likely a good buffing will take care of the evidence, he thought. Tire was fine. No real scratches that we could tell in the dark. Ian got back in the car and asked if I was OK. As far as I was concerned, running into a barrel was much more desirable than being sideswiped by an 18-wheeler! We were safe, the car had minimal damage. Considering my options, I was great! We moved to get back onto the highway; what do you know? NO CARS! I pulled right out and got up to speed before anyone behind me was able to catch up. Figures! Ian called Doug on the cell phone and informed him that we were the ones that pulled off at the construction zone; we were fine and now about 2 miles behind him.


Getting into Raleigh, Doug took the lead and we found ourselves near to the hotel in no time. But since we didn’t know exactly where the hotel was, we passed it… and drove about 15 minutes out of our way. Until Ian actually read the map I printed out from Google. We made a U-turn and headed back to the mall and found our hotel by 10:30. So much for getting to Raleigh at a decent time. Blech!

The room was a two-room suite; complete with kitchen, separate bedroom with two beds and a large bathroom. Ian remarked how it would probably be weird for me the following night since I’ll be the only one using that big room. Free Wi-Fi in the rooms! WooHoo! Signal connection to wireless was Excellent; however, we could not get on to the internet. A call down to the front deck and we find out that the internet has been “up and down all day.” Blech! I kept trying, looking for the off-chance that it would be “up.” When it did come up, I was able to check my work email; I wanted to make sure that nothing else popped up on the Friday deadlines. There was an email, timed at 7:28 pm that stated that the deadline had a reprieve… the work that I finished earlier that day was now due the following Tuesday at noon! I wish they had made that decision by lunch time on Wednesday. We knew we had a big day on Thursday, so we all just got ready for bed.