Road Trip!!!

On Thursday night, the 13th, Mum calls me to tell me that Dylan would be home on the 15th of November at 0630, yes AM! So on Friday at lunch time I go to the rental car place on post to reserve a car for the weekend. The clerk makes sure that I don't need it right away as they were all out at lunch time. I don't need the car until 1700 (5:00 pm) so everything is aces. At 5, my battle buddie (a.k.a. friend, ride, fellow soldier) drops me off to pick up the vehicle. I then run to the PX to pick up a map of the area that would include Virginia and North Carolina, all the way down to Camp Lejeune (near Jacksonville, NC). The only thing that I could find is a US road map, fine, I already have one of those at home... :* So it is now 1730 and I am trying to go southbound on I 95 south of Washington DC, talk about rush hour! So I pull off to get some dinner, and by the time I am finished and check out, traffic is rolling at a decent pace. I had originally planned to try to make it to Fayetteville, NC and thus Ft. Bragg to spend the night, but by the time 2100 (9:00pm) rolled around, I realized that it was a- to far out of the way, and b- to far away to make it there any time before 0300. So I decided to cut off of I 95 and stop at a decent sized town that looked as if it would have a few hotels. Goldsboro, NC has one (1) hotel advertised on Highway 70 and this hotel is on the bypass (I now know it is on the northern bypass) So I miss the exit/entrance for the bypass and head through town... EVERYTHING is closed. So I turn south, following the business route that I think I am on, next thing I know I am passing through forest again. I tell myself that I am going to stop at the next clean-looking place I see. And there it is in beautiful Mount Olive, NC! I take the exit ramp on two wheels in my Dodge SUVette. I check in and it is midnight when I finally hit the hay. It had been sprinkling throughout the whole trip, a heavy drizzle here, light rain there, on and off from DC. At 3 in the morning a storm came through, thunder, lightning, fierce winds, the whole deal. I was glad to be in a room in a nice cozy bed.The rest of the trip the following day was mostly uneventful. I arrived at the reception tent at around 1100 (Mum called with the time change, and I verified by calling the update number). The announcer just notified all of the family members that the plane had landed and that the marines were unloading the plane and securing their weapons and would be about 2 hours out. Yeah, cheers and applause! So at about 1500 (3:00 pm) the buses show up and the Marines form up and march in to the confines of the barriers, the barriers were so that they could be formally dismissed before the family members rushed in to greet their Marine. As they were dismissed, I scanned the dissolving formation for Dylan. Then I went over to the bag piles to look for him. I asked a few members of his unit if they had seen him, and they told me to look for the gut carrying the big box. I finally found a Major to ask. He turned out to be in charge of Dylan somewhat and lead me to the office where Dylan was dropping off the secure items. Fortunately enough as I entered the building he was coming down the stairs. We went off to find his bags then we parted ways to change and meet up later to secure his car and boxes in storage. After that we went out to eat at the Texas Roadhouse. Oh My Gosh - that place is awesome, first off they have peanuts in the waiting area and you leave the shells on the floor (CRUNCH, CRUNCH as you walk) then you can pick your own steak from the window! No report on desert as I was almost too full to even walk out the door! Since we ad both been traveling most of the past couple of days we turned in early even for me at 1930 (7:30 pm) The Next morning we met for breakfast at IHOP and then went to an electronic store for Dylan to get a laptop. The silly boy paid for and waited for the guys there to install Microsoft Office. So as we waited I looked around for things to spend my combat pay on and we played a bit of Rock Band. I left at around 1300 (1:00 pm) to head back north to Fort Belvoir. At 1500 (3:00 pm) just south of Rocky Mount, NC a white Dodge Charger entered the freeway, since he and I were pretty much even speeded I pulled in to the fast lane to allow him on and then pulled back in front. A few minutes later I glanced in my rear-view and saw flashing red and blues - Damn! Evidently, I was going 84mph in a 70. Why? asked the cop. (Well) I thought (Cause I didn't know you were a cop!) But I said, Oh I have been driving for too long. - LAME! License and Registration, oh - A rental car... Is this Texas address valid? (GRRRRR get this over with!) Yes sir, it's my home of record. Blah, Blah, Blah, here is a ticket and a court date, January 16th in Nashville, NC. No I don't know the address or phone number to discuss the fact that you will be in Afghanistan serving our country at the time, but I am sure you can find it by calling information, Good Day. (AssHole!) So once I got back to Belvoir, I figured I would go to the Library at lunchtime to find the phone number. Bad news, the library is closed on Monday - Who knew? So Tuesday I get the information and call the office of the District Attorney. Surprise, Surprise, they don't settle out of state residents, I would either have to hire an attorney or appear in court. "$#%&*^&%$@!#^%#$@@*!" Luckily I am in the Army and have free legal council! So I go to the JAG office and say the magic words, "I am deploying" and I am in with an attorney in a matter of minutes. He calls the same number, identifies himself as an attorney with the Department of the Army, and she tells him that they will pull the case to settle it with a fine tomorrow. Why couldn't that do that with me? GRRRRR! So today, the 19th of November, I return to JAG he calls up the DA's office and they have reduced the charge to improper equipment - no longer a moving violation, woohoo!!! - and the fine is $146.00. The attorney also types up a nice letter and I am off to the post office to buy a money order and send the letter and money off Registered mail with return receipt.
~~Happy Ending~~