Pit Stop!

As I drove up I-64, Percy flipped through the GPS's directions. As a general rule of thumb, I am anti-GPS -- an automated system takes all the adventure out of getting places. However, after this weekend, I am sold on the idea of the GPS. I am fairly certain I would have ended Saturday sitting by the side of some snow-covered road, bawling, if it weren't for Percy's GPS. The first favor it did for me, however, was to tell us that we were passing very near to my sister's college. So I gave her a call: "Surprise! What are you doing this evening?"

Luckily, she had no plans, so we took a small side trip. We got through DC traffic without too much trouble. I have discovered in recent months that I actually enjoy driving the crazy highways around our nation's capital. Rephrasing : I enjoy driving the crazy highways around our nation's capital, when I can maintain a decent speed. Since Maryland has HOV-2 lanes, Percy and I did quite well for ourselves, and we arrived at my sister's in time for dinner.

She showed us her room where her friends were preparing for their homecoming dance. Photographs, fluffy things, cute pictures, pink things, and girl-accessories plastered the room. Stuffed animals, ribbons and bows, hearts and flowers adorned every surface. Two times on this epic trip I felt bad for Percy. This is time one : when my sister and her friends, both before and after dinner, were talking hair and dresses and squealing and being all kinds of ridiculous. My sister and I are very different people, and I love her for it, but it was not a guy-friendly environment.

Besides dresses and dinner, we got a tour of campus. Apparently, Percy had wanted to go there when he was in high school too. I could see almost the entire campus from the highway. It covers a mere fraction of the area that the College covers. Walking through it though, the campus felt like my sister's kind of place. It also felt more distinctly undergraduate than the College does when I'm walking through it, probably because I was seeing this school through my baby sister's eyes, rather than my own.

After several awkward moments for Percy and several half-hearted attempts at leaving on my part, we hit the road again... only to discovered that we had spent too much time there. The GPS gave us an ETA of 11:30. Which could only mean an epic road trip ahead.