We were dirty from our work with Barack Obama’s National Day of Service so we had to head back to Maryland where we were staying to get showered and changed.  By the time we got home and got dressed to go out it was almost 11:00.  Normally that wouldn’t be an issue except for the fact that we were under the impression that the Metro stopped running at midnight. 

  Steve (Huey), Matthew (Dewey), and Matt (Louie) naively thinking they are in for a great night of partying.

Well, we finally got off the Metro near where we thought our friends were and Matt gave them a call.  “What’s that Matt??  They left the bar we’re supposed to be meeting them at!?”  Yes, they had left and were headed to a different bar.  We paid for a cab to the new bar and waited in line outside for half an hour in 8 degree weather with really strong wind.  FINALLY, we got in!  We searched everywhere in the bar for them, and they were absolutely not there.  NOT THERE!  Matt called up his contact and she informed him that the line had been too long and it had been too cold outside so everyone left.  Yeah, you read that right.  They just didn’t bother to tell us until AFTER we waited in the awful, frigid line.  Matthew and Steve quickly drank a couple of beers as we stood near the doorway looking and feeling like idiots. 

The good news?  We found out the Metro was actually going to run until 2:00am so we at least wouldn’t be stranded.  We did however get home so late that we only got about an hour and a half of sleep before it was time to wake up.  Why don’t people just listen to me?

 
We made it!

We’ve had a lot of great experiences since arriving on Monday and I will cover those in their own posts.  This post will be retired now that the drive is over.

Monday, January 19th, 4:30 AM EST – Beau Street, Pennsylvania
We’re currently in Pennsylvania after briefly traveling through West Virginia.  So far, so good.  The weather has calmed down and it’s clear and cold.  We happened to pass a Beau St., which I was very surprised to see.  We tried to get a photo, if any of them came out okay I’ll post it

I’m going to keep this post short because I’m about to get behind the wheel.  We have 200 miles to go, about 3 and a half hours!  We’re gonna make it!!!

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. day everyone.  One of my favorite days of the year, and I cannot imagine a better place and time to celebrate it than in D.C. for Barack Obama’s Inauguration!

Monday, January 19th, 1:00 AM EST – Columbus, Ohio
After lunch in St. Louis we hit the road with me behind the wheel again.  Everything was going splendidly: birds were singing, the car was handling well, and Huey, Dewey, and Louie were all sleeping peacefully.  Well, that didn’t last long.  It started raining in freezing temperatures and the Interstate turned into an ice rink.  It took me about a hundred yards to come to a stop when traffic in front of me stopped due to a car going into the ditch.  Within the same half mile stretch two others also went off the road, but we fortunately kept our tires on the road.

I woke Steve up and he took over driving until a few minutes ago when Matt jumped behind the wheel.  We’re currently at 389 miles remaining until our destination!  Woohoo!

Sunday, January 18th, 2:00 PM EST – St. Louis, Missouri
Great news; the laptop is back in action!  We finally stopped at RadioShack and found a power inverter that works, so blogging can resume and I can start loading up my pictures.

Lewis, Clark, Fido, Huey, Dewey, Louie and Beau

The arch was absolutely stunning and we all really enjoyed ourselves.  The museum was great and the scale of the arch from outside is just overwhelming, much less going inside and riding to the top.  Here are the photos I have from the amazing experience.

Sunday, January 18th, 9:36 AM EST – Danville, Missouri
Well, Matt made the right decision to relinquish his crown as driver; he was just too tired and the vehicle on the road was starting to behave eerily similar to a game of pong.  We pulled into this lovely rest area in Danville to make the swap.

I’m pretty sure you forfeit your soul when you do something like this.

Missouri is a pretty state.

The tell-tale signs of the stresses of a never-ending road trip are starting to show.

I’ve been awake for 28 hours at this point but am feeling fine, so I’ll be taking over the driving from here.  We’re headed to St. Louis, this should be great!

Sunday, January 18th, 8:00 AM EST – Odessa, Missouri
So much for buying all of the geekware we needed to fix everything. I bought a $100 power cord for my laptop and Steve bought a $50 power inverter. Well, the computer takes too much juice and shuts off the inverter, so until we figure something out or can get to a RadioShack I’ll be blogging by phone. I’ll add pictures in later.

We’ve finally switched drivers, now Matt Hirsch is driving and Steve is getting some much needed rest. He was getting louder and crazier the longer he stayed awake, so this is a good move. Missouri is pretty so far, I’ll update when we get to the arch!

Sunday, January 18th, 3:35 AM EST – Hayes, Kansas
Well, it wouldn’t be a road trip without a few bumps along the road. Very shortly after my first blog post my laptop battery died. I expected this, but we have a power inverter onboard so at our first pit stop (Hayes, Kansas) I took apart our delicately constructed mountain of luggage to get to my suitcase at the bottom.

Problem: I apparently didn’t pack my power cord. PAUSE for momentary freak out.

What?!? Forgot the power cord, the number one item on my “Do Not Forget” list?!? Yes, that would appear to be the case. PAUSE for second freak out.

Problem 2: Amid my anger over my rookie mistake Matthew decided to charge his mp3 player. What’s wrong with that you ask? Oh nothing except the power inverter worked for a glorious two seconds.

Apparently Steve decided that it would be a good idea to try to use it to run a vacuum cleaner earlier today. It apparently only had moments of glory that time too. PAUSE for helpful tip of the post: Don’t do that!

Good News: My irritation at myself for forgetting the power cord is softened a bit by the knowledge that even with my power cord I’d be without a power source.

We’ll be stopping in the morning to stock up on necessary geek gear. Once that happens I will being adding photos to the posts.

Unrelated Unfortunate News: Steve decided to buy and rapidly consume a foot long super, mega, ultra, platinum edition convenience store burrito. Focus on the prize Beau, just focus on the prize.

God help us.

Oblivion is bliss.

Sunday, January 18th, 12:53 AM EST – Bennett, Colorado
Well, our long journey to President Obama’s Inauguration in Washington D.C. is finally underway. I’m making the trek with my friends Matthew Farrell, Matt Hirschinger, and Steve Hulsberg! We all worked together on the campaign turning Arapahoe County, Colorado bright, bright blue!

We’re in Steve’s Hybrid Toyota Highlander and so far the trip is going well. Steve, the IT geek, set the car up to be it’s own WiFi Hotspot. I will post updates and pictures as we go!