you may be right, i may be crazy

subject is a quality billy joel song that has quickly become the themesong of the day.

consider the following to be the tale of how a 5 hour road trip can turn into a 19 hour one instead =P

so this morning, delaware was the only state east of the mississippi i hadn't yet visited... scott agreed to come along if i'd let him do homework in the car so 10am, we were off and running... by 11:30 we were in delaware and taking a backroads route along the delaware river having fun taking pictures with goofy signs, etc... by noon we were hungry and picked up some subway just north of dover... drove through historic downtown dover (no skyskrapers... total population 33,000... very cute and quaint) and took a quick tour of the old state house and the town green... drove on south to the shore to see the ocean and the fenwick island lighthouse (only working lighthouse in delaware)... took pictures with the lighthouse mid afternoon (2-3ish) and presumably should have returned back up to jersey getting in 6-7ish (pm)... buuuuut, you have to remember this was me and scott on a trip and we both can be bad about sticking to what was originally planned, soooo...

scott: (at the lighthouse), "dude, did you read that? this stone here marks the delaware/maryland state line! i'm in delaware and you're in maryland!"
me: "awesome!"
(pose and take pictures with the state line rock)

....

me:"so back up through delaware or down into maryland a bit?"
scott: "dude, virginia's close... why don't we hit that border?"
me: "sure... let's get gas first though..."
(i pump gas... get back in the car)
scott: "so have you ever been on the 20 mile bridge/tunnel that goes over the chesapeake bay and under the ocean? if we get to the virginia border and we're feeling really crazy we could go for that?"
me: "never been there, but i'm up for it if you are"

...

(get to the maryland/virginia stateline (cerca 4:30pm), pull over to a gas station, park the car, run across 3 lanes of traffic and into the median, pose for pictures with the "welcome to maryland" and "welcome to virginia" signs, get honked at by truckers, and go back to the car)
scott: "so have we gotten the craziness out of our system or are we really going for this?"
me: "well the cool bridge is still another 100 miles... if we go that far we might as well take interstate back up through richmond, dc, baltimore, etc.... we could go visit the lincoln memorial at like 9 at night!"
scott: "you know what? if you think you can stay awake to drive, why not... you only live once!"

....

(driving in virginia)
i realize we're actually going to go to dc and josh persons is working there til june, haven't seen him since graduation, he told me a couple weeks ago i should let him know if i'm ever in the area, but i don't have his phone number... a ha... brilliant idea... call adam hughes, ask him to email josh on my behalf telling josh to call my cell when he gets a chance as i'll be in the area in a few hours on a whim

...

6pm (sunset) arrive at the chesapeake tunnel/bridge... chesapeake bay to one side, atlantic ocean to the other... 20 miles of 2 lane bridge way high above the water, no shoulder... and twice the bridge dips into tunnels that go under the water (where boats can cross)... we pay the $10 to cross, stop at a "scenic overlook" on one side, take tons of pictures, then make the trek -- completely awesome... and dude!!! we went UNDER the ocean

...

6:30pm, arrive in virginia beach, VA (on the other side of the bridge)
me and scott: (in unison) "duuuude, what are we doing in virginia????"
....norfolk... josh persons calls back... agrees to meet at washington monument in DC around 9:30pm
...richmond... into DC around 10pm (underestimated traffic and distance from richmond to DC... oops)

...

10-11pm, wandering around DC with scott and josh (white house and the mall mostly)
11-11:30 trying to find our way out of town,.,, 11:40 finally succeed

...

crazy rain begins... drive through baltimore... under the chesapeake (much small corner of it) in another tunnel...

...

1am: finally it's dinnertime... roy rogers burgers at a travel plaza half an hour north of baltimore

.....

2am hit delaware/jersey... still crazy rain... scott and me are getting loopy and laughing our heads off

....

2:15am pass under a sign at the start of the NJ Turnpike "reduce speed 45mph, snow ahead"... soon as we read it the flakes fall until within 5 miles we can't see the road and are going 30 instead

(what should take an hour to drive took double that.... up to 9 inches expected by "morning")

4:30am: drop scott off at his dorm
4:45am: i get home

5:15am: having typed this story up while i remember it clearly, i'm going to bed now!
night all. =P