Leaving Nashville was bittersweet. At least for me. We had so much fun there and it was a great experience. But we also knew we had a lot of fun to look forward to.
I was driving leaving Nashville. The GPS (from here on out we will call her Cali) told us to go north through Kentucky and Illinois and into St. Louis. It was 20 minutes longer than the direct route to Joplin, and we would get to see the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. So we obliged. Cali can sometimes be a bitch, but she gets us where we need to go.
When leaving Nashville, I wanted to go to the post office and get some stamps, and Ciara wanted to go to Target and get a large water bottle to carry around like my awesome Gatorade one Windy got for us at camp. So I drop her off at Target, (because I didn't need anything) and go park the car. When I come in, I see Ciara walking down the aisle with an armload of Special K Red Berries.
DISCLAIMER: If you know Ciara and I at all, you know we are cereal fiends! We could seriously eat it everyday, much like the goldfish song. But all I do is look at her, mouth agape, and think, "Oh that girl." She had four boxes of it in her arms. As it was our car was JAMMED packed and not an inch left for anything AND we already had six boxes of Special K in the car.
So, as I walk up to her, she turns around and just says, "Go to the cereal aisle". About forty seconds later, I emerge down the same main aisle with my own four boxes of Special K and we die laughing. Here was the thing, if you bought four boxes of Special K (and it was about $0.40 cheaper a box already here) you got a five dollar Target gift card. So we did. Each. Eight more boxes were added to our already huge collection and packed car.
So back to the traveling story, I was driving through Kentucky where the speed limit is 70. Very quickly it changed to 55 without much warning. I slowed down, but not enough before a cop saw me and pulled me over. My hands were shaking and I instantly forgot where everything was (it is all together in the glove compartmet though mom, don't worry. (: ) Well the cop comes over and all I'm thinking is "CRAP!" <--- that is the nicer version of what I was really thinking. So this cop struts over and I roll down my window and he asks me, "Did ya'll see them signs that said 55 for the speed back there?" I am unsure what to say. So I ask, "How fast was I going?" He says (really friendly), "67. But I don't see any workers, and those signs..." and trails off. Then he asks for my license. Shakily I remove that from my purse which is half buried behind me, and hand it to him. I am hopeful because he doesn't ask for insurance or registration. As he takes my license, he looks at it and goes,
"Where ya'll headed?"
"St. Louis for now." I reply
"Hmm. Okay. Did ya'll hijack a Special K truck?"
"Yes" Ciara says.
We all laugh. I am still hopeful.
He returns about a minute later and states in his southern boy accent, "Ya'll drive safe and have fun. Good luck."
I almost peed my pants I was so relieved.
Onward we go. We take I-24 through the south west side of Kentucky and into Illinois a bit. At some point we switch driving and Ciara gets us to the St. Louis arch. It is huge, and brilliantly bright in the fading sunlight. We jump out, and take pictures for a good half hour or so. I touched the side of it. The metal was hot, even in the cooling night sky. It becomes dark and we decide we should leave in order to make it to Joplin at any kind of decent hour. We ate some dinner and were off again.
The drive to Joplin was dark, and sleepy and we had to play a lot of Britney Spears to try and keep us awake. After awhile we switched to worship music and had a good hour of relaxed quiet.
After that though, we were both exhausted and Ciara wanted to switch driving again. We pulled into a gas station, got some coffee (which as of today, I think I have the caffeine shakes because I have had so much) and were on the way again. About fifteen miles from Joplin, Ciara and I hear a noise, "flwap, flwap flwap.." I instantly know what it is, and go, "That's the tire." Literally thank God there was an exit about a hundred feet away. I pull off. We see a gas station that is all boarded up and one light illuminating the sky. Could it be, our saving grace, a place to change our tire??? Well sort of. It was an adult video store. That's just our luck that it would be.
We look at each other and we can smell the fear in the car. Perhaps it was just the tire burning away though. We have no choice but to stop at the porn store. FOL. So we get out and pull everything out of the trunk quickly as we can. I quickly change out of my dress and into shorts and a t shirt. We heft the spare out of the trunk. Ciara bends down to start the jack and I reach into the car and grab the huge pocket knife my dad sent with us, (which prior to, I had rolled my eyes at and thought, "Oh dad.") But we both felt safer that we had it then. I'm standing directly above Ciara, watching guard while she starts the jack when this creepy as heck guy comes out of the video store and is watching us with the creepiest of faces. It's at that point I get really scared. Ciara and I are both strong and athletic, but in a situation like that, we may not be strong enough. The guy then gets in his car after I flash the knife his way, but he doesn't leave. He leans over to the passenger window, facing us and starts making sexual faces at us. Ciara doesn't see any of this, because she is jacking the car and I'm on guard. All she hears is me yell, "No!" and tell her to stand up. We are both now facing him, not looking away, staring quite possibly the man who could kill us, straight in the face. All I'm thinking is 'do not look weak. Look brave. Look assertive. Flash the knife some more.' So I do all of those things and then Ciara says, "You can leave now." real bitchy like. I was proud of us. The sketch ball drove away. But then another car drives up a few minutes later and all I'm thinking is, CRAP AGAIN??? I was on the phone with my dad. I figured it would look safer if whoever came up to us thought at least someone knew where we were. Then this tall skinny man stepped out and in the flaming-est voice I ever heard said, "Oh girls. You got a flat. This is no good. And that jack is horrible." I could have sworn I heard angels singing. He was so gay and I never felt safer.
He helped us out and fixed our flat and we were on our way back to Kelsey's.
Finally we arrived at Kelsey's wayyyy later than planned, and exhausted. But Kels and her lovely roommate Jo were up and waiting for us. It felt so nice to be safe and warm and ready to sleep in a comfy bed...
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