Staunton Virginia

Hello Everyone!

I thought this might be a good place to start my "travel blog"  since I am currently stranded in a small town in Virginia. The unsuspecting little Hurst family (actually it was just me, Alex and our parents) were on our way home from a lovely family vacation (which included the Shipp and Johnson branches) in Nags Head, North Carolina when, to my surprise, we pulled over on the side of the highway. Our engine was smoking and their were weird noises. We sat in the stifling heat for about twenty minutes hoping that if the engine cooled down we could get somewhere.

No such luck.

Of course, the next step was to start calling repair companies. Absolutely none of them were open. Keep in mind that this was a Saturday afternoon, not the middle of the night or something. But everything was closed. No need to go through all the extraneous details and decision making processes. The highlights are that we sat by the side of the highway for almost an hour, swatting ants off our feet while waiting for a tow truck and that Alex and I broke the law.

I will explain. Since the tow truck only had room for two actual passengers Alex and I sat in the back seats of our van which was being carried on the platform. We had to keep our heads down for the few miles till we reached our hotel and, though I felt like a fugitive, the whole experience of crouching in the back, ten feet off the road with the wind rushing through the open windows was strangely serene.

We got a room at the Hampton Inn (which gives out free cookies in the evening!) and were able to pass the evening at Applebees and watching the new X-Men movie at this tiny old theater that still uses a slide projector for the pre-movie adds. This morning I was treated to a lovely continental breakfast and have been bumming around in the hotel room for a few hours.

So, clearly this whole adventure was no tragedy for me.

But poor Alex had to miss an important meeting for work and is now in trouble with his boss. Add to that the fact that he starts his internship tomorrow, and there is a little bit of stress cooped up in this hotel room. The plan is to rent a car and drive home tonight and then this little adventure will be over--until someone has to come back to pick up the van that is!

Anyway, I just thought I would pontificate a little about the small town life to which I have been exposed. I have learned that southern accents rub off alarmingly fast (I find myself having to watch my vowels at gas stations) and that contrary to my West County upbringing, not all malls are created equal (or all  movie theaters). Anyway, the people here seem nice and it's definitely good for us to step outside our suburban bubble for a bit... I'll just be happy to my familiar Chesterfield Schnucks store in the morning!

In the end it's just three cheers for family bonding time, I suppose.




 (here is our hotel which thankfully is a short walking distance from civilization. Cars were such an inspired invention)