All By Myself

Alexa and I drove from the Charlotte area up to my brother and sister in law's house up near Philadelphia this week.  I was a little nervous because . . . this is going to sound dumb, but that was the longest trip I'd driven without another adult.  If I got tired, I had no one to hand the driving over to.  I had to stay awake and alert for what turned out to be 9+ hours.  That's not a big deal except . . . I fall asleep all the time in the car!  Sometimes- I'll take 2 naps in the car! 

I wasn't worried about driving in the infamous Washington DC traffic. I wasn't worried about paying tolls (although- I should have been- I forgot I was going to need cash for them! Thankfully I remembered before I got to one). I was worried I would get drowsy. 

So I made a plan. I had plenty of snacking foods and drinks (although- not too many because even though I LOVED being able to stop and go to the bathroom whenever I wanted- as opposed to when Doug drives and it takes an act of Congress and a true emergency to stop for the bathroom- and sometimes tears, I didn't want to stop all the time!).  I stacked my food and drinks around Alexa and her job was to keep me fed and awake.  She did a great job.  She's a good little car buddy.

There was only one "small" hiccup.  But first, you should know- I'm completely, irrationally afraid of 4 things in the world: birds, heights, bridges, and the boogeyman.  I had to deal with 2 of those things- all. by. myself.  ALL.  BY. MYSELF!!!!! 

I had to drive over a bridge, that according to this Inside Edition segment- may be the scariest bridge in America.   Let me assure you.  It's pretty freaking scary.  My navigation navigated me off 95 and around DC traffic.  All along Hwy 301 there were indications that something scary was coming, but I figured- it's a major thoroughfare, how bad can it really be? I mean- I drive over the Arthur J Ravenel Bridge in Charleston.  I've even run over it a couple of times when I did the Cooper River 10K.  How scary can it be?!  Except there were these signs like, "Bridge in 10 miles."  "Bridge in 5 miles"  And there were toll signs.  I should have seen those for what they were: warnings for the gates to hell.  HELL!!!!  When I got to the toll, and looked ahead and saw the bridge . . . I almost drove straight through the toll I was so shocked.  I almost started cursing- as though I were possessed.  I was going to have to drive that.  Me.  Me that is afraid of heights and bridges.  WHAT THE WHAT?!!!!

I was totally trapped though.  There was literally nothing I could do except go forward.  I told Alexa- cover your ears and there's no talking.  NONE.  I turned my air conditioning up- because I was sweating profusely.  PROFUSELY.  Another thing to be scared of, I'm on the scariest bridge known to man and my hands are sweating to the point of possibly dripping.  I turned the music down.  Then I turned it up- to drown out my fear.  I cursed- and then I talked to myself for the 4.3 mile length of the bridge.  I don't even know what I said, it was a mix of praying and cheerleading.  

The following pictures are from the YouTube clip I linked above.  I did NOT take these pictures.  My hands were at located at 10 and 2 on my steering wheel, and I white knuckled my way over that beast.  

Please look at the narrow shoulder.  I drew an arrow to draw your attention to it.  Y'all- I drove over that.  I didn't cry.  Puke. Or pee my pants.  I drove it- with only one curse word.  

In the Inside Edition segment- it shows people who pay someone to drive over the bridge.  The dude charges $25 to drive people over the bridge.  If I had known that was an option, it would have been a serious consideration.  SERIOUS.  In the news segment- the "ferry driver" had driven over the bridge 19 times- that day!!!!!!!!!!  He's making bank on this!  That's almost $500 in one day- driving 4.30 miles. Go dude!!!!  

My brother and sister in law were like- how far would you be willing to go out of your way on the way home- to avoid that bridge?  I was willing to drive almost an hour out of my way to avoid it.  Thankfully I didn't have to make that decision- as I left super early Saturday morning, so traffic on 95 wasn't terrible, and I didn't have to drive over any scary bridges.  I dove under the Chesapeake Bay and I will EVERY TIME in the future.