A funny thing happened in the Mebane community centre car park as I was transferring Mom to Meghann’s car so that they could head back to Fayetteville.
The phone signaled the arrival of a text message from a certain “Nobody from Nowhere” at Campbell University enquiring when Mom and I were going to be arriving back in Fayetteville and suggesting we might be able to meet up for dinner.
We’d already worked out an amazing plan where Mom and Meghann head home to Fayetteville and I’d meet up with Nicholas at RDU…and of course, there was no way in hell I was going to miss out on getting some quality Katie time if it were at all possible.
Fortunately, the message came at the perfect time and I was able to salvage the vast majority of the original plan where Mom and Meghann would head home as originally planned and I’d get rid of the hire car at RDU and then Nick and I would just head straight to Campbell to collect Katie and we’d end up at the Red Robin at Cross Creek Mall in Fayetteville.
I was rather surprised I’d managed to make it to RDU before Nicholas who I’d tipped off in what I’d thought would be plenty of time to get in a final petrol stop before returning the hire car. He met me in the cell phone lot where I tossed my luggage into the boot of the Traverse and then went round to return the car and take the coach to Terminal 1 where he’d come to collect me.
The check-in process was more than a little weird…OK, it was full-on bizarre. I’m used to having to wait for an attendant to come round with their little hand-held computer but the first guy tries to tell me to just head to the coach and they’d check it in at some point.
The problem with that idea is two-fold…not the least of which would be letting them know that I’d topped off the windscreen washer fluid level and that the display was suggesting changing the oil very soon and with only 3% of oil life remaining, I didn’t feel it’d be right just to drop the car and run for the hills. But I’ve also hired enough cars that I prefer to have someone walk round the car so that we can agree on the condition of the vehicle so I don’t have to worry about nasty surprises on my credit card later.
It took another ten minutes to finally get someone to do the check-in properly and then I was able to catch the coach immediately for Terminal 1 and Nick came round soon enough after.
I’ll admit that whilst I wasn’t that wild about the Ford Escape in the beginning, it certainly did grow on me after a while and it having a tushy warmer was definitely a god-send.
But it only took about a minute back in the pilot’s seat of the Traverse (and the tushy warmer being activated!) to appreciate just how much I’d missed my baby. The Escape was comfortable enough but the Traverse is a lot more so owing to it’s larger size.
I figured I’d give the newly opened section of the NC-540 toll road a try to get to Campbell faster and fortunately the exit for Old Stage Road in the eastbound direction was actually open (the westbound ramp isn’t quite done yet). Old Stage (through several four-way stop signs) brings you to within a mile or two of campus and whilst it’s not my preferred route when I’m doing a normal run to Campbell from Raleigh or Clayton…from the airport, it did feel a lot faster than trying to fight my way down US-401 to Lillington.
We made it to Campbell in about a hour and then half a hour later we were in Fayetteville at Red Robin. It was a wonderful (if a bit weird!) dinner experience where they’d closed off half the restaurant for some sort of party/event and we were seated in the bar with several tables and only one poor harried server to tend to us all.
It was after I’d dropped Katie off at her dorm at Campbell that I was really starting to feel the effects of all of the driving I’d done over the past few days.
This little side trip to Fayetteville via Campbell University and back added another 162.5 miles to the 1985.2 I’d already put on the clock during walkabout…and it was absolutely worth it.
I’ve rather missed having my favourite Camel in the world in a much more conveniently accessible location so any time I can have a bit of time with her even though she’ll probably take the mickey with me just as much as I’m trying to give her the old needle…I’m going to move heaven and earth to do just that.
It was pretty late at night when I’d finally bring the Traverse back into the garage which I’m sure she appreciated greatly considering that Nicholas had booted her out to the driveway to take advantage of me not being able to pull rank on him! 🙂
It didn’t take long to unload the luggage and then finally collapse in bed.
I can assure you that the dreams were of a wonderful adventure wandering round to the Midwest and back! 🙂