Now that we’re on the cusp of our next trip, it behooves me to finally write a little about our December trip to Atlanta and Virginia Beach. This is procrastination to the nth degree. I can’t count the number of times I’ve thought about doing this (both during the holiday season and after we returned home) but it just never got done.
We drove down to Atlanta to celebrate an early Christmas with our grandchildren (and son and daughter-in-law) before their family trip to Newfoundland. Stacy flew in for the weekend so we had all four of us together for the first Christmas in several years. Even without snow, it was wonderful. Of course, it was also much too brief but, such is life with adult offspring.
Since we weren’t going to Newfoundland this year, we had decided to spend Christmas and New Year’s with Doreen’s sister (and brother-in-law) in Virginia Beach. It’s usually a very simple day’s drive from Atlanta to Virginia Beach but that last Friday before the festive season had an inordinate amount of traffic. There were several slow-down areas and we were running late when we finally got off the Interstate in Virginia. Combine that with the short days of winter and we were driving at a bad time of day.
About an hour outside Virginia Beach, our luck ran out and we had a close encounter with one of Bambi’s (or Rudolph’s) relatives. We were luckier than the deer. Though the car sustained significant damage to the front end, it was driveable--the air bags didn’t even go off and the lights and engine were still working. After filling out the police report, we limped on into Virginia Beach. The car looked even worse the next morning sitting forlornly in Bonnie’s driveway.
Of course, it was a great time to go looking for a body shop with Christmas Day just around the corner. We also had to negotiate the international hurdles of an insurance company in Canada authorizing repairs in the United States. As it turned out, when I finally got into a repair facility on Boxing Day, they wouldn’t be able to do the work unless we stayed in Virginia Beach for an extra week or so. So they did the next best thing–taped the car together with clear duct tape so that we could drive back to Canada after the New Year. Sometimes it helps to be in NASCAR country.
We took our time on the trip back home, kept the speed under 100 k/h and overnighted in Pennsylvania. No problems. The guy at the border didn’t even blink at a car held together with duct tape. The same couldn’t be said for the guy at the repair facility in Burlington. He took one look at the car and declared it undriveable. He said he’d have to call the insurance company right away and couldn’t let me drive away in it. The drive from Virginia didn’t sway him at all so I left there in a rental.
Now we’re back to normal. We still have to find time to trade up to a new vehicle but that will wait until we get back from Asia. With the way winter has been dragging on here in Ontario, I’m ready for a break. Hard to believe that it’s less than two months since we were in snow-less country. I know time seems to fly as we get older but time must also creep slowly when the temperature is below freezing. Don’t even think about wind-chill.
