Chapter 2 Elyse #2
"Keep driving," he urged. "Get to the kennel as soon as you can and hopefully they will still be there. We will figure it out. I'll keep calling the kennel to see if they can stay open a few more minutes. How far away are you?"
After a quick calculation, I answered, "At least thirty minutes. Provided I don't miss the exit again!"
"Well then, let's hope your sign-reading abilities have improved in the last twenty minutes. I'll see you there!"
We said goodbye and hung up, and I was momentarily relieved that he was being so cool about all the monkey wrenches I'd thrown into our plans so far today.
Confident that the worst was now behind us and praying fervently for the kennel to still be open when I finally get there, I refocused on the road ahead and found my way to the exit that had evaded me twice.
Twenty-five minutes later, I pulled up in front of the boarding facility. There were no lights on inside.
Not relishing the thought of making yet another bad-news call, I hopped out of the car, opened the back passenger door, wrestled the leash onto Webster, and led him to a grassy area adjacent to the parking lot to kill some time while I waited for Drew to arrive.
He's a pretty smart guy. I figured he'll be able to put two and two together when he pulls up and I could avoid having to actually say it out loud.
As soon as I saw his headlights drawing closer, my heart felt like a rock slamming itself against my rib cage.
This whole day had gone for the rails and I had been seated firmly in the conductor's seat the entire time.
I had no idea how he was going to react and if my past was any indication of what was coming my way, I was about to get an earful.
Instead, as soon as Drew had parked and gotten out of the rental car, I got an unexpected (however, much appreciated) hug.
"Ok, what's the plan now?" He asked pensively, the red "V" that pops up on his forehead when he's stressed now proudly on display.
I'd given this some thought while I waited for Webster to investigate every foreign smell he could detect throughout the empty parking lot and surrounding areas.
My mom lived fifteen minutes away from where we were standing, and she was set up to take an extra dog overnight.
I explained my plan to Drew who agreed it was our only logical option at this point and made the phone call.
"Mom, we were supposed to leave for New Orleans at six, but I missed the exit to get to the kennel twice and they're closed.
We can't drive him back to Tampa and the kennel is our only option right now.
Is there any way you could take Webster for tonight and bring him to the kennel tomorrow? Please please please?"
It doesn't take long for her to reply because she is, at this point, blissfully unaware of what a complete knucklehead this dog is.
"Of course! Where are you? I can have a kennel ready for him when you get here! Just let me know where he needs to go tomorrow morning and we will make it happen."
This was the first break in my day from Hell.
I told her how close we were to her house and told her we'd see her in fifteen minutes.
Drew made quick work of transferring my bags and his completely stressed out dog to the rental car and we made our way to my mom's house.
After some initial rigamarole getting Webster into a kennel, we wrote out the address for the kennel and some basic instructions for his care (don't let him out of the kennel until you have the leash on him, don't let him see your feet or he will bite them.
.. just basic stuff), we hugged my mom, thanked her profusely, and climbed back into the rental.
It was nine p.m.
Despite both of us being positively exhausted at this point, we decided to get on the road and start making our way South.
We drove through a drive thru for a quick bite to eat and hopped onto the nearest highway, excited to finally be on our way, albeit a little later than we'd expected.
Once we'd settled in, we shared a laugh about the events of the day.
What else could we do but laugh at that point?
In retrospect, laughter was probably the best course of action as the crazy train was just pulling into the station.
We had no idea what was still ahead for us.
Conversation flowed easily between us, exchanging funny stories, talking about our kids, trading off choosing songs for our journey, and Drew drove through the night.
When he became too tired to pay attention to the road, we pulled off at a rest stop, ran inside to use the restroom, and once we were both back in the car, put our seats back and took a little cat nap.
We were awakened by the sun and the sound of a car door closing nearby and after a return trip to the restrooms, we were ready to continue our journey.
Drew began fiddling with his phone while we were in the drive thru picking up breakfast. I swear, some day he's going to need to have that thing surgically removed from his hand.
"I'm going to put the hotel into the nav so we can see how much longer we've got until we get there. Where are we staying? Is it near Bourbon Street?"
I reached down to pull the printed confirmation email out of my backpack and pictured us hopping in our car every night and exploring NOLA.
I'd chosen a hotel fifteen minutes away from the downtown area because we were both on a budget and I'd found a hotel in Greta that was within our price range.
I'd figured it wouldn't be a big deal to drive a little bit there and back.
Clearly, I'd forgotten about the fishbowls of cheap malt liquor we'd be sporting all weekend, but we could just figure out how to get back to the hotel later.
And how to get back to our car the next day.
Maybe this hotel wasn't such a bargain after all, now that I'm thinking about the logistics. No matter. We'll figure it out.
"It's in Greta about fifteen minutes outside of downtown NOLA. It was cheap and it's a hotel you've mentioned staying at for work."
I gave him the address and after entering it into his phone and seeing we were just a few short hours away, we settled in for more conversation and music.
The miles and the scenery flew by, and before we knew it, we were approaching Greta.
My stomach clenched with anticipation when I finally saw the hotel's sign just ahead and I turned to share my excitement with Drew.
We'd finally made it! We were in (near) NOLA! We'd done it!
"We're here!" I exclaimed, not bothering to temper my excitement.
"Yes we are! But, where exactly IS 'here'?" He replied as he pulled into a parking spot near the lobby, his excitement not quite as evident as mine.
Not entirely sure why his reply was so pensive, I took a moment to look at our surroundings.
Ok, so the hotel is a little dingy. The cars in the parking lot are probably a little older and rustier than the ones we drive, but who were we to judge? This place was a bargain!
"I'm pretty sure that's a hooker in the parking lot," Drew announced.
"Where???" I strained my neck in all directions trying to see who he's referring to, but I hadn't needed to be so flexible... she was walking toward our car.
"Right next to us. In the blonde wig."
I wasn't about to start judging this place on a few rusty cars or the chosen profession of its inhabitants, (nor was I going to admit that I'd most likely screwed up yet again) so I pasted a smile on my face, opened my door, and swung my feet out onto the uneven pavement.
"Let's just go check it out before we make any judgments. It's not going to be the Taj Mahal for one hundred and nine dollars a night. Maybe it won't be that bad." I urged, hoping some of my positivity will color the now-alarming picture that is forming before my eyes.
As we walked into the front door of the lobby, my confidence didn't grow.
We decided to take a look at the room before we gave them any payment information.
We asked the surly-looking lady at the front desk if we could take a look at the room, and although she rolled her eyes, she didn't seem all that surprised.
She gave us directions on how to get to the room we were supposed to have and we were on our way.
The room was near the mostly green pool and after taking a very brief look inside, we decided to leave.
We let the clerk at the front desk know that we were going to stay a little closer to Bourbon Street and we beat feet out of there.
After a brief search, we were able to find a hotel right off of Bourbon Street for only twenty dollars more than the one we had just left.
Within thirty minutes we were registered, unpacked, and on our way to Bourbon Street.
The rest of our trip was relatively uneventful (for New Orleans), but the journey to get there had taught us some very valuable lessons.
The first, that we traveled very well together and the second (and most important), when things got tough, we didn't turn on each other.
It was us against the problem instead of us against each other because there was a problem.
Years later, we still thought back on that trip as one of our favorites.
Not because of where we stayed or where we were necessarily, but because we were there together, and we had to overcome one obstacle after another while remaining teammates.
We both laughed more than we had in a very long time and found that we had more in common than we had even remembered.