we've made a huge mistake.
/I left off yesterday while we were driving towards NYC. Though optimistic about our endeavor as a whole, we knew we might hit a few stressful moments as we breached the city limits in the Campbulance. Not surprisingly, the traffic getting through the Holland Tunnel was bumper to bumper and put us behind our already delayed schedule. It was sitting in said traffic that we both began to question the soundness of our decision. In fact, our optimism was quickly turning to a sense of dread and realization that we might've made a huge mistake.
When we finally made it through the tunnel (Christian was still driving and I was navigating), we knew we had to find our way through Manhattan and across the Williamsburg Bridge to Brooklyn. The stress was mounting as we fumbled our way through turns and forks, hoping against hope that we'd make it the first try without having to backtrack or turn around. Thinking we were in the clear once on the bridge, I got out the camera to take a few photos and video just as there was a clear division in the road and two very different options ahead of us. We cut it close, but made it to the right lane before mistakenly heading towards the Bronx. Surprisingly, there was no yelling or cursing between us, but we did have a few of the more tense moments in our relationship during that stretch of driving.
We pulled up in front of his brother's apartment with a sigh of relief as we saw a giant spot right in front. I hopped out to play defense as Christian maneuvered it up beside the curb. Never has such a sigh of relief been so anticipated as that moment when the engine was shut off and the driving for the day was done. Initially, we'd plan to take Campbulance down to Park Slope so that my friends meeting us could see her, but it was obvious in that moment that we wouldn't be moving her from that spot.
We were greeted by Christian's brother with hugs and offers of hot showers for the both of us, which we gladly accepted on behalf of our three days of ripeness. Once we'd cleaned up and sufficiently recovered from our traumatic drive, we headed to the subway to go meet my friends and get dinner and beers.
I'm still taller.
As much as this is a road trip laid out with the intentions to see Christian's family, it's turned into one to see mine as well. He's met eight very good friends of mine ranging from high school through college and beyond. It's been so amazing to get to catch up and share our pasts with each other as we enjoy our first road trip in the Campbulance together.
The next morning, we escaped the clutches of the city with some more painfully slow traffic as I attempted a flawless execution of navigating us out of there. We faired pretty well and were meandering up I-95 by noon with Cape Cod as our destination and nerves intact.
- Chelsea