On Tuesday I got out of work at 3PM. I had a few last-minute things to do and buy – a bit of food shopping, pack the food in the coolers and get ice. By the time I was done it was getting close to rush hour so I decided to take a nap before leaving and let traffic die down. Up at 8:45PM, I took my shower, got dressed, did a last check of emails and was on the road around 9:40PM for the drive to Charlotte. This time I would be staying in Statesville instead of Gastonia, so I wasn’t totally sure of where I would be going, but still the same general route. And at least this time I wouldn’t be battling my way through a blizzard.
As planned, my first stop was at McDonalds in Erie, PA. I didn’t eat before departing, leaving this as a good time for a break and to get something to eat. After the break it was back on the road to get to I-79 south just a few minutes away. Having done Route 19 to I-77 through West Virginia on several occasions, I found it’s better to stay on I-79 even though it takes me a bit to the west to get to I-77. Route 19 can be a bit of a speed trap and you have to slow down going through all of the towns. At least on the interstate you can pretty much maintain your speed. On this trip I would learn that I DID NOT want to fill up the gas tank too much in West Virginia as gas prices were actually higher than at home in the New York State of Taxation. Although my night vision is bad I’ve found that I actually prefer to do most of the driving during long trips at night. I don’t seem to get as drowsy and don’t have to fight as much traffic either. This trip I was good to go with just two one-hours naps along the way.
I finally arrived in the Charlotte area around noon and while talking with Susan on my cell phone I debated whether I was going to make the trip to Food Lion in Concord for Elliott’s appearance. He was scheduled to do a signing there from 2:00 to 4:00PM. I had directions and this location was not too far away from Lowes Motor Speedway so I pretty much knew where I was going. I just wasn’t sure if, after driving all night, I wanted to drive past my hotel to go to the signing. I finally decided to drive the extra miles (turned out to be 50 miles each way from my hotel) and check things out at Food Lion.
When I got there, the line of people wasn’t extremely long so I decided to stick around for an hour or so to see Elliott. I chatted with the people around me, most of whom had never met Elliott before so they were quite anxious to meet him. I happened to overhear some of the conversation between some people just a bit behind me in line and asked where they were from. The lady said Buffalo-Niagara Falls and I said “No, where are you REALLY from?” She said they were from Tonawanda and when I asked “City or Town?” they knew I was from the same area – nobody from outside of the area would know to ask that question. I told them I’m from Niagara Falls and we all laughed – travel all that way from Western New York just to meet up with someone living just minutes from you. Around 1:45PM some girls came around and handed out wristbands for the autographs and I assumed that we would be limited to one or two items per person so I was trying to decide what to get signed. We noticed the #19 Dodge trailer come into the parking lot and shortly afterward there was the #19 car vroom vrooming through the parking lot. What a lovely sound and it was just a preview of what I’d be hearing all weekend. The line was moving pretty quickly even though I found out when I got up to the front that Elliott was pretty much signing as many things as you wanted. When it was my turn I had decided that I was going to get one of the pictures from TMS signed, along with the Doofus Skwad flag that I had printed out. I put the picture of Elliott at TMS on the table and asked “So. Have you learned how to play the guitar yet”? He replied adamantly, “No sweetie. I TOLD you I’m not playing it, I’ll break it!” I just laughed. Then I put the Doofus Skwad flag on the table. Elliott quietly snickered and said “Doofus Skwad?” I told him that was what we called our little group, the ones who gave him the guitar at TMS. He laughed quietly and signed the pink bunny. After Elliott signed the picture and flag, I got my picture taken with him and took pictures of some other people for them. I talked to Brett, wished him a happy belated birthday, and asked if he had watched the TMS video he took. He said he didn’t get it. I knew that I’d emailed it along with the pictures, but told him I’d send the link again when I got home. He wanted to know if he did okay and I said yes. Elliott asked me if I was going to be there all week. If I hadn’t been so tired I probably would have thought faster and replied, “Nah. I just drove 14 hours to see you here. Now I’m going back home.” As I walked away I noticed that there weren’t many people still in line so I decided to go back to the van and get the picture of my friend’s son and have Elliott sign it. It’s a picture of Shelby in his little league uniform sitting in a wheelchair (he blew out his knee motorcycle racing).
When I got back there were only a dozen or so people left in line and when I got back to the table Elliott told me, “Sweetie you didn’t have to get back in line. I would have signed everything for you.” I told him that this picture was in my van and I had to get it. He looked at the picture and said, “Boy that really sucks that he’s missing little league season.” I thanked Elliott and walked back to the van. I got in, started up the van and started to leave. As I was driving out I noticed that there were only a couple people in line so I parked the van again, got more of the TMS pictures out and walked back to the table. By the time I got there nobody was in line so I walked right up. Elliott was signing hero cards, looked up and waved me over. I gave him the rest of the TMS pictures to sign, thanked him again. This time when I got in the van I really did leave, to find my way to my hotel for a shower and some much needed rest before dinner. When I booked the hotel in Statesville I didn’t realize that it’s 50 miles from LMS. No problem though; it’s really not a bad drive.
I finally got to the hotel and got checked in. I decided the shower could wait, the nap couldn’t. I got my stuff into the room and crashed for a couple of hours. When I got up I took a shower and tried to figure out what I wanted to eat. I decided to go to the Crossroads Shopping Center as there is a WalMart there, along with several different restaurants. I did the requisite trip at WalMart, then stopped at KFC to get something for some takeout dinner. I ate my dinner back at the hotel, relaxed and watched TV for a while. Then it was off to bed to get some much needed rest for the upcoming weekend.
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