This morning Katie called. She had lots to do and wondered if I wanted to take a vacation day with her. I, who had less to do, nevertheless exuberantly agreed. Into the car we jumped and zoomed away.
We had a fabulous day at the mall (where I used my leftover vacation money to buy my favorite perfume! mmmmmm!) and (mostly) in Portsmouth! I'd never really been there to visit, and we had such a good time being touristy. It is a BEAUTIFUL town - awesome buildings, and lovely light (at least today it was). And on the way home we were able to stop for dinner with Linds which was a blast (everyone needs to see how awesome she is as a biker!).
But the bloggerific adventures came with the toll booth. Booths.
I have moved more and more away from cash, and so, apparently, has Katie. Consequently, as we approached the toll on the way to Portsmouth, we were both scrambling. Fortunately, we discovered the toll was only 75 cents, and I had that on me.
On the way HOME from Portsmouth, however, we were shocked to see the toll was TWO DOLLARS! I definitely had 75 more cents, but two dollars?! Yikes. I emptied out every last penny from my wallet, and went diving amongst the sundry inhabitants of the ash tray, while Katie dived into her wallet to sort out yen, shekelim, and dimes. (We knew there was one dime there because we had flipped it to see whether we should go to Gloucester or Portsmouth... and since that worked so well went on to decide other major life choices like whether Katie should convert to Catholicism.) We managed to scrape together two dollars, and handed the toll booth attendant a handful of change.
She looked old enough that she wouldn't get my humor, and grumpy enough that she wouldn't get anyone's, or I would have briefly alluded to the mayhem that had so recently ended. As it was I gave a cheery "thank you!" (which is weird, actually - why would I thank someone for taking my hard-sought-after money from me?) and drove off, careening wildly through traffic to get to my side of the road...
...where I was shortly greeted with a "Welcome to Massachusetts" sign. WHA....???? Oy vay. I had been so engrossed in our conversation about how awesome the skirts are that we bought at a lovely second hand shop in Portsmouth, that I had totally missed the sign for 101.
Gulp. I cleverly avoided getting detoured onto 495, and managed a turn-around. And LO... we had to go through ANOTHER toll! I was sure that if you went through a toll, after which you were supposed to take an exit, that upon turning around you would hit the exit before the toll. But no. Those Eastern New Hampshirites are tricky! And so we, with out wallets empty of pennies, let alone quarters, were forced to take the "last exit before toll" in order to go to an ATM to get money for the toll booth.
Oh the ignominy.
Especially considering there was a $2 fee for using the ATM.
Back onto the highway we got, and found the exit for 101... right BEFORE the toll booth! "A lying sign!" I shrieked. But no, I should never underestimate the Eastern New Hampshirites. There was a toll at the end of the exit. Phew. The ATM venture had not been in vain.
And before I get 47 comments telling me I should keep more money in my ash tray, I will say that I had more in there, but Kimberly was going to bike to the lake to go swimming, and I, in my best Kendra-esque fashion (hee hee j slash k Kendra!) figured she would probably drown if she went swimming alone, so I decided to drive down and sit on the shore ready to plunge in with my great life-saving skills, but I passed her at the golf course (I imagined the worst earlier than Kendra), and realized I'd have a long time to wait at the lake, and decided to go to the General Store and get a drink because I was really thirsty and it was hot, but I didn't have my wallet in the car since I was just driving to the lake, so I checked the ash tray and found money and used that, as well as the shoes I found in my back seat. So that's why I didn't have toll money.
I found out later that the toll is only 75 cents if you don't miss your exit and go to MA, so that was some consolation at least. I guess. Maybe.
Sigh.
7 comments:
I should make all life decisions by flipping a coin. Its so diverting!
Well, you're officially more clever than I was back in 2006. :) And it's a good thing, too, or you'd have to write about how you were screaming and crying. :)
Oh Aaron, I remember that fateful journey! Why aren't the signs WE need lit up in NEON or something?!
You traded shoes for a drink at Carr's Store?
: )
Delightful post! Delightful day! And as so often seems to be the case, the parts that made for less-than-delightful moments to experience made for perfect moments to blog about!
Oh bother trying to be so clever -- I mean General Store, of curse, not Carr's.
(Did she mean "course"? No I didn't)
Did you know that sometimes they let you write checks at toll booths? At least they do in Chicago...
I had no idea! I'll have to try that next time as an alternative to the ATM! :)
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