Travel Day!

So today was our easy drive from Atlanta, Georgia to Columbus, Ohio. Just a simple drive up I-75 that should take about 9-10 hours or so...easy right?!

Ha! Not for Team 3!

We had actually made it all the way to Cincinnati, Ohio without getting lost or having any major complications before we received a call from our Tournament Director with some bad news. Apparently there were some really bad storms that came through the Columbus area last night and now the majority of the area does not have power – and they may not for a couple of days. Due to this, our hotel was without power and we were not going to be able to stay there tonight. We were going to have to find another hotel somewhere between Cincinnati and Columbus to stay for the night. So that we didn’t have to backtrack, we decided to hang out in Cincinnati for awhile until we knew the plans for the evening. Also, when we were driving through Cincinnati we were able to enjoy a beautiful skyline and see the Bengals and Reds stadiums along with a bunch of the arenas downtown and Xavier University! I just wish we had time to explore all of this stuff!!

We mixed up the cars during our ride today and the 3 boys and SydMack were in the lead truck/trailer while the other 4 girls were in the second truck. Our truck called the boys to let them know the change in plans and asked that they find an exit where there was a WalMart, Target, or other store that we could just hang out in for awhile. After the boys had passed what felt like a bazillion exits, we called them back and asked what they were doing. We were SOOOOO IMPRESSED to find out that they had looked up a local mall and found directions so that we could all visit the stores that we wanted….what a considerate group of men!

We spent a couple of hours wandering Barnes & Noble, Dick’s, and other random stores until our TD called us to let us know that he was having no luck in Columbus. We started helping to call hotels and quickly found out (7 times over) that there were no vacancies. It ended up that we were able to find 5 rooms just south of Cincinnati (just over the border in Kentucky) and we spent the rest of the evening shopping, eating dinner, and just hanging out around town. I can now say that I have been to Forever 21, Cheesecake Factory, and a bunch of other stores/restaurants I have never actually been in!

We finally got to our hotel about 10 tonight and have just been getting organized/repacked so that we are ready to fly tomorrow! I didn’t realize how many items had accumulated in my backpack that can’t go on a plane! My group (Camille, Kyle and I) are leaving Columbus at 1 pm and heading to Detroit, where we will have about an hour layover before we head to Traverse City. We are actually really excited for the first leg of the trip as we are flying to Detroit with Jake and Sydney….it will be great to set out on our adventure with two other team members!! J With that, I am headed to bed…we have a long day of airports/flying tomorrow – starting at 6:15 am when we leave the hotel. Night all!