Or, the extra-long titled blog...
I shall start at the beginning, so as not to confuse people any more than they already will be... :P
Ever since I made plans to go to the Gatherings, my excitement had grown, especially in the last week before leaving. The thought of getting to go to the Gatherings, and visit friends while I was on vacation, lent me strength that I would not have otherwise had. The week before, the trip was all I could think about. I made arrangements to rent a car, so I could drive up to Chicago, then to Indianapolis, then Virginia, and finally Dallas. Everything was arranged and would go smoothly, I thought. When it was announced at work that there would be no work Friday, I thought everything had come together perfectly, since I wouldn't have to call in...
Then... Disaster... I went to the Avis location, gave my name, they pulled out the key and paperwork, then asked for my card. I pulled out my card and handed it to them. They said they couldn't take it, since it was a prepaid card. As I have no card for my savings account, and no regular credit card, this was a major issue. The rest of Friday was spent trying to rent a car. Various ways were tried, some at that location, and every other car rental place in Joplin...
Nothing worked. My hopes began to crash. I had looked forward to this trip so much, and it looked as though none of it was going to happen. I got depressed. I had been so excited about seeing everyone I'd planned to and getting away from Joplin. Saturday came and went and I had nothing figured out. I knew Chicago was out, but was there any way I could make the rest of my trip? I spent much of Saturday trying to find a viable option...
Saturday night, the beginnings of a plan came together. I was going to take a bus to Indy, Washington D.C, and Dallas! But, the ways I found were a bit expensive, so I searched for coupons. This was quite the task, as it turned out, but I finally did find some. With the coupons, the trip to Indy, Washington, and back to Joplin to prepare for the Dallas portion would cost less than the car rental...
Sunday afternoon I got on the bus and headed out of Joplin. This was my first ride on a bus that was not the school variety, by the way. We stopped a few places along the way, but those are fairly unimportant as far as this blog is concerned, so let's skip the bus ride portion...
Monday morning, around 3:20 AM, the bus pulled into the Indy Greyhound station. There I met Matthew. It was good finally being able to meet him. He took me to the hotel I stayed at. We talked, and exchanged souvenirs. The next day, after Matthew showed up, the car he was using wouldn't start for a bit. Eventually it started fine, which indicated it was likely a short... We went up to the Barnes & Noble that Ted Dekker was at, and I got Ted to sign a couple of books. After that, we went to get gas and were going to go see one of his friends that did glass blowing. At the gas station, the car wouldn't start again. This time it wouldn't start back up after a few minutes, so we had to push it to the side, and get a ride to Matthew's house. There, we watched part of Army of Darkness before I had to get to the bus station for my next destination. I had a great time in Indy...
Next stop, Washington D.C., where I met Courtney (and gave her a couple of graphic novels and her gift from Matthew), then rode with her and her dad to their house. There I met Amber and their brother Sean (and I gave Amber her gift from Matthew). We had pizza and also had ice cream cake from Coldstone (which I'd never had anything from before), then played some games.Later, we played Wii Sports, which I epically failed at. I blame the fact that I'd never played a Wii before... :p We also listened to some music, including the song that inspired The Grateful Dead's "Casey Jones". Amber stole Courtney's laptop and got into chat, followed by Courtney and myself getting into chat. The internet cut out, and then, we all went to sleep.
The next day, I woke up around the crack of noon. Amber had been awake for a while, but Courtney wasn't yet. There was more internet usage, followed by discussion of comics and comic movies, during which, Courtney and Sean joined us. Then, Amber went into the other room to play a warfare game, the name of which I can not recall. We watched her play and cracked jokes. Speaking of which, I don't want to go into a combat situation with her, because I'd prefer not to get shot. ;) Love you, Amber! After that, we watched "Everything is Illuminated", which was quite an interesting, and entertaining, movie. Then I played Wii Sports against Amber again, as well as some minigames on the Wii... I pwned on Billiards and... That's about it... :P Then, we sat down to eat a fantastic home cooked meal. Really, it was quite delicious. During dinner, we realised that there was a problem. I had to be at the bus station about midnight, but the train wasn't running to DC. After this realisation, Karah and her mom made it there. I gave Karah the signed copy of The Bride Collector I had gotten for her. The visit was all too short though, as the way for me to make my bus involved leaving soon. Amber and Courtney's dad was kind enough to drive me to the nearest Metro station, and from there I could make it to the bus station. So we had some more ice cream cake and talked for a bit. Then it was time to go.
I said my see you laters to Karah and her mom (goodbyes are too final and this won't be the last time I see them). On the ride to the bus station, Brandon had me call him, which I had been supposed to do before, but... I tend to be a bit absentminded... :P It was a good thing he had me call him then too, because it kept me from completely breaking down. There were some issues with hearing him on the speaker phone, but there were still plenty of laughs. We made it to the Metro and I said my see you laters to Courtney and Amber, and told their dad thank you for everything. Their whole family is pretty much awesome, by the way... Then it was a long, sad trip back to Joplin...
Part two, Gathering Insanity will be up soon...
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