It could, on reflection, have been worse...

So, some back story.

Alise had a conference in DC, today (Monday) and Tomorrow. Because I've never been to DC before, and because I had the opportunity to take a couple of days off work; we decided that I would come along for the ride, we'd spend Sunday sightseeing, and then I'd chill out and relax in the hotel and see some sights for myself while Alise worked.

We thought about flying, but the flights were either really expensive or would take over 6 hours. Seeing as it's only a 7 hour drive from Boston to DC, we decided we may as well just drive. What's the worst that could happen, right?

We set off early, thinking that we'd get to DC at around 3pm, be able to check into our hotel and maybe take a little nap in luxurious comfort, and then take an evening stroll around the nations capital. Sounds delightful, doesn't it?

We were making pretty good time. We had passed through New York city without too much trouble and we were approximately 100 miles from our destination.

We then hit trouble.

Suddenly, a plume of white smoke shot from the back of the car. I went from being able to drive at 75mph, to struggling to reach 40mph. Looking back we could see the cars behind us as the emerged from the fog that we were creating. We weren't in good shape.

We pulled onto the breakdown lane, and quickly got out of the car and hopped the crash barrier. Alise got on the phone with AAA. We had no idea really where we were, but Alise was able, pretty quickly, to let the operator know where to send someone.

When our tow arrived, we got the car hitched up and got into his cab. His name was 'Country', and it was obvious why. I honestly felt like we'd gone back in time and were in 1970's Alabama, or somewhere.

'Country' towed us to a Midas Muffler, which thankfully was open on a Saturday afternoon. They diagnosed that the problem was with the turbo, which typically enough is one of the most expensive parts that can go on a Saab. Awesome. They wouldn't be able to fix the car then, so we were stuck in Delaware. In a town with apparently nothing.

Cutting a long story slightly shorter, we settled on taxing a taxi to the nearest train station and taking the train to DC. I called Amtrak, and they told me that the ONLY train on a Saturday that stopped in this town on its way to DC arrived at 8pm. It was 4:30pm. Nevermind, we thought; we'd wait at the station. Sit for a while. Possible have a delightful sandwich or pastry.

The cab driver (another wierdo, we encountered a few) dropped us off at the train station and sped away. We stood to survey our surroundings, and realised that we were going to spend the next 3 hours of our lives at what was basically a platform. There was a building but all of the doors were shut fast. We had our belongings (why I insisted on bringing my heavy gear I'll never know) and we were trapped on a platform, waiting for 3 hours for the train.

The long and the short of it is that we survived this ordeal, and got onto the train bound for DC. The hour and a half ride seemed over in minutes, comfortable seats and safety certainly helped. We got to Union station, hailed a taxi, and checked into the hotel at around 10pm.

All in all, it really could have been worse. It was though a pretty depressing ordeal, and we often swore and cried.

You know what though? I have to tell you. Alise is pregnant and we've both been trying to save money for the baby. This ordeal should probably have sent her over the edge. She was wonderful throughout though, and pretty much always had a smile on her face and dealt with thigs way better than I did.

She's pretty special, you know.