MJ's Great Adventure

Dear Friends,

Well my friends I did it I moved. I'm now living in IL. Had been living in New Jersey since I was 15 years old. Loaded up a truck, (still can't believe I did that) and drove myself to Rantoul, IL. I was not with out fear and it was one heck of a challenge. Had a bit of trouble before I left; when I went to pick up the truck to load it, it wouldn't start it had to be jump-started. Funny! Another thing the person in the office asked if I had left the lights on. (Ha ha ha) I had never seen the truck before that day and she needed to blame someone so why not me. Well got it started took it home loaded it up looked around my Apt. and decided "why not just leave" seeing how I had no place to sleep and tried to lay down for a little nap but when that didn't work I said ok that’s it I'm going to go. Hey, guess what! That darn truck wouldn't start again, had to call the Ryder Co again but this time I was told, “as soon as we find someone we will call you back and give you an estimated time of arrival.” Oh boy your kidding I wanted to leave...well it is the night before a holiday and it will be hard to find someone...I had another silly question...will I get some kind of credit for not being able to leave when I want to?

“Well Ma‘am I can't answer that.” Ok then I won't think about it. Well some one came think it was about midnight now what do I go or do I wait ‘til morning? No can't, got up the guts now so I had better start now or I may chicken out. I tell the guy after he started it to just leave it running, go back lock up the Apt. and leave. Now the trip started out real well, went through a little part of Jersey, through PA. through Ohio, I was on the Ohio Turnpike for some time didn't think it would ever end but yep it did. That’s when my fun started, came through Indiana and stopped at a tollbooth paid the toll. At that point I wanted to stop so asked if there was a motel close by because didn't want to stray to far from where I had to go. He said yes go up to that light make a left turn and its 3 miles down the road. Well there was nothing there so decided to go back and continue driving, only I lost track of which way to go. There was another toll that I had to go through but because I thought it was the one I had just got off, I kept turning around trying to figure out where to go from there. Well finally asked and was told it was a different one and yes I had to take it. Well back on the right road again (no don't ask which one but I remember that I must have seen something that was familiar or right, so I drove and drove and drove. Funny how you never see signs to where your going for miles and MJ has trouble always if she’s not sure if she is doing it right or not. I never did have a good sense of direction; and I have a feeling I never will. Well lets see to cut this short, I will tell you how my trip ended and how I was effected when I was convinced I was on the wrong road and wouldn't accept the fact that I was going in the right direction. When I finally got on the right 80/90 route and again no signs were telling me I was right. I asked and I was told that the toll I just went through would lead me to Memphis my heart sank and I said, “No I'm going towards Rantoul.” They said, “Where?” So I took the name of another town that sounded more familiar and she came back and said, “Yes you’re ok; you take this road it was 57 south which did ring a bell so I thought I was ok. That is until a very big sign that said 57 South Memphis. That’s when I panicked for the first time since I had left NJ real fear set in because I really believed I was headed in the wrong direction. With tears in my eyes and an overwhelming fear of getting lost I pulled over and in front of an exit, and I called 911 for the second time in my life. I think there was only one other time I called 911. At this point I was crying, carrying on like I was at the end of the world or something. I kept saying I was lost and scared and didn’t know where I was and afraid to move for fear of going to Memphis. I was asked what made me think I was going to Memphis. I said, “Because that’s what the sign says.” It took him a while to calm me, and then said he was going to help me but that I had to calm down and talk to him. He then said he was going to call someone from Rantoul and he would help me and get me to where I wanted to be. I was refusing to move. You know I’ve been scared before but never anything like this…I was finally convinced these guys knew what they were talking about. So I started down the road again but not before he told me that I had to go from exit 342B to 250 in order to get to Rantoul. Oh my! 92 miles with that I looked at the gas gage and it was reading about a quarter of a tank, up until this problem I had not been letting it get below half a tank. You know I can’t believe I did all the driving I did on next to no sleep because my fear of being lost was only one of the problems I faced. I let the fear of the truck not starting again if I stopped so I stopped only for gas and then stopped at some rest areas and slept for maybe a half hour then moved on.

So no sleep, driving pretty steady, fear of stopping, eyes half shut but couldn’t sleep even when I tried. Think I’m lost, but I’m not; finally see some lights and a gas station pull off. I saw a motel next door to the place that I got gas so asked if they were reasonable rates there.

She asked why I would want to stop when I was so close, of course I didn’t know what she meant, that’s when she told me I was only 11 miles away so why waste money on a room now? So made a phone call, asked how to get back on the right track and left, but wouldn’t ya know it I couldn’t find the route she just told me about. I went around the same area before stopping and asking one last time. I was on the right track, but luckily Jim found me and I followed him the rest of the way right into his driveway So My friends 825 miles and I think somewhere between 15 and 20 hours I made it!

My First words to Jim were, “My God am I really here?” Then I said to him, “If that truck blows up during the night I won’t care.” We returned the truck Sat. Nov. 25^th but did have one more happening after we dropped it off. Saturday evening I looked for my pouch and couldn’t find it searched all over so believing I left it in the truck I called the place I left the truck at. Of course no answer so I left a message; but then thought if any one finds it all my personal things like my license, a few credit cards, etc. are in it. So I called the police once again had them check it out but they called back and said the owner refused to go to check and that I would have to wait ‘until Monday well I was mad but had no choice. In the meantime the owner did call me and he did check out the truck and it wasn't in there. After making myself sick yet again, Jim found it hanging on his kitchen chair with his jacket hanging over it. So there you have my trip to Rantoul. Will I ever take a trip like this again? Hmmmm interesting thought comes to my mind and it may not be nice to repeat. Giggle! Giggle! You all have a nice Christmas and I look forward to hearing from you.

Love You Mary Jane

I can't believe I'm standing here, and I finally made it here...

Song Title

"On The Road Again"