Well, this trip has been one for the books so far!

I am writing this from the lobby of the Hunt Valley Inn. We made it here OK. Got right on the road and on schedule almost perfectly. Spent the night at South of the Border in North Carolina. Was pleasantly surprised by the size and condition of the room. OK, so it was slightly cheesy, but right in line for what you were paying.

Up and out after a rousing 5 hours sleep. It does break up the trip perfectly though. The stop over allows everyone to actually close their eyes and completely shut down; something some of our travelers have a hard time doing in a moving vehicle.

A greasy spoon breakfast and back on the road.

The first kink to our trip was the air conditioning dying out about 3 hours into the ride. Luckily, we were headed north and in the dark so it wasn't too bad. Although, we did buy some Febreeze to get ride of "the funk" of 5 sweating people. Jokes abounded about the van and its condition. Just as we were pulling in to the hotel comparisons were made to the Bluesmobile pulling up to Chicago City Hall. You know; they get out of the car and it falls apart.

Guess what happened!

The reason the a/c went was because the clutch on the unit seized up. As we're driving along the highway we are breathing in the delicious odors of burning ball bearings......and melting rubber. Yes....do the math....the serpentine belt let go. This was discovered when we got in the car after checking in and headed out to dinner. As I type I am waiting for AAA to take the van away to be fixed. Jim and Kenny used their "Badge Americard" and got a name of a local garage who should not rip us off being out of towners. Never a dull moment!

After the van leaves we are headed into DC for our tourist part of the trip. I have gotten offers of help from everyone else in the group to help with the repairs. Looks as if I'll be working some more overtime when I get home!

Other than that things have been going pretty well. We were very fortunate that the breakdown waited until we were at our destination instead of in the middle of the beltway at 6pm!!!

Always look on the bright side of life!