Work has kept me in the US for an additional 2 weeks. Luckily we got to work in the BOOMING town of Alpharetta... Unfortunately its just a midsized suburb of Atlanta. Here I was assuming we would get hot, sunny days and loads of humidity. Apparently global warming has drastically change the climate. It was one of the cooler July/August periods in the South and it has rained or threatened rain the entire time... Meanwhile London has had beautiful, warm sunshine... cruel, cruel fates...
So for a bit of a break while in GA for work, we (a co worker from London and I) decided (mainly me) to go down to Savannah for the weekend. I figured if it was nice out, we could go to the beach and if it wasn't so nice, Savannah has plenty of old stuff and bars to occupy the weekend. Plus I went there for a long weekend years ago and it was awesome. Granted that was for St. Paddy's day, but how different could it be? However Friday began inauspiciously... I thought the auguries that morning (an odd combination of biscuits and gravy and fried eggs that were shaped like South Carolina and Georgia) were a good sign. Little did I know what their true meaning was.
Friday morning, the main spreadsheet I have been working crashed... and corrupted. It turned 
into a barely decipherable version of what appeared to be Aramaic and Latin with a few bits of Japanese and some emoticons thrown in. However I was able salvage quite a bit of it so that little work was lost. Next thing I know... I locked myself out of my computer... Yes. Stupid huh? It had prompted me to update my password, so I did. But before you say it, no I didn't forget the password, I just got it wrong. I attempted to call our IT help desk, but given the time difference, they couldn't help, since they were gone for the weekend. Until I finally got it right... on Monday. Then it was off to Savannah. After looking at Google maps I figured it would be no problem. Highway 400 to I-85 to I-75 to 16 to Savannah. Note I didn't put a lot of emphasis on the 16 part... The journey is supposed to be about 270 miles and roughly 4 hours...
into a barely decipherable version of what appeared to be Aramaic and Latin with a few bits of Japanese and some emoticons thrown in. However I was able salvage quite a bit of it so that little work was lost. Next thing I know... I locked myself out of my computer... Yes. Stupid huh? It had prompted me to update my password, so I did. But before you say it, no I didn't forget the password, I just got it wrong. I attempted to call our IT help desk, but given the time difference, they couldn't help, since they were gone for the weekend. Until I finally got it right... on Monday. Then it was off to Savannah. After looking at Google maps I figured it would be no problem. Highway 400 to I-85 to I-75 to 16 to Savannah. Note I didn't put a lot of emphasis on the 16 part... The journey is supposed to be about 270 miles and roughly 4 hours...We set off and were going about our merry way. There was an accident (there always seems to 
be one) near Atlanta and we lost a bit of time (ETA - 5 hrs or roughly 10/1030pm). I had a strange feeling about my directions and called around a bit to make sure they were sound. My brother who used to live in Augusta, GA confirmed that it sounded right and yes I had to go towards Macon but by no means should I go near Augusta. Cool. Shortly there after I saw a sign for Highway 16. 
It looked like the sign to the left here, but with a big 16 on it. Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to the fact it should have been an Interstate (see sign to the right) and not a state highway...
be one) near Atlanta and we lost a bit of time (ETA - 5 hrs or roughly 10/1030pm). I had a strange feeling about my directions and called around a bit to make sure they were sound. My brother who used to live in Augusta, GA confirmed that it sounded right and yes I had to go towards Macon but by no means should I go near Augusta. Cool. Shortly there after I saw a sign for Highway 16. 
It looked like the sign to the left here, but with a big 16 on it. Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention to the fact it should have been an Interstate (see sign to the right) and not a state highway...And to give Emma (my London co worker credit) she did offer me a piece of paper to write the directions down on. Unfortunately I once again relied on my superior memory, awesome directional skills (I at least kept going east the whole time) and wonderful travel luck track record (.....). So we took off down 16 and started a country drive towards, well - Savannah - I thought. We went through several small towns, past countless churches and countryside. Finally I lost 16 and had to figure out where we were.
I stopped at local gas station, should have realised something was up when there were some guys drinking beers on the tailgate of a pickup in parking lot. Or the sketchy liquor store that was part of the gas station. Or the guy who looked like I interrupted his use of none pharmaceutical medicinal aides, who couldn't tell me anything more than I could see out the front door... So on to a CVS drug store and another gas station. Where no one could really tell me where to go either. So eventually we found Interstate 20, which actually heads east by northeast, up to Columbia, South Carolina.
We found ourselves passing through Augusta (I know, I wasn't supposed to go near there...) and finally getting off of 20 right after entering South Carolina. The whole time I was trying to talk to my brothers or friend Marc in Savannah to figure out 1) where I was and 2) how to get to Savannah. Now we stopped at another gas station and found a map. YES A MAP!! Novel idea right... We plotted a course, via country roads, to Savannah.
I was fairly comfortable now that we had a good plan to get there. You could feel a bit of tension in the car, but with a documented plan in place (the map was a donation by a sympathetic man in the gas station) things looked better. Off into the dark (it was night now - probably close to 9ish) and down the two lanes roads we set. Somewhere in the reserve that is the Savannah River Site, things got interesting.
Down a dark, windy little road, suddenly I let out a hushed curse and the car ran over a bump. My passenger asked me what it was and my reply was are you sure you want to know. To my surprise the response was "Was it a person?"... Seriously? 
No, just an innocent armadillo who shouldn't have been playing in the road. I think it was an armadillo (guess it could have been a possum but my first reaction was definitely armadillo, it definitely got to know the front and underside of the Focus.
That woke me up a bit. Unfortunately for God's little creatures, he wasn't the only one to get up close and personal with the Focus. We finally made it down to Savannah, could even see the lights in the distance. As the Bridge came into sight, so did another nocturnal travel. A gator. Thats right, approximately 4 feet long he was walking across the road. I swerved and maybe just clipped his tail. But I am pretty sure that the cars coming the other direction might have given him a bit of a head ache.
No, just an innocent armadillo who shouldn't have been playing in the road. I think it was an armadillo (guess it could have been a possum but my first reaction was definitely armadillo, it definitely got to know the front and underside of the Focus.
That woke me up a bit. Unfortunately for God's little creatures, he wasn't the only one to get up close and personal with the Focus. We finally made it down to Savannah, could even see the lights in the distance. As the Bridge came into sight, so did another nocturnal travel. A gator. Thats right, approximately 4 feet long he was walking across the road. I swerved and maybe just clipped his tail. But I am pretty sure that the cars coming the other direction might have given him a bit of a head ache.
So after 7 hours and about 340 mile (not quite the 4 hrs and 270 miles) We made it into Savannah and checked into the hotel. Actual trip to the left...Bright Red Focus 2 - Mother Nature 0
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