Return to Chapel Hill Part 2: LEAVING CHAPEL HILL AGAIN

I think I'm finally satisfied with that title, even if it only vaguely makes sense.

In case you don't remember exactly what the first part of this story was about (or you didn't read it and don't want to waste all that time), here's a brief recap.

So I decided to go with Lutherans to Boone for a weekend retreat recently.  I annoyed the rest of the people in my particular vehicle (one out of like 5 or 6 cars going I think) by packing way too much and very slowly.  At this point in the story we've got into the car and I'm stuffed in the back seat, cramped behind and around my large, blocky guitar case.  For shout-out purposes, my fellow passengers were Katie (it was her car), Kendall, and Anna-Reid.

RETURN TO CHAPEL HILL PART 2 :
LEAVING CHAPEL HILL AGAIN!!! 
(I apologize, very little of the extremeness added to this title was necessary)

Uncomfortable or not, we were on our way, and the ride to Boone is just about 2.5-3 hours, so I was not too worried.  I bent my head and arms into a weird position and did a little homework, but then I gave up and started listening to music.  Then I realized I was dozing off and missing large chunks of songs, so I gave up on that too and went to sleep.

I woke up about an hour and 15 minutes later. (I needed the nap) We talked for a bit as we drove another 30 minutes or so before we stopped for dinner.  We got McDonalds, and got back on the road.  That's when I started to notice that things were not as perfect as they seemed.  I was still a little groggy, so the sight of the sign saying "I-85 S to Charlotte" as we drove under it  only gave me a vague feeling of uneasiness.  (If you are unaware of NC geography, go mapquest "Chapel Hill" "Charlotte" and "Boone")  (It's pretty bad)

We passed a sign saying "Charlotte: 20 mi",  and an uneasy quiet spread throughout the car.  A turn had been missed. (Notice the passive voice?  I think the whole "navigation" thing was supposed to be my job...)  No one said anything and we continued to drive.  I started to text people to verify that "yes, Charlotte is not on the way to Boone".

The next 20 minutes passed slowly, as we all realized that "yes, we are going the wrong way" and "no, the problem is not fixing itself", and "no, going back to sleep will not make it all better".  Then we turned off of the highway, and proceeded to spend another half hour without really making any progress as we tried to figure out what we were doing.  We called other Lutherans, attempting to downplay our situation so as to avoid embarrassment. (Which is a problem when you want them to give you directions) We also called Anna-Reid's mom. (Which was much more helpful; I don't think we were very concerned with saving face by that point (WE HAD NO IDEA WHERE WE WERE))  Through lots of phoned-in googlemaps help and some incredibly fortunate strokes of luck (weird term, "strokes"??), we eventually made it to a highway that was at least moving in the right direction, and began to prepare ourselves for a weekend of being "the car that went all the way to Charlotte".  On the plus side we only added an hour and a half to our trip!

As for Boone itself? It was cold. There was snow. I burnt my tongue on some coffee. We went hiking. It was cold.