The First Road Trip

I've always been a fan of long pointless day trips.  Driving four to five hours for lunch or an early dinner is something that I commonly do, likewise it's not unheard of for me to drive 12 hours, have a rest, and drive 12 hours back to waste away an entire weekend.  On Christmas Day I was left completely alone.  The fiancee was working, my parents were on a long trip, and my sister was with her husbands family.  That left me stuck in DC with nothing to do, and no friends or family around.  So what's a boy to do when that happens?  Why of course, call your geographically closest Jewish friend. 

It just so happens that this friend lives in Delaware, but whatever,  there was a Deli in New Jersey calling my name.

We planned on meeting up at about 1 in the afternoon.  While I was driving he would call around and find a deli.  The whole trip up the thought of hot pastrami on rye had my mouth watering. 

The drive flew by.  Around the Beltway, north on I-95 through the Baltimore Tunnels without delay, across the mile-wide Susquehanna and into the Delaware Welcome Center for the first Starbucks of the trip.  The only traffic delay happened when in all three rows of the parking lot, there was someone sitting with their turn signal on waiting for someone else to vacate a closer parking spot.  I found this incredibly annoying because there were four others merely feet away. 

Apparently the Starbucks held within the Welcome Center was the only one on the east coast open on Christmas morning, because the line not only filled the Disneyworld-esque queue, but wrapped around the Poinsettia Christmas Tree, and nearly ended up out in the parking lot.  I was too impatient to wait through that line for my coffee, so off to Bear, DE I went. 

When I got there, Andrew welcomed me warmly with a fresh cup of coffee, sat me down and then told me the bad news:  it was now 1:15 PM, and all the open Deli's were and hour away, and closed at 2:30.  He did have a alternate suggestion.  There was a Chinese restaurant he had heard good things about in Dover, DE and we could go there.  I wasn't thrilled with the suggestion of Shopping Mall Chinese food, but off to Rice we went anyway.  

After the meal it was back on the road to Bear, and then I was on my way back home. 

At 10:00 I pulled back into my parking spot.  While it was a long day, it was well worth the trip.