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Monday August 16 5:30 PM:
As I leave work, my wife and I leave Pittsburgh for Washington DC as she want to try out for American Idol. My wife has a beautiful voice and has won various prizes/cash at local karaoke contests. We drive to my sister's boyfriends apartment in northern VA arriving around 10:30PM and getting to sleep a little after Midnight.
Tuesday August 17 4:00 AM:
Alarm goes off, to get up and be ready to leave the Apt. by 5 AM to arrive at Convention Center around 6 AM. We arrive at RFK stadium parking about 6 AM and take shuttle to convention center arriving around 6:30 AM. Registration for auditions were to start at 6 AM today(according to idolonfox .com) but upon arriving to a line around 2 sides of the building, we hear through the grapevine that they have been accepting registration since about midnight the night before so there are already about 1000 people inside in line. After standing in the line to register for about 2 hours we are able to go inside to set up our "campsite". The campsite is where you set your bags/blankets/possesions and is your actual place in line for auditions. Now the campsite is set up between crowd control barriers/fences in the convention center main room (think an empty airplane hangar, huge room)we are packed in like sardines and I am a pretty big guy (about 6'4" 210 lbs) so I realize early on that I won't be sleeping here, not to mention the fact that you are supposed to sleep on a concrete floor in a room that has lighting brighter than the sun and a few thousand people who are not sleeping or being quiet. Throughout the convention center there are chairs/ benches/corners etc. that would be much more comfy than the sleeping "corals" but as soon as you caould sit in one of these areas there would be a security guard telling you to move. After walking for miles and exploring the city/chinatown and eating lunch and dinner (DC is EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE value meal at Burger King is almost $7.00)and basically killing time all day we returm to the convention center around 11 PM.
August 18 around Midnight:
August 18 happens to be our 3rd wedding anniversary so after looking through the conv. center for a "dark quiet corner" we decide to catch the shuttle back to RFK parking lot for a little lovin'. After some very uncomfortable and unsatisfying back seat sex we catch the shuttle back to the convention center. We get back to the center around 3 AM. My wife decides to beat the rush for the bathrooms so she can get dressed for auditions which are supposed to start at 8 AM. I hang out for awhile and then go back to the "coral" to find squatters have taken over our space and there is about a 2 sq foot open space to sit in. I announce very loudly that any females who need the bathroom to get ready(outlets, sinks and mirrors) better get moving as there are now lines forming to get in. This quickly cleared out enough space to sit without kicking people. Lines for bathrooms quickly form to hundreds of people deep.
August 18 around 9:00 AM:
The line for auditions starts moving, we are in line for about 7 hours and have not slept since 4 AM 2 days ago or eaten since the night before in the evening. My body aches from head to toe by now from carrying heavy ass duffel bags in line, sitting/laying on concrete and walking the city for miles.
August 18 around 4:30 PM:
My wife finally gets her audition with a producer which lasts about 20 seconds and they tell her thanks for coming but we are looking for a certain type of person for this years show. At this point we are just as happy to go home rather than have to stay another day to sing in front of the real judges (Simon, Paula, Randy)
We catch the shuttle back to the car and embark on our trip home around 6 PM. About an hour into the trip I realize I am having major trouble driving due to no sleep in about 35 hours and very little food( Convention center food was: cheese burger was $5, a hot dog $3.50 a 4" sub $6.00 etc.) I feel like i am REALLY drunk, my reactions are real late and I can't concentrate on the road. I suggest stopping for dinner, hopefully to wake me up a bit. After eating I feel a little better but still very tired. I ask my wife if she wants to drive but she said she is too tired. So I'm cool for the first half hour or so then my eyes start getting heavy and at 1 point I realize I had dozed off for a half second and woke up quickly. My wife was already sleeping at this point so I trudge on.
Next thing I know is WHAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I wake up to the fact I have just sideswiped a car passing me on the left hand side. Beleive me there is no feeling like waking up and realizing you are driving a car doing 70MPH on cruise controL and you have just hit something, I went from sleep to full adrenaline in about a quarter second. I don't know how long I was sleeping but I imagine it was only a few seconds but it was long enough that I was in complete shock to wake up and realize I was driving. So after regaing control of the car an my own composure I pull of the road (I have a flat tire). My victim pulls up soon and it is a lady who is pretty upset. She asks what the hell I was doing, didn't I see her passing, etc. I mumble something about a blind spot and accident blah blah. We exchange info and she cools down a bit and even helps me change my tire. Neither one of us had a cell phone but she insists on calling tho police. We flag down a couple in their backyard which isn't far from the interstate and they call the cops for us. 2 state trooper show up just as I am finishing putting on the tire and she runs back to talk to them. As i finish up I go to the one trooper and say "Thanks for coming"and put my hand out to shake his hand. He looks at my hand, then back to me then to my hand and turns his back on me. He goes to the other cop then comes back to me and asks "Why didn't you stop after you hit her?" I say I did stop after I gained control and got over to the right hand side of the lanes, slowed down and pulled over(She had pulled off to the center of the road after i hit her)
My trunk is still open from getting my spare donut out and the cop keps glancing towards it. He asks for my Insurance and registration and is right over my shoulder shining his light all over my interior as I get it. He takes it and gives it to the other cop and goes back to his car. The lady goes back and says someting to him and the cop gets the K9 out of the back of the car and starts walking around my car. Then he goes over into the bushes/weeds that seperated the interstate from the backyard of the people we spoke to and starts looking through the weeds with a light and the dog. Now I was as sober as could be, just tired out of my mind so I wasn't worried about the dog in the least. So I end up getting a ticket for $75 for unsafe changing of lanes, no one ever knew I feel asleep. Now I am faced with a 150 mile Interstate drive on a spare donut(supposed to last 20 miles at 35 MPH). The cops tell me there is no place around to get a tire change at this time of night (almost 9PM now) so I gotta drive on it.
I somehow drive about 65 miles at 50MPH on the spare until I get to Breezewood where we decide to get a room and rest, get the tire changed in the morning and continue on. Even though we are both completely exhausted we have the most unbelievable sex(the only positive on the trip) to make up for the cheap backseat sex.
The next day we wake up(do it again) get the tire fixed and continue on home. I have to feel lucky to have made it out with only minor damage to my car a very sore back/knees(from the concrete) and a higher insurance premium. Cruising at 70 MPH while asleep could have very easily ended in a much more tragic way.
All in all the trip was the worst way to spend our anniversary I can think of, it was complete misery for 3 days.
This post has been edited by One Bad Malafaala: 21 August 2004 - 06:59 AM
