I always said to myself that it would be awesome if someday I ended up being a contestant on a game show. And while shows like "Press Your Luck" and "Hot Streak" would have been fun to be on, their contestant hotline phone numbers are, in the words of USA Network, "Not Active". With current shows like "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire", "The Price Is Right" and "Jeopardy" being highly reguarded game shows of today, I decided that it is time for me to start trying to get on something. After finding out that "The Weakest Link" (NBC, Sunday Nights at 8pm) was holding tryouts in Philadelphia last November, I decided that I wanted to go, but I was unable to make it. But on Saturday, December 8th, 2001, "The Weakest Link" was holding contestant oppertunities in Washington DC. I changed my work schedule, and hit the road. Here is my complete story that I am sure will bore you to death.

Before you go any further, keep in mind that there are a lot of various pictures on the page, each relating somewhat to what was going on, or happening during that exact time period. All the pics were taken from various sources. You'll notice a lot of various highway signs as pictures, because I thought it would be cool. If you want to comment on something, xanfan@technology21.com is where to send it.


1:00 AM
Burdette Tomlin Hospital (Cape May Court House, NJ)

My relief from work comes in to let me be free. I had worked a half shift from 7:00 PM to 1:00 AM with the other night time tech so I could go to the tryouts in Washington DC. It was going to be held at the Westin Grand Hotel, located at 2350 NW M Street. I had been telling my coworkers that I was going to go, and they were all wishing me the best of luck. I thanked them, and darted home so that I could get some last minute stuff done before I got ready. Already nervous as all hell, but very excited just the same!


3:00 AM
My Bedroom At Home (Erma Park, NJ)

I begin to prepare myself for the audition. Showering, shaving, deciding what to wear, the whole nine yards. Didn't even try to clean my room because I wasn't in the mood. This being the first time that I have ever tryed out for any type of game show (with the exception of those phone-in tryouts for "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" back in 1999), I really didn't know what to expect. Should I wear something casual or something a little more formal? Should I wear all black like the contestants usually do on the show? How about brushing up on knowledge? Had I done enough homework to be smart enough to be on the show? (And did I play that darn Playstation Game enough?) But what if they based it on looks? Should I wear my hair differently than what I normally wear it? Well, since I was told that it takes 3 hours to get to Washington from Erma Park NJ, I decided that I was going to leave at 0400, to get there by 0700, which would get me there 3 hours prior to the start of the tryouts. (At least in the event that I get lost, I still have some extra time to spare). Wearing just a pair of typical black jeans, a green T-Shirt, and the cap I always wear, I was ready to go. So, with the 1996 Jeep Cherokee full of gas, maps and directions from Mapquest printed out and in hand, a pack of Newport Light 100s with a lighter, $50 in cash for emergencies, a liter of Mountain Dew Code Red and a bottle of Maximum Strength No-Doze, I'm off to our nation's great capital, Washington DC!


4:20 AM
Wawa Food Market near Route 83 (Dennisville, NJ)

After driving only a meesily 20 minutes on Route 47, my stomach already started to growl. (Turns out that I had forgotten that I didn't eat for about 6 hours, so I needed something for my belly). I pull into the store, in which the guy behind the counter was ever so cute. I bought a large stew and a poppyseed bagel with cream cheese, and ate it in the parking lot. Down to $45. By 4:30, I was on the road again.


5:00 AM
Delaware Memorial Bridge
(New Castle, DE)

This was the first time that I ever crossed that infamous bridge that all my friends from Milford DE have been telling me about. Seems that my friends always wondered why I spend $20 each way for the Cape May-Lewes Ferry when I can just drive up and down to Milford. Anyways, after passing the bridge and paying the $4.00 toll for it, I realised that it seems that whenever I go far away on a car trip, I always think I have enough money for tolls and stuff. (Keep in mind that in South Jersey, the most expensive toll is 35¢ on the Garden State Parkway, and that is usually only once every 30 miles or so). When I go on the interstate, I always forget that it is a HELL of a lot more than 35¢. At that moment, I start to wonder if that meesly fifty bucks cash I brought with me would be enough, since I knew I was gonna need at least another ten dollars worth of gas for the car on the way home. But were there any other expenses that I had totally forgotten about? With just $50 (which was now down to $45 already), no check in hand, and no ATM card (I hate those evil things!), I hoped I was okay with that.


5:40 AM
Chesapeake Bay Rest Stop near Exit 85 on I-95 (Toscow, MD)

The beef stew and the Mountain Dew were starting to take there effects, yet the No-Doze has yet to do a damn thing. Needless to say, while my car isn't brand new, it's practially brand new to me! Don't wanna ruin it. Why the hell am I writing about a rest stop? Basically, it was because it was here that I realized that I had forgotten something that I might need: A jacket. It's been 70° in South Jersey for weeks, even in December this year for some reason. Had been wearing nothing but t-shirts and shorts for most of the winter this time around. I stepped out of my car and like a punch in the face, I felt the coldness for really the first time. I look at the thermometer on the building. It stated 47°. I'm like, "Okay. It isn't that bad. Just a little nippy. But hell. I mean it could be worse. At least it's not raining or anything." {insert bad Mel Brooks thunderclap here} - In the time it took me to enter the rest stop, take care of what needed to be taken care of, and go back to the car, it started to pour. So now, its 5:45 in the morning, pitch black, I'm in an area that I don't really know, and now it's pouring rain. Things couldn't possibly get any worse. But I was okay. I start the car up and turn on the headlights, and drive back onto the interstate, however something just didn't seem right. After all the lights from the rest stop died away, I look forward and notice that it seemed just a little too dark. I pull over to the side, get out of my car in my t-shirt and pouring rain, and I discover that the driver's side headlight had blown out on my car. So now, I have two choices. I can either drive with only the passenger side headlight and not see a damn thing in front of me, or I can drive with my high-beams on which would blind the other drivers, and still not see a damn thing in front of me due to the heavy rain, and slowly devoping fog. Needless to say, I chose to blind everyone else in the cars view. It was only for like another hour or so anyways. And after parting with another $4 in tolls on the rest of I-95, the money was slowly leaving my pocket.


6:45 AM
Baltimore-Washington Expressway aka Route 295
(Baltimore, MD)

As the daylight started to come up (which was a true blessing with the pouring rain, bright headlights, and still having to turn on the inside light to read the printed directions to Washington), I looked at the clock and thought to myself, "Yay! I don't have that much further to go!" I got off at the Washington DC exit on Route 50, which took me smack onto New York Avenue NW, which is exactly where I needed to go according to the directions on Mapquest. Now I only about fifteen minutes or so to go! (Right??)


7:00 AM
New York Ave NW (Washington, DC)

(Wrong!!) With a speed limit of 25MPH, my radar detector going off non stop, and the fact that I'm now in that awful city where all those stupid auto laws originiated, I decided not to go a milisecond faster than 25MPH. As I read the directions, it tells me to go to "K" Street and to make a right hand turn. Sounds easy, right? (And I was thrilled because according to the directions I printed, I was told I had only less than a mile to go when I got to that point). I see the street sign on the traffic light that said K street, so I make my right turn there. After driving for only a split second, I realized that I goofed up. Turns out that the streets in Washington DC are totally f*cked up. See, K street is directly ajacent to another street, no curb spliting them up, with K street going one way, and the other street going the other. (Seems that Washington DC is just like Wildwood NJ and Philly and New York City. They love one way streets with a passion). And because the streets were so close to each other, since people double and triple parrelle parked in the streets, and the fact that I do drive an SUV, I was not about to try to make a u-turn. So, I made a circle by crossing though a lot of streets, and finally got to the street I thought I needed to be on. (Yes, the street I "thought" I needed to be on.)


7:20 AM
K Street NE; Not Northwest Where I Needed To Be, Northeast
(Washington, DC)

While I thought I was finally on the right road, after driving for 20 minutes, I realized that I didn't need to be where I was. Just as I was about to turn around, as this area looked really getto, I saw a sign that proved I was in the wrong neighborhood. That sign said, "Dead End Street - No Outlet After This Point". F*ck! After turning around and driving for another 15 minutes, I found the RIGHT street that I needed to be on, and it finally hit me that I was too dependent on those stupid printout directions, and not using common sence. (In other words, if I was on K street, and the hotel that the tryouts were being held at was located on M street, why didn't I just go straight to M street in the first place?) After feeling incredibly stupid, I finally found my way to M street. Made just a random turn, since I crinkled up the directions that were taking me to the hotel, and lo and behold, again, I made the wrong turn, going in the wrong direction, AGAIN. I decided then and there, "I am NOT going through this again", and I quickly, and sharply, made a U turn where I wasn't supposed to make one. "Instant-X-Band" came up on my radar detector just as I did that, and it was beeping like crazy. Lucky for me, the cop didn't stop me. (I guess he saw my New Jersey plates and figured, "The hell with him. He's just from Jersey").


7:35 AM
Westin Grand Hotel at 2350 M Street NW
(Washington, DC)

After I finally find the correct street, and the correct block, I finally got to see the hotel that the tryouts were going to be taken place at. Very elegant, classy hotel that looks like it was $400 a night and $40 for a glass of room service water. I now faced myself with a brand new problem. Another thing that I didn't think of. Where the hell was I going to park? No quarters for the meter, and the hotels lot was full. After driving 2 blocks, I found a parking garage, and parked. Was told to pay when I leave. I park my car, grab my cell phone, hide my radar detector, and grab my cash. Time to walk to the hotel in the pouring rain. On the way to the hotel, I passed a bank, and noticed the temperature gauge. It read 32°. Winds were picking up, it was raining harder than ever, and now its 32°. But I was doing this for the love of my game show, and even though it was just for a slim chance to get out to LA to see the show and to meet Anne Robinson, I was having the best time that I had ever had, even with the foul weather, bad headlights and horrible directions.


7:45 AM
Westin Grand Lobby (Washington, DC)

I saw on the bulletin wall that the shows tryouts were going to be at one of the conference rooms right outside a cafe entrance. I asked the lady at the counter where the line was, and she pointed it out to me. I thanked her and went to the end of the line. But guess where the end of the line was? OUTSIDE. No coat, rain, 32°, windy, and now, with the tryouts not even starting until 10:00, I had to wait outside in all that mess for at least 2 hours. I wasn't the only one. Eventually I found out that I was 53 in a line that would over time come out to at least 500 people, so it wasn't all that bad. (I wish I had brought a camera with me to take pictures, because the line was literally blocks long.) I started to mingle with the other potential contestants about a wide variety of topics, most of them related to the show. One asked if it was true that Link was going to 5 days a week, and I confirmed it for him but told him not to look for Anne, and he got all pissy, just like I was at first. One gentleman in particular had tryed out for several game shows in the past. Everything from Teen Jeopardy back in the late 1980s to The Price Is Right in the mid 1990s. He talked about how he got to meet Alex Trebek, and how cool he seemed to be. Even was talking about some of the questions that were asked during his interview, and I was hoping ours wouldn't be nearly as hard as his Jeopardy questions were. You could tell that he had done this game show thing before, because he not only brought an umbrella and chair, but playing cards and a thermos of coffee that he shared with some of the other people. After mingling for about an hour (and playing a game of poker with some of the other guys), I happened to take out my parking slip (to get to my cell phone to check the time since I didn't have a watch on me either). One of the people I became friendly with (who happened to be a Washington resident) looked me dead in the eye with fear, and said, "You didn't park there, did you?" After saying that I did, he told me that there was no security in that outside lot, that he had replaced the windows in his car when he parked there, and that the charge for all that mess was $9/hour. After not believing that, I begged him to save my spot in line so I can move the car to another lot that he told me about that was $5 for the whole day, and he graciously did so for me.


9:00 AM
Overpriced, Undersecured Parking Lot on M Street
(Washington, DC)

I quickly got to my car, started the ignition and got to the person I had to pay. He looks at me and goes, $14. (The car had been there for a meir 90 minutes if that. Can you imagine if I kept it parked there?) I was now down to $28. But I didn't let that bother me just yet. I drove to the parking lot that the man had told me about (which incidently was closer to the hotel than the last one was), and paid the man $5 for the rest of the day. $23 left, and starting to worry on if I would have enough cash for the rest of the trip. I didn't let that bother me at that exact moment, because I was there to have a good time with no worries, and dammit, that I was bound to do.


9:15 AM
Outside the Westin Grand Hotel (Washington, DC)

At least the trip to the car let me warm up slightly and get a little bit dryer, but it didn't last long. As I got back to the hotel, the line hadn't moved and the guy was still there holding my spot. I had gotten a little more quieter at this point because I was starting to get sleepy. (The No-Doze was just not working). Mentally I was getting tired. Finally, at a little after 10, one of the contestant cordinators came out of the hotel and gave everyone a number. (Like I said eariler, I eventually was number 53). After passing the numbers to everyone outside, they said that everyone between 1-150 could come into the hotel's conference room so they could get started with the tryouts, and we were all glad. Freezing, wet, but glad to get inside and getting the show on the road.


10:10 AM
Baltimore Conference Room on the 2nd Basement Level
(Washington, DC)

We all took a seat, and started to fill out the stuff I knew I was going to be asked. Name, address, phone numbers, asking if I ever went on a game show before, if I knew anyone associated with NBC or BBC, you know the deal. I was asked my occupation and how I would describe it. I was told to say some interesting things about myself, which I can honestly say, I had no clue what to put down. So I used some interesting things about things that happened to other people. (Like they would check anyways)... Was kinda gross, since I talked about the time that I ("I" meaning my co worker Donella) brought a baby back to life by doing mouth to mouth, and how I safed it by eventually inhaling the stuff out of the babys stomach that she was choking on (curdled formula). Of course, it was gross, but needless to say, interesting. After all of that was done and over with (and during the whole time, the contestant cordinators were trying to be funny, but like I figured, they weren't for the most part), we were all told to go in order of number, to stand up, introduce ourselves by saying name, where we live, how old we are, and what we do, as well as to ask anything random we wanted to. I will never forget number 3. (Damn he was cute!) But the one thing that was going on in my mind: Where the hell was Laura Chambers?? I thought at the VERY least, I would get the chance to meet her, but she was no where to be found! BUMMER!! Anyways, some of the people were actually kinda funny. One of the guys said he was a professional sperm donor, and one of the older ladies (61 years old who had bright red hair and glasses like Anne) showed everyone what she did to keep "September 11th" alive forever... She shaved the back of her head and had a tatoo of the twin towers in red white and blue put there. The twin towers made up an "11", and a "9" and "01" were put on the respective sides to make the date. Was very neat indeed. (For an older lady, I later told her that she was a really cool chick, and she thanked me for it. :-) Then, it got to me, and I think I might have made a total jackass of myself, but I got a huge laugh from everyone. (After all, I was there to have fun!). I stood up and said, "Hi, I'm Kris Lane, I'm 20 years old from Cape May New Jersey, and I'm an EKG tech so I basically sit and wait for people to die, and I wanna be a psych nurse." After the laughing died down, the contestant cordinator looked at me and said, "YOU wanna work with crazy people? After that intro, I've never seen anyone going straight to hell." (I know that he said it just as a joke... After all, we were all there to have fun.)


11:15 AM
Baltimore Conference Room on the 2nd Basement Level (Washington, DC)

After the remaining 97 people gave their introductions, the actual test was about to begin. The test was only 20 questions, but I bet I only answered half of them correctly. A few of the questions I remember:

In electronics, what does the abbreviation "AC" stand for?
I'm thinking to myself, "Shit. I should really know this, being into electronics and stuff." But for some reason, all I could think of was that song "Who Made Who" by AC/DC from that movie Maximum Overdrive. I was sadly drawing a total blank, and ended up putting down "Accelerating Current". I eventually found out it was "Alternating Current" by some geeky female student that was sitting next to me.

What singer started her career by singing "It's Christmas Time Down Under" in a Made for TV movie?
I would guarantee that I was probably the only one that knew the answer to that one. I mean, it just wasn't "physically" an obvious "twist of fate" that happened in "Xanadu" while eating "Greasy" food. The answer was Olivia Newton-John, who is easily one of my all time favorite pop solo artists.

Before going down the route of the Ford Mustang, what Chevorlet automobile did Barbie drive?
I never played with dolls, even though some people say I could have. I quickly wrote down Corvette.

What "C", formerly a subsidiary of Sara-Lee, made a variety of leather goods for men and women?
I still don't know the answer to that one. For some reason, I just kept thinking to myself, "The cheesecake lady made leather goods for people? I don't think I'll be buying her desserts anymore, since its obvious now that we know that they were made to go together." (Yeah, I'm being sick.)

In the computer world, which Intel microprocessor is faster: 8086 or 8088?
You know, I would bet a lot of money that almost everyone said it was the 8088, when in reality, the 8086 was actually the faster of the two and even had a math co-processor in it. Gotta love those old early 80s computers! (And to think that my parents have told me for years that collecting old computers would never pay! Well, it could have!)

How many are there in a Baker's Dozen?
I knew the answer was thirteen, and I wrote thirteen. But one of the people who was taking the test, who incidently was married to a chef, loudly asked, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

What was being talked about in the alternative rock song "Zombie" by The Cranberries in 1994?
I still don't know if this is right, but I was almost 100% sure that it was about Vietnam, since it is "whats in your head"... I know soldiers that fought that war had a lot of flashbacks and stuff. It was incredibly weird that he asked me that question, because that song recently became a personal favorite of mine.

There were a few other questions about sports and law that I don't think I got correct. In fact, I was asked this one question about baseball that I even had left blank. So after the test was finally completed (it only took a few minutes actually), the contestant cordinators collected all of them, and we were dismissed for about a half hour or so to relax and mingle. I decided that I really had to go to the bathroom again, and it was funny, because the mens room line was a lot longer than the women's room line. All the women that came out all said the same thing. "Now THIS is a first!"


11:25 AM
Westin Grand Hotel's Restrooms on the 2nd Basement Level
(Washington, DC)

(If you want to hear about this, just ask me directly. Nothing dirty, but might not be something that the casual reader would want to read about. Nothing sexual or sick, but I'm not gonna go off the track.)


11:50 AM
Baltimore Conference Room on the 2nd Basement Level
(Washington, DC)

After we all got back in the conference room and it quieted down, we were all told that only 20 people would go on from this point, leaving 130 people to be told, "thanks". He made a crack that he hoped we wouldn't stop watching the show and all if not picked. He also said that he based the choices on the persons personalities, as well as the number of answers you got right. He said flat out that they didn't want someone that answered all of the questions wrong, but they wouldn't be too keen on picking someone that got all the questions right either. I think I can see the philosphy behind that one. They don't want someone totally dumb, but they don't want someone to be so smart that they are boring as well. He said he would go in order of your number. "4, 12 (who incidently was a short black male cheerleader), 29 (who was that cool lady with the tatoo), 51, 52, 58..." I didn't care at that point, since I was now out. After they gave out the 20 numbers, the rest were dismissed, thanked for coming, and told us that we were welcome to try again at any time, at any tryout location. A lot of people were very upset, some people drove further than me and took off work for the chance to get on the show, and in fact one person I even saw crying in the corner of the lobby on the way out to pick up my car.


12:15 PM
The Better Parking Garage on M Street (Washington, DC)

I walked to my car (still pouring rain, still no jacket, and still windy and about 35° at this point), got in, turned the ignition, and turned the heat way up. Let the car warm up, while I went to get the newly printed directions on how to get home. Tryed to memorize them as a matter of fact so I woulnd't be as distracted on the way home. I figured, even if I got lost, I would get home by around 5:00 PM or so. I also made a special point to check out all of the gauges on the car, just in case. I saw that I had half a tank of gas left, so I knew I'd need more eventually, but I didn't need to get it just yet. I double checked my cash flow (or lack thereof), and I still had $23 left. After 5 minutes, I started driving according to what the directions told me. And again, already, the disaster hit yet a second time over. Turns out that the exit from the garage was in the opposite direction, and I didn't realize that. After driving on M street the wrong way for about 10 minutes, I got on some kinda highway that I wasn't aware of, had never heard of. I couldn't make a U-turn, I couldn't make a K-turn. I had no idea where the hell this road was going to take me, and for the first time, I was really scared because I wouldn't know how to get back to where I was. After driving another 20 minutes, (which no exits were availible), I see a sign.


12:40 PM
Some Street That I Don't Know (Close to Richmond, VA)

"Welcome To Virginia". I'm like, "WHAT?" I look at the radar detector, and I noticed that the compass read "SW". I'm thinking to myself, "Kris, you truly are a dumb f*ck. Didn't you realize that the $300 piece of equipment you have in your Jeep that alerts you of those horrible cops, can also tell you which direction you're car is going? You could have really saved yourself a sh*tload of trouble and needless driving". Once I was able to get in the other direction, I was lucky enough to get right back to where I was in Washington DC, right before I got on that stupid road.


1:05 PM
Back Where I Started An Hour Prior (Washington, DC)

It's now after 1:00 PM, and I decided to do exactly the same thing I did when I was lost in DC the first time: I tossed the directions again. I eventually got to where I was going the last time I did that, didn't I? So I will just do it again! I decided that I would just have to use common sence this time around. Because I had finally had it. I decided, maybe if I drive the way I would do if I was back in Jersey, where I knew where I was going, maybe things would be better. So I relaxed, lit another cigarette, blasted DJ Irene's techno mixes with the volume up and bass at full max, and pretended I knew what the hell I was doing. After driving in circles around the friggen hotel for almost a half hour, I saw a sign that said, "I-295". Now granted, I knew that the directions that I printed said nothing about I-295, but I remembered that I-295 and I-95 alternate with each other. Thus, if I took I-295 North, I would eventually hit I-95 North. If I hit I-95 North, I would eventually hit Jersey and be home at long last after the long day. So after driving for 20 minutes, following any signs of I-295, I finally got on I-295, and while it didn't offer I-95 right away, it did offer Route 50, which I was on before, so I got on it, hoping I did the right thing.


1:30 PM
Baltimore-Washington Expressway to Route 50 to I-95 N (Washington, DC)

For some reason, I had a feeling that I had made yet another bad move, because it seemed that I had just gotten on Route 50, that it was over and I was on I-95. (I had driven on it for at least 20 minutes when I was going into Washington, so why I was off it after only 5 minutes going home, was suspicious, but it said I was on I-95 North "towards New York & Philly", so I knew I was going home, and that I just had to prepare for a long drive. After driving for only an hour or so, I was really starting to get tired. I needed to rest. I was sick of looking at roads, tired of the downpours, tired of driving with only one headlight (even though it was daytime, it was practially pitch black and I needed my lights on), and to top it off, I realized that I was going on 10 hours without food, and 24 hours without sleep. I was starting to lose my concentration on the roads that were getting more and more hard to see, the windsheild was starting to fog up with my heavy breathing, and I was starting to black out for split seconds, something that never happens to me. So I decided that I would stop at the next rest stop, just to park and rest for even a few minutes, maybe get a bite to eat, get the gas put in my car that I needed. After another 10 miles, I see a sign for a rest stop in another 20 miles. So I just drove and drove, swirving in the rain, with people around me driving as fast as 75 MPH, me trying to keep up. (And with the wind and slippery roads, and hard to see lighting with no driver side headlight, doing 75MPH in an SUV isn't exactly a smart idea.) I finally see the sign for the rest stop exit, and I get off.


3:00 PM
Some Unknown Rest Stop on I-95N (Somewhere in Maryland)

Little did I realize that this was actually an RV rest stop. All I could do was park. "Gas-Food-Lodging" was not known there. I decided that I had to at least stop driving for a few minutes, and hopefully there was a rest stop somewhere up the road, and hopefully, soon. I rested my eyes and tryed to call a friend of mine to let him know where I was and how everything came out, but he was sleeping. Something I wished I was able to do at that moment. So after only 5 minutes, I said to myself, "The sooner I leave, the sooner I can get gas and food. So, I start driving, and I finally got to a rest stop, which incidently was the same one that I stopped at on the way to DC to go to the bathroom.


3:40 PM
Chesapeake Bay Rest Stop near Exit 85 on I-95 (Toscow, MD)

First thing I did at that stop was get $10 of gas in the car. (That would now leave me with $13, and I still had tolls to pay, and food to get). While the guy was getting the gas for me (I don't care... In Jersey it's illegal to pump your own gas so I was lazy and didn't want to get colder and wetter than I already was), he made it a point to tell me about my headlight being out, and he offered to fix it for me. I told him that unless he could do it for free, I couldn't afford it. He gave me a snobby look and left. I wasn't in the mood for anyone to piss me off at that moment, but I thanked him reguardless. He got the $10 and I went into the Roy Rogers to get something in my stomach. $4 for a burger and large Mountain Dew. Believe me when I tell you that the high caffiene drinks were doing sh*t for me at this point, but I figured I would give it one more try. After eating, I got back in my car, and headed back to the interstate, hoping that I would hit the tolls really quick. I was down to $9, so I was pressing my luck at this point.


4:15 PM
Toll Booth on I-95 about 20 Miles from
the Delaware Memorial Bridge (Brookside, DE)

I noticed as I passed the northbound side that I had to pay $2 to go through this toll. I also noticed that those rich bitches that have that stupid-ass "EZ Pass" thing only have to pay $1 to pass. That really pissed me off, but at that moment I was too tired to try to argue, but made a mental note of it so I could fight about it later. (Granted, at this point, a mental note about anything wouldn't mean diddly-squat, but I remembered eventually.) $7 remaining, and about 90 minutes to go.


4:40 PM
Delaware Memorial Bridge
(Deepwater, NJ)

WOOHOO! My luck is starting to turn, slightly. Turns out that you only have to pay for the toll in one direction on this bridge, so I had no more tolls for the rest of the trip. $7 left could mean a hell of a lot to me at this point. I crossed the bridge, and when I saw that sign that stated, "New Jersey and You: Perfect Together", I was so thrilled to be back in my own home state. By that point, I was really starting to black out. One time I came out of it and I was on the other side of the road like a brit. The loud techno music wasn't helping, the A/C (not as AC current or the band AC/DC like the question I was asked earlier) didn't help, the fog was getting thicker, the headlight seemed to be getting dimmer, the sky was getting darker and blacker, the rain was pouring harder. I realized that I needed to pull over someplace, but I couldn't think of anywhere I could park without really getting into too much trouble. I didn't want to just pull over to the side of the road (I've seen enough bad movies to know), and there were no more rest stops between this point and my house. After trying to figure out a place, it came to me where I could go, but it was a half hour away. But I was willing to try to make it.


5:15 PM
Rowan University's Evergreen Hall Parking Lot
(Glassboro, NJ)

Okay, so what the f*ck am I doing at a college campus? (And more importantly, I was only an hour away from home... Why would I stop at THIS point??) Well, since it IS where my ex-boyfriend goes to school and lives, I figured that if I got stuck and someone DID stop me from resting there, I could just say I was going to visit him later. (In a way, I was planning to hang out with him later on). I parked the car, turned off the ignition, locked the doors and put the seat down. within seconds, I was out like a light. I woke up at about 5:45, thanks to a phone call coming in through my cell phone. Fellow game show fan Ken Depot wanted to know how everything went, so we talked for about 15 minutes or so, letting him know the main details of what happened, told him I had fun. I hung up the phone, and went back to lay down for a little bit. I woke up shortly after that by the sounds of a group of obviously drunk college boys (who were ugly as hell) being really loud. It was then that I decided that I only had about an hour of driving to do before I got home, so I should get it over with so I can get back into my own bed. (Futon, whatever!)


6:40 PM
Route 55/47 Interchange (Millville, NJ)

When Route 55 changed over into Route 47, that was ultimate in heaven, because I was only a half hour away from my house. Honestly, nothing big happened after this point, except that I decided to finally turn off the music and the heater, tryed to relax but not too much, and just some time to think about if the trip was totally worth it, with all the crap that happened that day. I decided that it was. It was truely an experience that I will always remember, and something that I would definately do again. I had fun, which was the main reason that I did this whole thing in the first place. Headlights in a car can be replaced. If I couldn't pay the overpriced tolls, oh well. So what that I was freezing? It was only temporary. Of course, the hotties in DC I would have loved to talk with, but we all have our regrets. :-)


7:20 PM
Xanfan's House (Erma Park, NJ)

HOME AT LAST! (And only two hours and twenty minutes later than I planned on when I was still down in Washington!) I walked into the house. Mom and dad weren't home at that time. I went straight for my bedroom, turned off all the lights, turned off the cell phone, I even turned off the computer. (gasp!) And I went to sleep, knowing that I would definately be writing a long and boring experience page for SuperShow 8000 readers the next morning for all to apprechiate.

If you would like to see some maps of the area I travelled on, click here.