Here is a little known fact: I was born in Ohio. I moved to Florida when I was 11 and I lived there until we moved to the DC area about four years ago. I never lived in Cleveland, but as a child I was always under the impression that Cleveland wasn't really a place anyone would ever want to go unless they wanted to catch a Browns game.
Don't listen to the stories about The Cuyahoga River catching on fire. I mean, yes, it happened but that was 40 years ago. Cleveland is a beautiful city right on Lake Erie that is full of culture and wonderful people.
P>That's as far as I got before we got a flat tire. Nothing like leaving our dream hotel, where we treated like royalty(and a prince was staying there, so we know they must do that a lot) to cruising down the road, hooked up to theMiFi all set to write about our adventure in Cleveland, and then hearing, Sarah say, "Dude. I think something's wrong with the car. I think we have a flat tire." Sure enough, that's what we got. Exit off the highway and straight into the closest filling staion. Which by the way, my use of the term "filling station, just resulted in a 3 mile discussion as to the use filling station versus gas station. To sum it up in fewer than 3 miles, we decided it's regional. Sarah uses gas station, I use filling station. Which is ironic since wee only live about 10 miles from each other. But back to our adventure...
Given our rental car status, it came with "Avis 24 Hour Road Side Assistance" and the quotation marks around those words is no accident my friends. I phoned "Avis 24 Hour Road Side Assistance" and explained our situation. "Yes, we are in a safe place," I answered when he asked with the same level of empathy and concern if one is asked, 'Would you like fries with that?" At the same time, two men approached and offered to change the tire. We waved them off as we knew "Avis 24 Hour Roadside Assisance" would be helping us any moment. The reality? We would be helping ourselves any moment because "Avis 24 Hour Roadside Assistance" told us, "We will have someone out there in about 30 minutes and they will put the spare tire on the car, then you will drive the car to the nearest Avis location and pick up a different car." So I ask, "Can you please tell me where is the nearest location?" Turns out it's a a whopping 6 miles from our present location. I make the suggestion that a car be brought to us and we switch them out and be on our way as it is only 6 milies way. The gentleman, and I am being kind here, tells me to hold and he will see if that is "even possible." He returns after I age about 3 years a few minutes to inform me, "We can't do it. We contract with an outside company. They will have to change your tire and then you will have to drive it to the Cleveland Airport." I thank him. Why? I dunno, he's done nothing for me at all. Because I know I can change a tire in under 20 minutes and we will be on our way. So I change the tire as Sarah gets on the phone to call Customer Sevice and explain what is going on and why this isn't making us feel all warm and fuzzy. At this point, we're not angry, just annoyed. We are 6 milies away! It's not rocket science and how did we ask to be caiught in an eddy of bureaucracy?
Andrea from Avis Customer service gives it a try, she connects Sarah with the folks at the Airport Avis and listens in as Sarah is told "We will have to have a tow truck tow the car back to the airport." And Sarah again suggested, very nicely, if we could just have someone bring us a car to swap out since it was only 6 milies away, Sarah was told, "No. You have to wait." Sarah asked to speak to Andrea again and the resonse Sarah received made her just say "Wow." into the phone because it was just that rude. Andrea sadly had been disconnected from the call. We can only imagine the "Avis 24 Hour Roadside Assistance" folks wanted to keep their rude behavior a secret from Avis Customer service. Maybe they have a reputation to protect. Sarah missed Andrea very much. She was nice, this was hell. And while Winston Churchill said "When you're going through hell, keep going," but he probably never had to deal with "Avis 24 Hour Roadside Assistance."
I was happy I had decided to wear something casual for our drive, because I don''tchangie tires when I am dressed up. In under 20 minutes tire was changed, donut in place and we were on our way to the airport to change out the car. We are now cruising down the turnpike in another car without sattelite radio and it smells like someoen must have shaken up a carbonated canistor of Febreeze and let it go.
It''s definitley someting we're both going to have to get used to. The other car smelled like weed.
One thing becoming clear on this trip is we are all inane. Aviva's inane too, but she just got in the car today and has been driving so the other three can curse and get frustrated for hours upon end because we keep losing our Internet connection. get some posts up on the road trip site.
At the beginning of our road trip, Sarah became really angry at the entire state of Maryland because it lasted far longer than she had anticipated, "This is bullshit. There is no way Maryland should last this long. I'm raging against Maryland. That's right. You heard me."
Meagan became unbelievably animated-even stopping herself mid-sentence-when she discovered her salad included a small slice of grilled buttered bread.
I referred to us as "traveling the course of the country." I don't even know what the hell that means and said it during an interview on Sunday Inquisition.
Inane behavior? Why not share a couple of our more inane conversations.
1. For several miles we discussed the pronunciation of "Zagat."
2. Devra: "This is the first time I've been to Des Moines."
Sarah: '"You mean I've been some place you haven't?"
Devra: "Yeah, you can't lord that over me anymore."
Then there was the inane video (parental advisory in effect):
Thank you to everyone who suggested charities for the fundraising component of our trip. We were grateful for all the recommendations and wish they could pick them all, but hey, we've "only" got something like 3,000 miles to go, so we had to pick! We took our time choosing a cause to donate to, because we wanted to feel really good about the charity we decided to support and we wanted to make sure our readers could, too. Also, we wanted to be sure to pick an organization that doesn't have a huge budget, so that our contribution can really make a difference.
That all said...(drumroll, please!)...we've chosen Flashes of Hope as the cause we'll be supporting as we continue our drive to San Francisco! A big thanks to Shannon for suggesting this organization. It had everything we were looking for--it's mother/child focused, helps families across the country,and they're a transparent organization with an established track record so you can feel safe with your donation. Here's a description of the organization from the website--read it, then click over. I dare you NOT to get a lump in your throat (we all had chills).
DAY TWO ON THE ROAD FROM CHICAGO TO OMAHA (ALREADY REMINISCING ABOUT DAY ONE):
Meagan, Devra and I are on the road. We are halfway through day two of our trip. We left Chicago this morning and we are currently in Iowa.
I'm sorry we haven't updated more today but as odd as it sounds we have actually been very busy. We had the interview with CBS News in Chicago this morning and then - well and then we ate breakfast - but after that we checked out of our hotel (special thanks to the Omni on Michigan Avenue in Chicago they treated us like queens).
Anyway - this is the part everybody is interested in - our Chicago Meet up!
This contest ends when we receive the first correct answer... c'mon! Put your thinking caps on people! The winner of this contest will receive a BusyBodyBook Family Organizer (just in time for the upcoming school year!)
"Video and pictures taken with Sony DCR-SR45 Hard Drive Handycam® Camcorder. To learn more, please visit www.sonystyle.com".
Wow. You guys are fast. You are also freakishly accurate. Lumpyhead's Mom got the right answer in about 30 seconds.
(You know, she came by my house to see the Tahoe yesterday and I think she may have slipped some sort of tracking device in the car.)
But yes, we were in front of the Cabela's just outside Wheeling, West Virginia.
Then Angela from Fluid Pudding noted not only were we standing across from Cabela's but that we were standing in the parking lot of a coffee place which was dead on.
Then you guys started giving us road names and longitudinal coordinates.
Take five moms, give them a Chevy Tahoe Hybrid SUV, add wireless internet access in the vehicle, a GPS system, cutting-edge cameras and video recording technology, video games, music, gasoline, hotel stays, food, mainstream media covering the road trip on the internet & television - and see what happens as these hilarious and irreverent women drive coast to cost, picking up their fellow SV Moms Group Contributors and blogging it all on the road..... Seriously, you will NOT want to miss following these bloggers as they make their way across the country, from Northern Virginia to San Francisco.
Come Meet SV Moms Group Contributors participating in our first-ever, Silicon Valley Moms Group Road Trip '08:
Dates and details about the trip:
July 6, 2008: Five selected contributors from SV Moms Group will begin blogging and video blogging (vblogging) about their upcoming road trip from Virginia, DC, Chicago and Loveland to San Francisco.
July 11, 2008: Devra will receive the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid frm General Motors
July 12, 2008: Devra and Sarah from DC Metro Moms Blog will drive from DC to Chicago.
July 13, 2008: Devra and Sarah will pick up Meagan from Chicago Moms Blog and drive to Omaha, Nebraska.
July 14, 2008: Devra, Sarah and Meagan will drive from Omaha to Denver.
July 15, 2008: Devra, Sarah and Meagan will pick up Aviva from the soon-to-launch Rocky Mountain Moms Blog and drive to Salt Lake City.
July 16, 2008: Devra, Sarah, Meagan and Aviva will drive from Salt Lake City to Reno.
July 17, 2008: Devra, Sarah, Meagan and Aviva will drive from Reno to Silicon Valley, where they will pick up Jill Asher from Silicon Valley Moms Blog for the last thirty miles of the trip. From Palo Alto, the six SV Moms Group contributors will drive to San Francisco.... where they will join 100 other contributors from SV Moms Group for a party in San Francisco that evening. Over the next few days will be more Silicon Valley Moms Group events and attendance at the BlogHer conference.
Beth Blecherman (Techmama) from the Silicon Valley Moms Blog will be tech blogging (behind the scenes) about some of the technology used on the Road Trip.
Thank you to everyone 
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