Sorry for the delay...

I just haven't had time to post any pictures the past week. So, I will try to weave a picture with words. Before the event of losing my job, I had bought a couple of Cirque du Soleil tickets in Indianapolis for Beth's birthday. The catch, or perhaps the problem, was that having them available for pickup at will call makes it impossible to sell them, as far as I know.
As a brilliant idea, I decided to surprise Beth (she's working 2 weeks on/2 weeks off at her job in Cincinnati for the time being), by showing up in Cincinnati on Tuesday, instead of when I was supposed to arrive, on Wednesday. To achieve this, I left Hardeeville at 12:30 a.m., planning for a customary 9 1/2 hour drive (supplemented with a couple 5 hour energy bottles), so that I could pick up Beth when she got off work at 10 a.m. It's a long drive, that's for sure, but it's even longer when it's pitch dark and there's absolutely no scenery to look at. Around 6 a.m., driving down I-40, from Ashville, N.C., to Knoxville, T.N., the worst stretch of interstate in the United States, I start to worry, because I'm pushing it as far as time, and traffic is at a standstill in front of me. Why? If you've ever driven on that particular stretch of I-40, if there's an accident at all, there's no closing one lane, nooooo. You literally can't, the lanes are too narrow. The interstate gets shut down. Of course, for this accident, it was bound to happen. Accident #1 involved semi #1 going too fast around a corner and flipping the trailer, spilling insulation all over the west and eastbound lanes. That's what happens when the semis go in the lane that they're not supposed to.
Accident #2 involved Accident #1. Semi #2, seeing Accident #1, had stopped about 1/10th of a mile from the accident. Semi #3, apparently not seeing the semi stopped in front of him (because a semi can be a very difficult thing to see-they blend in with their environment so well), and plowed into the trailer of Semi #2, obliterating the cab of Semi #3 (I'm pretty sure he survived).
Fortunately, the road was cleared. Unfortunately, it wasn't for another hour and a half. Now, frustrated and tired (5 hour energy is only good for 4 hours), I hoped to get to Cincinnati around 11. Reaching the 275 loop, I started getting excited about seeing Beth. Then, come to find out, Kentucky decided to turn the 275 loop into the worlds hottest parking lot. Nothing like closing half of the lanes during the middle of a work week. Grumbling, I finally made it to my destination in a mere 12 hours.
Beth got off work at 10, and had to go back in at 2, so I endured 12 hours of frustrating, irritating, exasperation to see Beth for two hours.

It was so totally worth it.