The Joneses' Roadtrip

There is one word to describe this weekend...interesting. First, we got stuck in traffic coming out of Toronto. The 401W was packed and this bitch in a white car gave us attitude coz we wanted to get in her lane. To pass the time, KerryAnne and Raileen took lots of "eye candy" pics...we had to have a little bit of fun since there weren't any eye candies on the road. Yes yes, I know I'm supposed to be concentrating on the road but when you're going 40km/h on the 401, there's not much else you can do. Just before London, we decided to stop for food. Which was bizarre since none of us were really hungry. I was craving for some meat so badly but it was Friday and I had to abstain. Bernadette and I switched driving and for a while we decided to play some car games. We tried to do Name that Tune but it seemed that only Kerry Anne and I were really into it anyway so we eventually gave up. We had a bit of trouble with the customs guy at the border. He was being an idiot, asking stupid questions like why we had a rental and how much it would cost. Then he even gave Raileen trouble with her student papers. After much more driving, we finally made it to Kalamazoo. Yes, this town is really named that and it does really exist. It was funny how before getting there we were all thinking of going out that night, checking out the nightlife in the boons...but when we finally got in, we were so exhausted that we just passed out. Well, we did have time to mess w/ Raileen's stuffed toys, check out the gun closet right beside Raileen's bed (it belongs to her cousin's boyfriend) and make up a name game plan for our weekend in Chicago.

The next day, we woke up late as usual despite our plan to have an early day. We had lunch at an awesome sandwich place called Panera and after driving around a bit to see Western Michigan University where Rai goes, we hit up Victoria Secret. They had an awesome sale and Kerry Anne, Bernadette and I bought a ton of stuff. Bern and I even got our make up done for free. Finally, once Raileen was done rewashing her hair (can't believe how much time that girl spends on grooming) she picked us up from the mall and we headed off to Chicago. When we entered the city looking for Albert's residence, we passed by the ghetto...complete with bums on the sidewalk and cop cars patrolling the street. I was picturing a rundown dorm housing but Albert's place was actually really nice. It was real awesome seeing Albert again. He lost a lot of weight and cut his hair that I almost didn't recognize him. But, he still had the same Alberto voice and I was so glad to see him after about 2 years since we've had a chance to hang out.


After getting our bearings straight, getting into our rooms and meeting Albert's roommates, we headed to downtown chicago for some shopping. It was so funny how when we were taking the train, we were able to fit 6 people in the turnstile with just paying 1 fare. Yeah..we're such student scammers. hehe. At the mall, I found awesome black Steve Madden boots that I got for a steal! Then came the drama. Rai's friend Rebecca was supposed to meet us at the Rez at 4 but said she couldn't make it till 7pm then just when we were about to have dinner she calls and complains to Rai why she wasn't there to meet up with her. The nerve! They're the ones who didn't meet up with us as planned and what..she expected us to wait 3 hours for her twiddling our thumbs? Puleaase...newayz, gotta stop my blood from boiling. After several phone calls from Albert, we got them settled in and we had dinner at MilesGrill where we were all too full to finish our food..except maybe for Rai and KerryAnne who shared a mac n cheese that was really penne pasta with bread crumbs. Afterwards, we got ready to party. I will omit the annoyances of the night revolving a certain group of girls again but basically first I had to pretend on the phone that I was some girl that Albert knew and basically got us into the guest list of a club where some guy named Frank took care of us, cover free. But they were playing house music all night and the people were weird (some drunk girl felt up Kerry Anne's leg) so we left. After checking out 2 more clubs and asking nice bouncers we ended up at the Funky Buddha. It wasn't the greatest crowd but the music was awesome!!! Despite the crazy cover and coat check...I had such an awesome time. It's been a while since I've been to a club wherein I didn't want to stop dancing because the music was so good. Anyway, we ended up leaving the club around 3 and were on our way home in yet another cab (we must've ridden 4 cabs that night...all nice drivers) when I saw a cutey on the road and pointed him out to Kerry. She stuck her head out the window and basically told him he was hot and he was walking towards the cab but just when he got there the cab drove away. It was sooo funny. That night we actually contemplated on going back to said cutey but Bern was exhausted and we ended up taking crazy photos till 4am in the morning.



The next day, we had another issue with the aforementioned group of girls so we just left them to check out on their own. We had breakfast at McDs...good old american breakfast ofcourse..then while we waited for some shops to open, Bern, Albert and I went to Millenium Park to take some pics. Afterwards we went to the outlet mall. Once again, I ended up shopping while Rai who wanted to shop till she dropped had to force herself to buy something. Crazy. Before we left, we ate stuffed deep dish pizza at Giordano's. It was soo good. Then after saying our goodbye's to Alberto (who I'm going to miss) we headed back to Kalamazoo.

It was sad seeing our roadtrip come to an end. But just when I was prepared to go home and dozed off in the car, I heard Raileen screaming. There was a snowstorm and some guy infront of us was swerving and hitting the railing like crazy. Eventually he was able to pull over and being the good samaritans that we are, we pulled over too to see if he was okay. I just woke up at this point and the girls were debating whether to call the cops or not when I...ever the girl scout volunteered to check up on the guy. So there I was, in the middle of a snowstorm, somewhere in the U.S. with no jacket on running on the side of the freeway towards some car whom for all I know the driver could be some psycho person. As it turned out, he was okay, worried that he hit us and was grateful for the concern. He was kinda cute too. Hehehe.

Anyway, we finally made it to Kalamazoo and was said to say goodbye to Raileen. I'm gonna miss her too. Bern took over driving this time and I continued my nap at the back since I was gonna drive the rest of the way home. Just when we were about to cross the border to Canada, I woke up and had the worst stomach ache. It was so bad that when I got off at Duty Free and found out they didn't have any public washrooms I didn't bother buying anything. Just my luck, when I felt like I was going to explode any minute now, the car infront of us at the border check took forever, then the McDonalds just after the crossing was closed and we were hitting all the red lights. I must've sounded real urgent to the A&P clerk when I asked for the washroom coz he was very eager to help me. Afterwards, I tried to go back to sleep for another hour before I had to take over Bern but the music on the radio was soo good that I couldn't sleep. Soon, we were running on an empty tank and decided to get off the highway but the next town we hit was too eerie that we decided to skip out on the gas station there. Luckily, we made it to the next rest stop without any problems. Let me say one thing..driving at 2am in the morning after hardly any sleep with a stomach ache is one crazy deal. I was starting to imagine all sorts of things. I'm just glad Kerry Anne was awake with me to keep company. Mind you...she was also seeing things on the road.

All in all, aside from getting home around 4:30 that morning and having to call in sick that day coz of my tummy ache..the trip was totally worth it. I was so happy to hang out with old friends again (even though I didn't get to see Nathan coz he had work) and just chilling in a different town. This has been one awesome week in general and I can't wait till my next trip to come!