Driving Miss Delirious

So we were loving life in what is easily one of our favorite states in the union- North Carolina when the current gas crisis literally rained on our parade. Now, we are not here to rail against gas prices especially since we most recently feared no access to fuel. Flashes of depression era photos and being eaten by some mountain animal once we ran out of gas floated through our heads as we feared the worst.

It all started innocently enough...while in NC after our fabulous evening at Johnson & Wales we were headed to Banner Elk to work with the good folks at Lees McRae. Now Banner Elk is a good two hours of driving much of which involved wrapping around a mountain. Now many of you may have heard about the gas shortage in Charlotte and surrounding areas. It is no joke. But no one knew any details and we heard all kinds of wack-a-doo rumors. So we were not too concerned. We thought surely there would be a gas station in route to our destination so off we went. Now our innate cockiness sometimes serves us well. Not so on this special evening. As miles wore on and terrain looked more and more au natural we began to worry. Kelly even put in a call to her better half to call the local gas stations of Banner Elk to inquire about their fuel supply. Kel's husband like a magic eight-ball had bad news to report, "outlook not so good". There was no gas for whence we came nor where we were going. This would be a good time to mention that it would have been highly unlikely that we would have made it back without running our of gas. We were even at peace with the $7.50 a gallon Avis was going to charge us for not refueling if and when we ever made back to Charlotte.

But things continued to look worse, we would exit and find no fuel and then carry on. We ended up on this country road and came upon a little store, we did not even think they were a gas station. But lo' and behold. Like the Beverly Hillbillies we found our black gold. It has been sometime since I was that freaked out about running out of gas or about filling up. So, happy that we never had to go with a Plan B. At this little stop we found had a long line of cars. One patron said with traffic like this the town was going to have to get a stop light. Folks travelling from all over expressed their joy to have found the gas and theirs fears and frustrations with the shortage. After all our impromptu in store bonding we were off to Lees McRae where we were NEVER so happy to safely arrive to a program.

It was a great night and we met some awesome folks from athletics and the counseling center. The Peer Educators kicked it with us for awhile before the program. We cannot thank them enough for hosting us and for the gas Gods for shining light on us as stumble around this great country of ours.

Always-

Becca

PS Banner Elk is a beautiful town with lots of fun outdoorsy vacation spots.