Boardwalk Badness Weekend Party Review- Part I

The weeks leading up to the big party in Atlantic City were stressful ones for me. By the time the party weekend came around, I needed to get out of town badly. Sherri and I decided that she would do the driving and I would pay for the gas and the hotel rooms. Money is a bigger issue with Sherri than it is for me (at least for right now) so this is what we agreed on since I don't drive. I was afraid of going because I'd had a dream a few nights previously that my brother-in-law had thrown all of my things outside and changed the locks while I was gone and I wasn't completely positive he wouldn't do that. I had also been stressing about what to take as far as clothes went. Last year, I didn't pack enough clothes in order to make room for my laptop which I didn't even use since the hotel doesn't offer free wifi. So this year, I was determined not to make the same mistake. I left the laptop at home and packed extra clothes. I firmly believe that it's better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it. I decided to go all-out this year just to prove a point to myself. I said in one of my party reports from BBW last year that I felt I didn't get played with as much because I wore jeans each night. So this year, I wore skirts the first two nights and a dress the third. I wore jeans on the fourth only because it wasn't an "official" party night, people were just staying over. Anyway, I think it did make a difference. I was treated much more deferentially by gentlemen, many of whom opened doors for me and held the elevator for me. But more about that later. This first report is about actually getting there.

Sherri prefers to drive at night so she left her home in Kansas City, MO at about 10:30 Monday night. She hates heavy traffic, which is why she choose to drive at night. I always worry about her but she's a fantastic driver so I know I shouldn't. Actually, it's not her I worry about. It's the other idiots on the road. The last time Sherri traveled to me was in February when we attended the Valentine's Day weekend party at Joe and Ten's House of Hedonism in Hammond, IN. The weather was awful, snowing and really cold. There were accidents up and down the highways and I worried about Sherri getting into one. At that time, I was relying on the house phone since I didn't have my cellphone yet. My brother-in-law at this time was using the phones to mess with me. He was either turning it off or disabling it in some way so I had no way to communicate with Sherri while she was travelling. I knew she could get Fetlife on her phone so I would message her from there. Well, I didn't want to go through that again, so I bought a cellphone two weeks later. Wouldn't you know it? The house phone worked immediately after I brought my phone home. He always denied he was doing anything to the phone, but I knew he was. How else do you explain the phone working perfectly as soon as I didn't need it anymore? Anyway, I called her about 3:30 Tuesday morning to see how close she was. When she told me she was south of Springfield (about two hours away), I decided to go back to bed. I had already made the bed, so I just laid down on top and dozed for awhile. I had my bags already sitting outside. Since people were still sleeping in the house, I didn't want to wake anyone up. When Sherri called to let me know she was outside, I was elated. I was actually going to BBW. I would deal with the other crap when I got back, but for right now, I needed some serious time with my best friend in the scene. We planned to do what we did last year--stop at a diner in Carlock for breakfast, but when we got there, they weren't open yet. So we stopped at a Bob Evans in Bloomington. 

Sherri had a new car for the trip this year. We didn't have to endure the Kia Sportage that she had driven last year. The car had cruise control and so I saved a ton on gas. We didn't have to stop to gas up until we hit Indiana.

Her car is a gorgeous Dodge Challenger, black with white racing stripes. It's super comfortable, too for someone like me who needs a lot of leg room. The city where we first gassed up is called Spiceland, IN. It was a nice enough place, but the gas was expensive! As soon as we crossed into Ohio, it went down ten cents a gallon. We determined never to purchase gas in Indiana again. 

As you can probably tell from the photo, we had glorious weather for travelling. It was a little chilly, but sunny. The scenery in Indiana and Ohio was really nothing to write home about. They both look pretty much just like Illinois.

This was taken when we were heading into Ohio. I didn't take a photo of the "Welcome To Ohio" sign because I got that last year. I just wanted you to see how beautiful the weather was. We kept hearing reports of bad weather hitting the South, but for us it was smooth sailing all the way. We were starting to get into some hilly country here. But the drive was extremely pleasant. Instead of trying to keep finding radio stations, Sherri had the foresight to bring her MP3 player, downloaded with a great selection of tunes. The only bad thing was that it had a short in it and every time we hit a bump it would short out. We drove on like this until it was time to make a stop for lunch. We couldn't really make up our minds, but we finally settled on Burger King. Sherri picked up the tab for lunch so that gave my wallet a rest. The food was hot and filling. It's kind of funny, but since I don't travel that much, I get a little nervous when I don't recognize anything. The further east we traveled, the less I recognized. The topography changed, the gas stations changed, everything was foreign to me. Burger King, as mundane as it is, is at least familiar and comfortable to me. 

We drove on, further and further from our homes, but closer and closer to where we wanted to go. We did decide to take a different route than we took last year. We tried to avoid as much of Pennsylvania as we could. It's not that we don't like Pennsylvania, but last year, the tolls nearly killed us. They were enormously expensive. So we detoured to Maryland and Delaware to avoid it. We did drive through a short distance through West Virginia.

It was a very short drive, but we decided to stop at a Dunkin' Donuts and pick up something tasty for later, when we were tucked into our hotel room for the night. I got a kick out of the door handles, even though I don't do DD. 

I think enough people who read this blog will get this. I was getting kind of tired and probably was acting a little bit silly at this point. I know Sherri was getting tired and I really appreciate how tolerant she was of me always wanting to stop and take pictures. This particular Dunkin' Donuts is in Morgantown, WV. You could tell we were getting into some mountains because both of us had trouble with our ears popping. And, wouldn't you know it, I forgot to pack gum. But no matter. We were soon out of West Virginia and into Delaware. I couldn't get a photo of the sign because it's so small and it comes up on you really fast. However, I did get the sign when we headed into Maryland.

One thing that really surprised me about Maryland is how mountainous it is. I really suck at geography and I had no idea that it had mountains. I thought it was flat like Illinois, only with more water. Shows you what I know. Anyway, by this time, we were already looking for somewhere to spend the night. We knew we would be staying in Maryland, but where? A stop at one of the rest stops answered that one. But I did take a moment to admire the view. 

This scene is breathtaking. It reminds me of a place I used to visit as a teenager called Lost Bridge. It's in Missouri, where my grandparents retired in the early 70s. This really did trigger some memories for me. A view like this was very unexpected. But it was starting to get dark and we knew we had better get back on the road. We had decided to stay in Hancock for the night because we found a coupon for a room at the Super 8 there. Yeah, we spared no expense. 

Tomorrow, we arrive in Atlantic City and I get a number of firsts.