Six and a half hours later...

And I'm finally home. What a trip.

Brandi actually let me leave at exactly 5 on Friday so that I could get home and get on the road. She's fantastic. So we didn't leave much later than we'd originally planned. We stopped in Ligonier for gas and nearly got into an accident when some stupid bimbo on her cell phone decided to get into the left turning lane without actually bothering to see if someone was in it.

After that little incident we didn't have many issues. We did stop a couple of times, and we hit a bit of traffic that slowed us down, but we managed to get to Christian's around 11:30 or so. We hung out for a while watching TV and some ridiculous videos before heading to bed.

Saturday was of course Dark Knight! It was amazing. Heath Ledger was phenomenal. Danielle didn't seem as though she was that impressed, but I think she's just crazy. >_> After the movie we went to some movie store where they sell used stuff and I got the X-files movie (in preparation for the new one that's coming out), and the collector's editions of Juno and Sweeney Todd for just over $25. If only I had time to watch them....

We spent the evening gaming. We played Guitar Hero for a while, and then Brawl, and then hopped on Xbox Live to play Halo 3. We of course got our asses kicked, but it was still a ton of fun. Kyle was messing with people over the headset which was hilarious. Then we met Fridgeboob and Mississippi Queen (dunno who they were, that's just what we called them) and their friends. We spent the next three hours playing with the them and laughing at how stoned they were. And Mississippi Queen taught us how to make our little Halo guy do a dance.

Sometime after 3 Sunshine (Chris' nurse Pete) came in and said there were kids outside car surfing. Apparently the one guy was standing on top of the car while they drove down the road and his friends decided it would be funny to use the windshield wiper fluid and get him in the face. And he fell off the car. We went outside hoping they'd come back and we could get them on video but they never did. :(

Sunday was spent with more gaming...so much for getting to see any of Philly, haha. We played more Halo then Danielle and I decided to head home. I'm really glad I made the decision to leave around 3 instead of waiting until 5 like we'd originally planned!

We made good time for the first part of the trip. Then we hit some insanely heavy rain. We had to go about 25 miles an hour (if that) because we couldn't see a damn thing. Luckily that didn't last too long. Then as we were getting close to the Breezewood exit, which would be about halfway home, we saw a huge sign on the side of the highway saying the turnpike was closed and all traffic must exit at Breezewood. We stopped at a rest stop and figured out how to get home from that exit, and then got back on the road.

When we hit the Breezewood exit though, the road wasn't shut down. We figured maybe they'd had some downed trees or something from the rain we'd hit, but had already been able to clear them. So we just kept on the turnpike. Everything was fine for a while. Then, just as we were getting to the Johnstown exit, we saw a cop and a big truck with a sign saying there had been an accident and to slow down.

"Slow down" apparently means, "come to a complete stop in on the highway, turn off your car, and get out to talk with everyone else and walk your dog." Turns out a tractor trailer had lost control and rolled, and then ignited. 90 miles of the turnpike was closed down for about 5 hours while they cleaned up the mess. Miraculously no one was killed. We sat there for maybe half an hour, then the state cops were letting people turn around and drive up the shoulder to get off the Johnstown exit. So we decided to do that. Good thing as in the end it got us home about 3 hours earlier.

So even after all of that we got home at a semi-decent hour. And my wonderful grandmother washed and ironed all my work clothes for me after I called to tell her about the accident. What a lifesaver. Despite everything, I managed to get home in time to get a good night's sleep for my first real day at work. All in all, the weekend was awesome, and I really hope I get to go visit again sometime soon.