We would have loved to hire a campervan for this final road-trip of our journey, but sadly it was just too expensive. Not only didn’t we hire a campervan, we even had to opt for a cheaper than usual car - Toyota Corolla 2WD. There are lots of unpaved roads, but surely we could still see enough in our 2WD Toyota.
Pete dropped us off at the car hire in Dulles airport. It was too bizarre for words.
We had bypassed the airport terminal, so I don’t know what the experience would have been like from that desk, but dropped off at the car pickup location we were confronted with a guy who didn’t even want to know who we were and just said:
‘Take a car.’
We went up and down the line - there wasn’t a Toyota Corolla in sight.
‘We’re supposed to pick up a Toyota Corolla.’
He was clearly frustrated - which part of ‘take a car’ was it that we didn’t understand?
‘Just take a car!’
‘We haven’t paid yet.’
‘You pay on the way out.’
We didn’t wander far, but all we could see was an endless row of ‘4WD Nissan Rouge’.
How should we choose? Let’s go for black and pick a plate. We chose a black car with New York plates. In we got and drove to the exit. Not a single check on the condition of the car, none of the usual formalities - nothing, in any way, reassuring!
On top of all of that - I was shitting myself!
I’ve driven all over Europe. I know what it is to drive on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, but in Europe I’ve always taken my own car. There is a strange comfort in, at the very least, being on the ‘right side’ of the car.
Not here. I was in the wrong side of the car, a car with no Satnav and I didn’t even know how to connect my phone. I couldn’t even get the fucking seat to go forward.
WTF!
All of that behind us, here we were, on the morning of our departure with a lovely 4WD that we thought we couldn’t afford. Setting out to cross America - Simon and Garfunkel swirling through our minds.
We left late on this first morning. We couldn’t just rush off without hugging our friends, thanking them for this, the longest time we’ve been stationary in nearly a year, and bidding them farewell.
Now we are in Lexington, far short of where we would have hoped, but well on our way.
No worries!
