niagara falls disco, part 2

we embarked bright and early for our nine hour drive to boston. i made quick evenly spaced stops on the clean well-maintained new york state turnpike. we arrived on time.

my group wasn’t feeling group dinner so i let them loose on the city. i gave them a quick overview of sites and prepped them for their free day. told them i would meet those of them tomorrow without baseball tickets for dinner/drinks across from the ballpark. i ate dinner with harry and chris at a thai place around the corner from our hostel. the food was tasty but spicier than expected. drops of sweat dabbed my cheeks as i sipped my first beer in two weeks.

when we met up again, the group again split off to a table away from myself so i conversed with lindsey and her group. i had an expensive whiskey on the rocks and a half-price burger.

then, the weather changed. furious phone calls made - me to dan, dan to lindsey, dan to me, lindsey to dan. a hurricane was coming up the coast. and was headed right towards us. with a departure for nyc in the future and the whole east coast on tornado watch, we were forced to make changes to our original plans. plans and rumors filled the ears of our passengers. another game of telephone carried the news to our hostel where, unknown to me, my pax started panicking.

a missed phone call. another. and another. all in the span of five minutes. when i called the mystery number back, it was rachel, almost in tears. her, paul, lydia and charlotte were worried about reservations, hotels, flights and money. i rushed back to the hostel. in a flutter of conversation, tears and split second decisions, the four decided to leave the trip. they signed some forms, packed their bags and departed on a late night bus trip into the city in order to beat the storm. i let them go with apprehension. i slept poorly.

in the morning, we scrambled with reservations, rearranged rooms and tried to rebook flights. we drove inland toward a small town in massachusetts. the group spent the day in an outlet mall -- movies, internet, shopping. the evening was pizza, beer and weather channel. the group was loud. i was sober. when they finally left our room, i slept soundly.

we gathered late in the morning, ate, and decided to head into the city. the early driving was wet and windy. gas stops were met with frustration - power outages, no bathrooms, empty gas stations. but finally, we were back! i left them in a strong wind on the streets of ny. they left me with garbage, crumbs and thank you cards.

tonight, i sleep at the motel six trying to recover from a trip gone on too long.
tomorrow, i start it all over again.