Cross Country Adventure Day 1 - May 13, 2009

May 13th, surprisingly wasn't a Friday, but in all actuality it was a Wednesday. The Wednesday that I was leaving with JC, his sister and nephew, and his other sister's husband (aka brother-in-law).

As I'm sure I've previously posted, I'm not going to lie and say that I was looking forward to our cross country adventure. JC and I had many discussions, even days prior as to whether or not I would participate, despite having a plane ticket and committing to do so. In the end, I felt that if I backed out of my obligations and commitment of supporting him and helping him that ultimately our relationship would see it's demise. However, if I went, there was still that potential. Afterall, how does a relationship survive a cross country caravan with seven of your boyfriend's immediate family with whom the majority you have never met? How would our relationship survive if just the two of us did it alone?

In the end, I followed through with my commitment. I worked hard at convincing myself, again, that I needed to have an open mind and an open heart to the adventure at hand. That regardless of the lack of communication and planning of the family, it could be possible to leave Bullhead Arizona on a Friday and be back to West Michigan by Sunday evening - with four vehicles, nine people and 2000 miles. It could be possible, right?

I had scheduled a 12:30p.m. dentist appointment for Wednesday, aiding me in leaving work early for the day. Since afterall, the plan was that we would leave after others got out of work at 3p.m. Our flight was out of Detroit at 7:20p.m. and a vehicle had been borrowed and JC's niece would be driving us to the airport. Apparently somewhere in the midst of things, times changed and I was informed the day before that we would be leaving by 2p.m. and I needed to be at JC's house sometime around 1:00p.m. Seeing that JC lives over 20 minutes away, the clarity that I wouldn't be there in time was obvious and I had to reschedule my appointment and still left work at noon.

Seeing that I ordered the tickets online with JC's credit card, I was completely in the loop in regard to our flight information. As we were all carrying on our luggage, I did the email check-in for all of us the night before, alleviating some of the last minute stress, especially if we were going to hit rush hour traffic in Detroit.

Leaving town actually went without difficulty. We had all six of us in the vehicle and were headed to the local gas station by 2:22p.m. Of course, even though I had met all of the family that was flying out west once before, none of them were overly friendly with me. And by overly friendly, I mean that really I wasn't included in any conversations. I sat in the third row of the suburban and kept to myself, taking my son's phone calls and quickly taking a Dramamine to avoid becoming car sick. JC rode in the front seat until everyone was picked up and then he drove to Detroit. We stopped once to grab food on the way, but I didn't eat as I had a late lunch of Subway and a half sub still in my bag.

We made it not only to the airport, but to our gate by 5:30p.m. We had just under two hours to wait for our flight. I brought my portable DVD player, so JC and I watched the great majority of a movie, Smothered, which helped to speed up the time until our departure.

The flight to our layover was pretty uneventful. We had about a 45 minute layover in Texas, where we all grabbed a quick bite to eat. The final leg of the flight was much more turbulent, but also remotely uneventful. We arrived in Las Vegas, early but due to the departing flight still being in the gate, we had to wait. Other than a few minute cat naps, neither JC nor I were able to sleep on the plane. Additionally, it didn't help that Tuesday night I only managed to get a handful of hours of sleep prior to the trip.

In recalling the trip, it's tough to try to deal with the variety of time changes. I'll try to keep everything to Michigan time, just to make sense of it all, although it confuses even me.

We walked through the Las Vegas airport and went to the baggage claim area to meet his awaiting parents. His mother found us first. She gave big hugs to everyone, except me (which I wouldn't necessarily expect on the first meeting - but my mom would have hugged him and thanked him for coming and helping, etc. - but, she wasn't MY MOM.). After hugging everyone, she walked away, and we followed her. Mind you, I have not been introduced or acknowledged. A continuation I felt, of the trip so far. Unwanted, unnoticed, unacknowledged. We then went a small distance where his father had been seated. He stood up and gave everyone hugs. When he was done, JC then introduced me to his parents. After this, we all walked through the airport and to the parking lot to the rental vehicle that would fit all seven of us.

At this point, it was 2:30a.m. back home. We settled in for the 100 mile trek to Bullhead Arizona. I suppose the family thought that they were being nice by taking the two benches and leaving the bucket seats for JC and I. Again, I felt the huge wedge of distance between JC and I and wondered again if I had made a terribly wrong decision to come. If this was just the first night and I was already feeling completely out of place and excluded, how would the next four or potentially more days go?