Road Trip!

Beatrice totally saved us today. I called her for coffee, but she didnt call back until Sophia was about to get out of school (she only went for 2 hours). So she offered to pick me up, then Sophia and then go for coffee at her house. At first I said don't worry about it, good thing she convinced me otherwise. as soon as we got to the school it started to POUR!
Max came and picked us up and it was off to Germany! We loaded up the car with lots of things for Sophia to do. She was a really good girl, except...she does not like the radio (which i cant blame her, because italian radio sucks), she calls it 'people radio' (i think thats for big people radio), so we listened to the backyardigans, little einsteins and monster inc over and over again! we need to get more cds!
i hate the san gottardo tunnel, it scares me. it's like the world's longest chimney, with 2 lanes of traffic going in opposite directions and only that little painted line to separate them. needless to say, a few years ago there was a BIG giant accident in there and many people died. they've done things to 'improve' conditions, but nothing would be better than build another tunnel for each direction of traffic! plus the smell of the exhaust/carbon monoxide from all the trucks passing through does not help people stay alert, it just makes you want to get out of there faster.
all though there is no rainbow at the end of the san gottardo tunnel, there are waterfalls. there is just one spectacular waterfall after another. of course as we see them, sophia breaks out in a chorus of 'dont go chasing waterfalls' by tlc!
poor max is always raining. neither rain, nor sleet nor snow can stop this guy. he wrote an article inside the car and is now sending it from his phone just outside this gas and convenience store under the drizzle.

here is the million dollar question: why cant men stop and ask for directions??? just after we crossed the border into germany, there was a detour sign. (im going to preface this story with the fact that max worked the 6AM shift, he picked us up, packed his bag, drove, worked some more from the car and then drove again. maybe he wasnt as alert and clear headed as he would have been normally. but, i am also going to add that i offered several take over the driving). but i digress... so, this detour sign was just before we were supposed to change freeways, which would have put us on the road straight to stuttgart. we had downloaded directions from mapquest and michelin (because neither were very clear) so we didnt have an actual map, but we did have GPS as well. you'd think that all that would be enough. Max got freaked out because the 'regular' road signs are yellow, in italy (and the US) only caution/detour signs are that color. thinking that the yellow road signs were detours instead of regular signs. he didnt really realize this until we were waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay far west of where we should have been. we passed yellow road sign after yellow road sign. and so this a man for you, instead of driving slower, to get oriented and figure out what to do, he guns the gas. in the meantime, id been trying to call kevin since we were at the convenience store, we finally get a hold of him about the time we get lost. so kevin is trying to figure out where we are, max is zooming past all the road signs and im trying to read a foreign language at breakneck speed. oh the FUN! all i could think of was, well with this attitude, you are not going to be my partner on the Amazing Race! he is so flustered at this point and will not let a) pull over and buy a map b) let me ask kevin how to get to his house c) follow the GPS and most of all d) let me drive. instead, we pull off the road and drive in several illegal 3 point turns (luckily we are in the middle of BFGermany) until we make several 360°s. we were way beyond listening to reason and quickly driving farther and farther away from our final destination (well, except when we did those 360s, that was the closest we got to going in the right direction). i think i'd just about given up when i got ripped a new one for telling kevin we were on 31A instead of 31B (the former not existing apparently). now that was the last straw...here is the scene, sophia had woken up, was crying hysterically from being tired and hungry and us shouting, the little einsteins was blasting on radio to keep her 'calm,' max is yelling 'you never listen to me, i said it's B, B not A' , im trying to tell kevin where we are and pronounce some very German street signs and kevin is trying to figure out where we are and put us on the right road. poor kevin got an earful of me getting pissed off at max and tellin him that exact sentence and then the new car seat on the passenger's side got smudged from the banana peel that i wassubconciously gripping tightly in my hand from the stress. eventually, kevin pointed us in the right direction, which is exactly where the gps was pointing too. and finally, our fearless leader made an 'executive decision,' turned around and we started going the right way, which was a good thing because just about the time we took the detour i realized i had to pee. knowing that max wouldnt stop for directions, i knew he would stop to let me pee either. my legs were numb from keeping them crossed! sometime after midnight we made it. and so, what mapquest said was 5H 33M, became 9H + instead. (btw sometime during the tirade, the driver was warned that the event would be published! if it happens in my presence, know that i blog it!) The Andersons were heroes, they waited up for us and had beer cold and ready for us when we walked in the door! and most of all they listened to me bitch and kevin even stood up for poor max! Hooray Andersons!