That will be 50 cents ma’am.
This weekend I discovered that even with a handy dandy GPS I can still get lost. (Slightly embarrassing, yet true.)
Sunday morning I woke up on my favorite red couch, jumped in the shower and hit the road with a destination of Buckhead Church. I left extra early in hopes of getting a little Starbucks yumminess and still leaving enough time to beat the crowd and find a seat. Although the trip to the church is only about a 15-minute drive from LeAnn’s apartment, it does require one to get onto GA-400. Which, for you non-Atlantans, is a toll road. And, under normal circumstances, is not a big deal.
BUT, imagine my panic as I approached the toll plaza and made the realization that I didn’t have one penny in my possession.
You see, the night before a group of us had pulled together every last crumb of our money to order a few pizzas (quarters and all). The pizza was great. The feeling of panic at 10am was not so great.
In my panic I jumped off the last exit before the toll plaza. At this point, I am in downtown Atlanta with NO clue where I am. No biggy, I have a GPS. WRONG! Unfortunately, you are not able to tell the GPS that you don’t have 50 cents, and therefore don’t want to get back onto the highway. My GPS and I had some strong words. And I am here to tell you that the Georgia Department of Transportation did an amazing job at making sure you can’t just “bypass” the toll. It takes you 3 years to pave a road, but you made darn sure we couldn’t skip your tollbooth. Good job guys.
I made a few phone calls, did lots of U-turns and finally managed to get to church around 11:15 with a blood pressure and anxiety level that we won’t discuss. (An hour after I had left LeAnns and 15 minutes late to the service.)
And just for kicks, I made the same mistake last night as I was heading back north. It was late; I had an amazing day with friends and was way too tired to think about the need to borrow some change…. The nice guy in the booth assured me that they would be happy to mail me a bill. Great, now I can send them a 42-cent envelope with 50 cents in it. Perfect.
This morning I went online and purchased a cruise card (eliminating the need for change). Lesson learned.
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February 17th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
And if you don’t get the bill in time, the stamp will cost you 44 cents! It seems like the post office has been increasing the price of stamps every 6 months recently! Love your blog – keep it up! Tell your family I said hello!
Julia