Well we said what happens in car six stays in car six. And that has been almost wholly true…until now. It happened to me, so I’m telling it. After you read about it, you will wonder why I decided to reveal this particular event.  And even as I sit here at 2:34 a.m. deciding whether to push the ‘publish’ button, I wonder whether I should, knowing that once I do the story will not have stayed in car six. But heck, it’s Super Bowl Sunday 50…that ought to be worth a special post, I rationalize.

Two colleagues and I were traveling to a conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. We were starting in Atlanta. We decided to meet at one friend’s house in East Cobb (county). East Cobb is a well-to-do area where upper middle class folk live. They have really big houses. I’m talking about the kind of houses that can afford to give out the ‘good’ Halloween candy. As I waited for our third party, I munched on mini-Snickers…lots of them. It was just after Halloween in early November.

We’d checked out car six from the pool. We packed up and headed out. Imagine Bridget Jones (me), her friend Shazzer (who likes to say f***, a lot), and Tom (the one hit wonder), on a road trip. I was in the back behind the front passenger seat. I was looking at my laptop computer. It wasn’t long after getting on I-75 I started feeling queezie. I closed my laptop.

I still felt very sick. I told “Tom” that I wasn’t feeling well and needed to stop. We were somewhere near the loop in Cobb County. Tom drove on toward Atlanta. “Really, I’m getting ill.” He acknowledged me but drove on. We were passing exit after exit after exit.

Somewhere long about Windy Hill I let go. I upchucked all over my feet. I puked, and puked!  And still Tom kept looking for the perfect place to stop. We didn’t get off the highway until Northside Drive. By then all my stomach contents were in a neat pile on my feet and the floor.

We stopped in a Publix grocery store parking lot in Buckhead. If you don’t know Buckhead, it’s an area where the really rich folk live. Lots of old money. It’s a place where they can give out the best candy at Halloween, but unfortunately you couldn’t get past the gates, guards, dogs, and cameras to get it! And so here we sat in the now stinking car six in Buckhead.

My sweet friend Shazzer went inside and bought gloves, paper towels, Lysol cleaning foam, and other products and cleaned the mess up herself!

I unpacked my suitcase and made my way into the grocery store bathroom to change clothes, and shoes!  Yep, all in the Buckhead Publix. If nothing, Tom’s got class.  For reals.

Needless to say, even with Shazzer’s cleaning supplies, car six was not a fun ride to Charlotte.  And, after sitting in a parking garage for a few days while we did the conference thing, it really was not a fun ride back.

We parked car six in a pool parking space and vowed to never speak of it again.  But, none of us work at that fine college any more, so I’m speaking of it now.  Some truths are stranger than fiction.  And some stories are just worth telling, even if they shouldn’t be.

Go Broncos!!  Best wishes Peyton Manning!

dmzh