Ryan McMannus 12/11/17

Murphy’s Law

Murphy's law is an adage that is typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

Last December I had to drive from Toms River, New Jersey to Carbondale, Illinois to pick my
brother up from college. I had recently become unemployed, and my girlfriend had the next few days off
from work, so we volunteered to go pick him up. The only thing I was nervous about was this mine and
my girlfriend’s first long road trip together. You know what they say it can make or break a relationship. I
figured driving 16 hours there and 16 hours back in a straight line, didn’t seem like a daunting task. I was
horribly mistaken.

After a morning of packing, double checking supplies and luggage, and a speech from mom telling us to
behave and stay safe, we were ready for our trip. My girlfriend playfully sang “Vacation's All I Ever
Wanted” as I drove out of my driveway. It was followed by a loud thud that scared the crap out of us. I
had forgotten my water bottle on the roof of the car. We laughed about it; I should have taken it as a sign
to go back inside, but the car was already packed, and the hotel paid for.

We didn’t even make it to the parkway before we hit our first problem. My window suddenly
starts to go up and down by itself, acting like it had a mind of its own. Until it finally decides to stop, in a
half up, half down position. It was already cold and only getting colder. Driving with an open window in
the middle of December is never a good idea. I pulled over into a nearby convenience store parking lot. I
started trying to patch my window with saran wrap and duct tape. The wind was blocked for now, and
we were back on our way. My spirits were damped a little, but my girlfriend told me to cheer up and
everything will start to get better soon.

At some point crossing over from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, the saran wrap starts to rip. What
would you expect? It’s meant to keep food fresh, not stop 60 mph winds. The layers of saran wrap rip
apart ever so slightly. The air sneaking in is freezing and made a deafening wind tunnel. I felt chills to my
very soul, with the wind pounding my face I say, “Only another hour and a half until I get to the hotel.”

Driving on the Pennsylvania turnpike the road is pretty quiet around midnight. We are now only
30 minutes from our hotel I had picked out to surprise my girlfriend. Kowing I'm close I let my guard
down, I'm becoming tired. We start to drive through a section of roadwork and the lanes merged down
from three to one. I had a hummer infront of me and a street cleaner on my right. I couldn’t see the
consruction signs, so I decide to pass the street cleaner. Either he didn’t see me, or he was a real asshole,
because he sped up and wouldn’t let me merge. Now I'm right on top of the caution signs. I slam on my
brakes and swerve into a closed lane, I hit a traffic barricade, and come to a complete stop. Luckily
everything is ok, I just lost my passanger side mirrior but I'm ok. My heart jumps into my throat. My
girlfriend is shaking, and its all my fault. I feel terrible. I put our lives in danger, I was scared, what would
my mom think, especially after her be careful speech. I was only one exit from my fantasy hotel, and I
almost didn’t make it. I started driving again but this time with more caution.

The temperature dropped to a chilling 18 degrees, with the windchill from my window it feels
more like 8. At 1 a.m. we finally arrived at the Hershy Hotel in Hershey Park. A nice five-star hotel. We
stayed in a nice big room. I walked in and threw my bags next to the bed. I was frustrated and more tired
than I've ever been in my whole life. After a shower and a comfy bed to sleep in, we thought our
problems were behind us. They were, until the next morning when they began again.

After I put fresh wrapping on my window we hit the road again. Now in higher spirits than the
night before. Only twelve hours left until I reach my brother’s apartment, and I’m halfway done with this
trip. Driving for hours on end can be a more draining and stressful task than one realizes. The next ten
hours seem to go by fast but also tedious. After diving for so long I zoned out and took a wrong turn.
Instead of going through west Virginia I went through Kentucky. Didn’t seem like a problem until,
exhausted drained, and just depleted of energy I look up to see red and blue lights flash in my rearview
mirror. My face drained of all color. I wasn't doing anything wrong, but I've always been afraid of cops. I
felt a pit in my stomach.

The cop pulled me over, said I was going over the speed limit. He might’ve been right. It was
3a.m, I wasn’t paying attention, and I was the only car on the road. Once he saw I from New Jersey, his
demeaner changed. He acted like being from another state was against the law or something. He runs
my plates and starts asking questions like “Why are you here?” and "What brings you out to this part of
the state?”. I tell him I'm on my way to get my brother for winter break. He holds me for a while and then
hands me a $100 speeding ticket and sends me on my way.

Around 5a.m I pulled into my brother’s apartment complex. My girlfriend and I now completely
drained drag our luggage up to his apartment. I can’t wait to sleep because I have to get up in a couple
hours and start the long trip back home. Unfortunately, my brother’s second bed is an air mattress that
has holes plugged with duct tape. Not the most fun to sleep on. My girlfriend and I fell asleep on the bed
and woke up on the floor. I was beyond annoyed with the trip at this point. All I wanted was a nice bed to
sleep in. My brother was unprepared as usual, and we spent the day getting all of his things packed. My
girlfriend has work in two days, so we need to drive the whole night if she was to get any rest before her
shift.

I have my girlfriend wait in the car while my brother and I load it up. She stops me on one of my
trips to tell me she hears a meowing. The temperature had dropped down to a bone chilling negative 5
degrees. I said the cat was probably looking for shelter under a car. So, I check under my car and the
three surrounding cars, but I don’t find anything. Frustrated and cold I just want this trip to be over
already and I'm impatient to get back on the road.

We begin our way out of town when she swears, she starts hearing a meowing sound. I told her
maybe it’s just a belt loose in my engine. I can’t think of anything else. She has me pull over and we
check the car, around the tire, under the car, in the engine, but still nothing. I dive for a while going
80mph on the freeway. Now I start to hear the meowing, so I pull over into an empty parking lot. With
animal control closed and no one else to help we called 911. They send a cop how doesn’t really help. He
shines his flashlight in my engine and says” you know you got a cat in there?”. And then leaves saying
there is nothing he can do. So, I put on my hazards and slowly drove to a nearby Walmart. I went in and
bought catnip, cat food, and a car jack. I have to crawl underneath my car and try to coax the cat out
with food or something, but it’s too afraid to move. So, I go in after it, cutting off piece of the
undercarriage guard I reach in trying to grab it. No use. I open the hood and try to relocate the cat but as
I open the hood there it is staring back at me. A kitten no more than two weeks old. I have my girlfriend
grab him before he jumps back into the engine. With nowhere to leave him and it only getting colder we
decided to keep him. I went back inside Walmart and buy a cat carrier.

After my car had given birth to a cat we were finally back on the road. My brother could tell I
couldn’t keep my wits end and offered to drive once we had gotten a little further. After we switched, I
fell asleep for most of the car ride. I only fully woke up once we had gotten back to New Jersey. We
stopped by the Wawa down the street from my house, since they don’t have wawas out in the Midwest.
After a very long road trip, many disfunctions, a car is a lot worse shape, and new cat, we spent $60 at
Wawa and rejoiced to be home. I couldn’t believe it, a three-day road trip turned into a nightmare.
Home felt so far away only a day ago, but now I was finally back in my own bed. I’ve come so far and
overcame things I never thought I'd never have to deal with or had even heard of other people dealing
with. I was just glad to be home. I kept the cat, and she just turned a year old last week. My girlfriend
and I over came so much together, and I was sure she'd leave me after we got home, but more
surprisingly we ended up falling more in love and plan to get married soon. Her and I tested and strained
our compatibility on this trip and came out stronger than before.