The Great Nebraska Adventure of '08

My friend is graduating this weekend with her Master's degree in Literacy Education from Concordia University in Nebraska. I never like to miss an opportunity for an adventure, so I came along to celebrate the weekend with her. We left St. Louis early this morning on a Southwest Airlines flight. Let the adventure begin!

We arrived in Omaha (or Ohama, as we like to call it) and headed down the escalator to retrieve our luggage. Halfway down the escalator we both had Baltimore airport flashbacks, where we flew in December to visit friends. That night we found our luggage, only to stand there for a long time while everyone else was picked up by family and friends while we waited...and waited...and called everyone we knew to get our friend's number (who was coming to get us). Needless to say, no one, from coast to coast, could help us. So we waited. Even the guy who had flowers for his girl got picked up before us, two attractive single gals!

Back to today...
So we got our bags and headed out to grab a cab (doesn't that sound cool and grown up?). The first cab to come along was bright yellow, The Happy Cab! A man emerged from the cab with true ebony skin. We got in the car, where we were greeted with pounding tribal music. 'Cool,' I thought. We're gonna have a multi-cultural experience! He asked where we were going with a thick African accent. We showed him the address, and he laughed and said, "You've been here before, right?" "Nope!" "Is this is a home or a hotel?" "Neither, it's where we need to pick up our rental car."

Oh, yeah, I was trying to save us a few dollars by getting the car away from the airport. There are taxes and extra fees there, and besides, they were sold out because I didn't make the reservation until yesterday. So back to saving some cash...

So away from the airport we drove. We were zipping along the highway when signs for road construction began popping up. I didn't notice the huge orange "road closed ahead...detour" sign, but Erin did. Sadly, the driver missed it as well.

We found ourselves pulling in between the huge orange construction barrels and stopping next to the giant "ROAD CLOSED" sign. Construction crews were all over the exit ramp, including a huge steamroller. The construction foreman approached the car and said, "Hey! You gotta get the outta here!" Our driver didn't really seem to understand why he couldn't drive on the exit ramp. I guess the steamroller, giant signs, and yelling foreman weren't enough clues about what he shouldn't be doing.

As the tribal music continued pounding away, we re-entered the highway and continued to the Enterprise Rent-A-Car. We bolted from the car, thanked Martin, handed him $36 and headed inside. Little did I know, the next adventure was about to begin.

After declining the insurance offered through Enterprise (thus saving us $18/day), I was rifling through all the cards in my wallet searching for a credit card, when I caught a glimpse of my expired insurance card. Yes, expired insurance card. I finished signing my life away with Enterprise, got in the car, and said, "Um, hey Erin? I don't have proof of insurance." At this point I began laughing until tears came to my eyes.

With the African tribal beat pounding in my ears, I pulled out onto the road and drove safely away....