Columbia Adventure (Part 4)

The continuing saga of the first of our five-day journey to the great state of South Carolina to witness Daughter, Nikki’s new hubby graduate from basic training at Fort Jackson, SC.

Columbia, South Carolina

It was still early in the evening, but totally dark when we landed at Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE).[1] I was a bit nervous about being a strange lady who can’t see well at night, driving in a strange land, in a strange little-tiny car, to strange destinations, but I shook those negatives thoughts. I had no choice… just do it. All will be fine.

This time we disembarked on the causeway but the walk to the terminal was much shorter. And it was COLD! Maybe even colder than O’Hare, but there was no snow. Brrr.

The airport was lovely! Warm, bright and inviting with a taste of southern hospitality. As soon as we got to the baggage claim of this relatively empty airport, I called the car rental place and the very nice young gentleman, with his charming southern accent, instructed as soon as we retrieved our luggage to “wait just outside those big double doors right there to the left." He knew exactly what I was staring at. He said the shuttle would be there shortly to pick us up.

We had our luggage in no time.

Now, brilliant me insisted just as we were leaving the house, that Nikki find some brightly colored bandanas to tie on the handles of the luggage so we could spot them quickly as they came round the carrousel. As our luggage appeared complete with our smartly tied bandanas, I quickly learned that there was no need for brightly colored bandanas. We had the shabbiest, ugliest, most out-dated luggage one could possibly have. It stuck out, no problem.

We laughed, collected our lowly luggage and stepped a few feet outside when, voilà, the shuttle pulled up directly in front of us. The young man whisked out, grabbed our bags, got us safely seated, and away we went to get a car. Wow, talk about southern hospitality!

The nice fella at the Enterprise outlet gave us an upgrade from a small economy-car, to a Kia Sorento (or something like that), a mid-sized SUV. Very cool—I felt a little safer already! And it was even a pretty color, a periwinkle blue. Life is good!

We got in the vehicle. I scoped out where all the operatives were, started up the engine, got the lights on after finding out how the windshield wipers work… and here we go.

The first thing I learned was this car did not have a manual transmission like my ‘70 Volkswagen van back home. So, I tucked my left leg up to keep me from stomping on the brake trying to depress the clutch.

Next, I learned we have power brakes. Very sensitive power brakes. And that it excelled quickly!

As I nervously jerked out of the parking lot and onto the nearly empty (thank you, God) highway. Nikki whooped then shouted, “This sure ain’t Huckleberry!” (our V-dub van). With that, we both started laughing and the driving became a piece of cake.

Equipped with all the directions I had diligently studied at home, and what the Enterprise fella told us, we easily found our way to the Interstate. We were to get off on exit 9.

Exit 9 was easy enough to find, but life became complicated. I had to choose between exit 9A or exit 9B.

The directions were to turn right off exit 9, but I got confused with the A & B part, so I turned left off 9A with reasoning only a blonde would understand. But which way from there?

It was dark. Did I turn the right way? I could not see any street signs. I knew that the hotel was very near-by, but no matter how many times we drove up and down the main drag, the intersection to East Exchange Blvd. where the Fort Jackson Sleep-Inn was located, didn’t seem to exist.

We were, ummm… lost.

To be continued…

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[1] Now, everywhere I see Columbia Metropolitan Airport there’s always (CAE) behind it. I haven’t a clue what it means… I’m sure curious though. Let me know if you have the answer, thanks.