Driving Blind

This year, I chose to embark on my very first Alternative Spring Break (ASB), a program at my school that allowed me to participate in community service instead of going on a more traditional Spreak Break trip like Miami or Myrtle Beach.

Going into this I had no idea what to expect. I ws aware that I would be able to add 30 additional community service hours to my ever growing volunteer experience, but I had no idea what it truly meant to participate in ASB.

The ASB program at my university (Michigan Active Citizens-Alternative Spring Break) requires all it's particpants to complete an application and an interview. The application was like any other, asking me to describe my previous volunteer experiences, indicate why I wanted to be a participant in MAC-ASB, and detail what I hope to gain from this experience. After that, I had to rank a variety of topics, ranging from Domestic Violence to HIV/AIDs awareness, in order to place me on a trip with a topic that was of interest to me. And about a month later I found out I was placed on a Health Care and Disability trip.

Within the Health Care and Disbility trips there are three different groups, one going to Chicago, one in Texas, and one in New Jersey (the one I am on). This trip is volunteering with the Githen's Center in Mount Holly, New Jersey and they do work with adults and children who have developmental disabilities.

Yesterday, I, along with the other people on my trip, started on our 9 hour journey to the Garden State. As one of the registered drivers on the trip I began the first two hours of the trip driving. The weather was great and I was truly optimistic for the journey, the roads were clear and I was confident I would have no problem driving on the highway for an extended period of time.

During my second, and final shift of the car ride, the weather got really bad. It was snowing really hard, I was driving through the Appalacian Mountains, I was starting to get tired, and it was starting to get dark. I was determined to push through considering there was only 2 and a half more hours left on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

When I finally got to the last 5 miles on that very long road, I became super excited and suddenly had a lot of energy. But at this point it was super dark and snowy, and it was becoming difficult to see the road. I decided to change my playlist so I could listen to new music, and then..."Recalculating Route".

I missed my exit.

For those of you who don't know, when you miss an exit on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, there are MILES AND MILES before you reach another exit that'll take you to a street and not another highway. I ended up having to poorly navigate the very foreign roads and traffic regualtions of Pennsylvania, learning to look for street lights on the side of the roads instead of suspended above them. But the worst part was having to wait for the draw bridge on the New Jersey-Pennsylvania State Line (driving over bodies of water scares me).

At the end of the day, I made it back to the hotel, an hour later than I was originally supposed to be there. But I know now to be more careful about watching out for exit signs.