Wedding - Part I

I am now a married man, kind of a trip when I first think about it. However, it was my idea after all (I did propose) and Sarah is great so it is pretty cool. All weddings have to be an adventure and full of excitement, but it sure did seem like ours was way full of it. We left for North Carolina on Sunday the 17th. We planned on getting the wedding license on Monday and that would have allowed me to play Pinehurst with Todd. We had already left Maggie at the kennel. We were a little over an hour out of Birmingham when we heard a pop. Sarah and I looked at each other and I asked, "What was that?" It turns out "that" was the sound of our left rear tire blowing out.
Next thing I know we are fishtailing on the interstate. When all is said and done we move across both lanes and stop after hitting the guard rail on the right side. We stopped on the shoulder and some people stopped as well to make sure we were fine. None of our stuff broke and we were fine, but the blown out tire was not the only issue. My back and front bumper are in bad shape and tail lights and headlights bashed out. I fear that while the damage does not seem extensive, insurance will just total the car since the repairs will exceed the value of the car.
I wish I could have handled the car better since as I mentioned it might be a total loss. Yet, all things considered, we are fine and we didn't hit anybody. The thing that seems to be bothering me the most is the concern over the guard rail and the idea that my insurance said that potentially the state could come after my insurance to fix any guard rail damage. I wish that did not bother me but it does. I can just see some huge claim to fix a guard rail because it seems government always over pays for such projects.
We ended up getting a tow back to our apartment in Birmingham and using Sarah's car cover to cover my car until we get back. Sarah's dad rented a car for us and that turned out to work pretty good. We drove a Chrysler Pacifica to North Carolina and it is way bigger than my car or Sarah's. The car is actually sitting in the parking lot of the hotel since it is significantly cheaper to let it sit there than do two one way rentals. Since I didn't play golf with Todd I didn't bring my clubs and now we have more room to bring back presents. Not only do we have to bring back the gifts from the wedding but also the gifts from the shower Sarah had back home in April.
We stayed in Richlands until Wednesday afternoon and then drove up to Durham. Most people started arriving on Thursday. The lone exceptions were my family (arrived at 11pm) and my friends Art and Todd. Art actually took Todd, Sarah, and I out to a phenomenal place called the Angus Barn. It is a steakhouse that has a lounge called the Wild Turkey Saloon. As the name suggests it specializes in Wild Turkey and it was all great. So thanks Art! I highly recommend it if you are near the RDU airport and want a great meal. Just as a warning though, it can be a shade expensive. As you can see in the following picture with Art, Todd, and I Wild Turkey is always a great idea.
When we got back to the hotel my mom, step dad, brother, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Yaro, and Aunt Janis had just arrived. They all seemed pretty bright eyed for 11:30pm and that was only because it still felt like 8:30 to them. We all knew they should try to sleep or else they would be hurting in the morning, but we stayed up a little while and talked. On Thursday a vast majority of guests arrived including Sarah's family. Thursday my guys and I went and got out tuxes and made sure they fit. Poor Scott had pants that came past his feet. They told us to come back tomorrow, an idea that Roger and I did not like because road work turned a 15 minute drive into an almost hour long adventure. This seems like a nice place to stop. Sarah and I will alternate posts on our blogs. We will try to catch up over the next few days and also blog about New York as well.