Road Trip!

Highlights of last-minute trip from work in Northern Virginia to Boston for a week of the Sox in the World Series:

* Started off by getting stuck in traffic in Leesburg, Virginia, behind a truck with Maryland plates that had "Red Sox in 7" written into the dirt on the back of the truck. It truly is Red Sox Nation.

* Still being physically and mentally spent from the postseason so far, we weren't able to make the roughly eight-hour drive all the way through. We hit our limit in southwestern Connecticut, heavy Yankee country. Eventually found a super-skeevy motel to crash at. Encounters that night and the next morning:

* Stop at about 12:30am at a sketchy Bridgeport gas station, wearing my Sox shirt, to ask where we might find a motel. Give up quickly as attendant behind bullet-proof glass apparently can't hear me, and man next to me has all his Yankees hats lined up in the back seat, looks like he just stepped off the Sopranos set, and is glaring at me.

* At skeevy motel, attendant behind bullet-proof glass (sense a theme in this area) is a Yankee fan and babbles on about the Yankees. Among his observations: "The Yankees handed it to the Sox on a silver platter," and "Ah, well, it's only fair that after 80-something years you get one win." He smiles and sounds friendly, but I sense the arrogant mocking nature of his words. When we leave the next day he calls me "Mrs. Schilling" (I'm wearing a Millar shirt, for the record) and declares that with Wakefield on the mound Saturday we'll either win big or lose big (he's wrong, for the record. We win, but it's not a blowout either way).

* Trip to Dunks Saturday morning before we get back on the road brings many, many cold stares. The New Haven Register guy has a particularly evil eye and follows us with a glare the entire walk from our car inside and back again. Totally unrelated to the Sox, but classic conversation overheard in line at Dunks:
Man getting grumpy about long line.
Woman: "Patience is a virtue."
Man: "I don't have it."
Woman: "Well, you need it if you're going to have kids."
Man: "I told you, in three or four years we'll have kids."
Woman: "But I already have kids."

* As we approach Boston, start seeing Sox signs everywhere, including:

* American Cancer Society building in Natick with huge Go Sox - Thank You sign in windows

* All overhead signs on the Mass. Pike read Go Sox

* Favorite sign: Billboard ad right before our exit in Dorchester: "Wait til next week."