Our Nightmare Trip to Tennessee

I love Tennessee. My family's from Tennessee. The Memphis airport is among my favorite airports.

The nightmare had to do with the company we traveled with.

My son and I arrived from a twenty hour trip from Belgium around midnight and left for Tennessee the next day to attend a conference.

We were stuffed in the back seat of the king cab truck and weren't allowed to speak of Belgium. Their "backseat" was big enough for a small child or for an adult with no legs.

They complained about how I wasn't doing any of the driving. I explained that I was exhausted from my trip and from lack of sleep, but they told me to shut up. Every time the driver got out for gas she smoked when she got back in the truck. I'm allergic to cigarettes. They cranked the air conditioner up until we froze. It took us a day and one half to reach our destination.

The conference was wonderful and we learned informative things about our family roots.

However, our accommodations were difficult. Our companions told the motel that the room was reserved for two people when four of us stayed in it. We slept two people to a queen sized bed. The room felt like it had been sitting empty and abandoned for a while since its last cleaning. There were dead bugs in the corners of the bathroom floor.

One of the women resented my Bible reading and putting on my makeup. I hid in the bathroom after everyone went to bed to read my Bible. She tried to chase me out the bathroom. She also kept trying to keep me away from the mirror even though she wasn't using it.

On the way home my son and I got time in the front seat. One of the women who is over 300 pounds took up most of the back seat and complained that I was taking up too much room. My hip went out due to the angle I had to sit in. I had a lot of pain and tried to shift my position which she would counter by taking more space.

When it was my turn to be in front I drove. But I couldn't drive as far as they could because I kept falling asleep and felt like I was coming apart due to lack of rest from my previous trip. They told me that I couldn't drive well because I wasn't as strong as they were, then when I quit they kept complaining on how I didn't hold up my end of the bargain and hardly did any work.

I swore that I would never go on another trip nor ride in another vehicle with them. I have kept that promise since 2004. We are also no longer friends. This trip was the final straw after a series of other incidents that took place between us.