What happens when...

What happens when you leave on vacation, stop at Costco for dinner, only to find out your debit card has expired, you left your checkbook at home (since you only use it to pay bills), and you have 15 cents between the change in your wallet and the ash tray?
At first realization we were a little embarrassed because we had to tell the cashier at Costco that we would not be able to buy our balsamic vinegar or order our food, but really, more just annoying than anything. I still got a delicious dinner at Panda Express (which we don't have in Kentucky) so I was excited about that.
We ate our dinner in Indianapolis and continued on towards Chicago, realizing it was stupid to go on vacation with no cash, but thinking it would be fine and we would make it work.

We continued on for a little while, seeing some signs for toll roads ahead, but doing our best to avoid them. Finally, after backing up at one toll both since there was no attendant and we had no money, we were stuck at one and asked the attendant what we could do with NO money. He asked if we had any cash, a check, etc...we obviously said "no" and then he replies, "Well you're going to piss a lot of people off behind you" as he asks for Grant's license and gets out of the booth to check our license plate number. We held up the line for a little while but really not that long, and he was happy to send us on our way with a receipt to mail in our payment stating that there was another toll ahead for $3 but we could use our card. Feeling relieved we continued on our way...

As we pull up to the next toll, we get out our card, ready to pay. She swipes it and alerts us that it does not work. Grant asks if we should walk over to another booth and try it there, and she says if it doesn't work for her, it won't work for anyone. We're pretty sure they only took debit, but failed to mention that, and our debit card, obviously, was still expired. We asked if they could give us a receipt like we got at the last toll, and she said they don't do that at there. The toll attendant just started laughing as we explained our situation, totally unsympathetic, grabbed her drawer and just walked over to another booth. There we were, with the arm down in front of us, a line of cars behind us, and no one in the booth to help us.
Sitting there feeling totally hopeless, the cars behind us start realizing what is going on and moving to other lanes. After sitting there just laughing for a few more minutes, we reverse like a quarter mile down the freeway to an area where we can turn around thinking we really might not be able to get to Chicago. I scroll through the GPS and find an "avoid toll road" option, which leads us off the freeway so we decide to trust it.
After some winding through random streets, feeling more and more unsafe as we continued, I decided to put the GPS in my lap instead of on the dash (as not to attract any extra attention) and lock all the doors. We eventually found the freeway and continued on our way :)
We finally made it to Dave and Kenna's, feeling terrible that it was an hour or so later than we anticipated and after 11 pm (little did we know they don't go to bed til 3:30 am since she works nights), but were just glad that we didn't have to turn back home at that second toll.

The no-cash saga continued the next day, I won't bore you with the details, but luckily Kenna was kind enough to loan us money to get on the train, used the 45-minute ride to figure out how we were going to get some cash (and let me tell you, we had some creative ideas). Finally we realized we could get cash off our credit card with no additional fee as long as we paid it off that day, and after 3 much too long conversations with the CC company, I stood there at the ATM with cash in hand and ready to have an amazing weekend!

***SIDE NOTE-100th POST-I can't believe it!***