Today
should be our last day of driving! I really enjoyed the trip until last night.
We had smooth sailing until we got into Illinois. And while I don't want to
blame the state itself for the weather, it seems like it got colder, darker and
ICIER as soon as we crossed the border. Eduardo said he was fine, but I could
feel my car sliding. It felt like the back of it was swinging to the left or
right in certain spots, and I just didn't feel right. But at the same time huge
semi's and tons of cars were flying past me (and Eduardo since he had to wait
for me). We ended up stopping after a particularly bad patch at a Love's. I
kind of felt like I was making it up, since everyone else on the road seemed to
be fine (including Eduardo), but I was unable to convince myself of that. And I
wasn’t willing to bet my life, or
someone else’s on it either. I felt even
more convinced once we got back on the freeway and the road got the worst I
felt it had been, i.e. I was slipping and sliding and counter steering, and
telling Eduardo to slow down, and then up ahead we saw a car off the road in
the median, and a pickup in the ditch to the right. Apparently I wasn't the
only one slipping. It was really stressful.
But the
whole day before that went by great, and fast. It didn't take too long to get
out of Nebraska, and in the morning I was able to watch flocks of geese flying
north. There were tons of them, all going the same direction.
You learn
interesting things while on the road. Things you wouldn't normally. I learned
that Eduardo would rather be stuck in a room of beavers than raccoons. I learned
that the biggest city in Wyoming is not so big, I learned there is a Robert
Henri museum in Nebraska, and that John Wayne was born in DeSoto Iowa. I
learned that my and Eduardo's speedometers are about 5 mph off.
You
observe things you normally wouldn't as well. In Wyoming it was the sky, In
Nebraska it was definitely the ducks/geese and the tumbleweeds. In North
Island, Nebraska I noticed a truck driver calling into the local radio station
to request "If I Can't Have You" sung by Yvonne Ellimen.
And you
spend a lot of time thinking about random things. I thought some time about
shiny things. The ducks were shiny as the flew overhead. The cornstalks were
shiny in the fields. I thought about coffee, and the fact I'd only seen 4
Starbucks the whole way, one in Fairfield, one in North Platte, one in Lincoln,
and one somewhere between the Mississippi and here. I thought about how the
scrubby brush of the west had slowly given way to grasslands. And I thought
about the buffalo that once would have been abundant in such a place. I thought
about how annoyed I am that we still call Native Americans "Indians".
I'm even more annoyed that Columbus didn't believe it when people told him he
hadn't actually reached India. What a stupid mistake to persist so long. I
thought about the fact that there wasn't a single tall building between Salt
Lake City and Lincoln Nebraska. I thought about all the times I've thought it
would be fun to go on a road trip and eat only at diners all along the way. I
thought about how that did not work with my resolution to eat healthier once we
left California. I thought about why someone at exit 292 in Iowa would decide
to name their restaurant "Machine Shed Cafe".
After
several days on the road, it is actually possible to get so caught up in these
strange wonderings and observations that you actually forget you are driving. I
lost about 40 miles in the middle of the day yesterday, just because I was so
busy pondering how desperate people
must have been to give up their lives and civilization and become a pioneer and
head out here without cars and highways.
I also
composed a couple of pretty good (I think) haiku. I listened to music for a
while, but I found it distracting. And I realized that most of the CD albums I
have only really have 1 or 2 at most songs on them I like. So now I am considering
adding the few good ones to my iTunes and trashing the rest.
And that
is how I spent my time. I am anxious to get to our destination today, mostly
because of the roads and the weather. I could handle driving longer, but the
icy road stress gets old really fast.
Eduardo
is taking his time this morning, and it's just as well. Assuming the roads are
OK, we should get there around 5 or 6 tonight. We had a great night at our
hotel last night, and we got almost the last room here! Everyone had to get off
the road, I-94 was closed up in Michigan , and the roads were icy. But we
lucked out. We had a great hot tub that was super hot (and great for my frayed
nerves), and we had dinner at The Cracker Barrel! My salad has a piece of
plastic in it, so they gave me my meal for free. And we have a great room that
we are taking full advantage of.
I'm a
little nervous about getting back on the road, but anxious to do so as well. I
don't think we will go to the house today, but we definitely will head over
there tomorrow. Only one more day till we get started on our fixer-upper. I
can't wait to start this new, new adventure! We just have to make it there
first!
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