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Halfway

 I didn’t get all of my packing done last night.  I worked until I was so punch drunk I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be doing.  I finally decided — with some prompting from OC (on the phone) – to get some sleep and hit it fresh in the morning.  I slept.  No, I over slept . So I came charging from my room ready to do battle … and for some reason I had left the vacuum cleaner right at the end of the hallway.  I whacked it with my little toe and neatly — okay, bloodily — removed the toenail.  Not a good start.

I finished packing in very good time. Then I went to the post office to mail several of the boxes to my sister – and the line stretched from breakfast to lunch.  Finally, packages mailed, I charged home to pack the car.  I figured that would take a lifetime, but the neighbor guy came over and did it in minutes.  After the car was packed I showered, put on clean clothes, turned in my keys, and hit the open road.  It was 1 p.m. — much later then I had planned to leave.

I made up a bit of time in the vast flatness that is Arizona.  The road is straight from horizon the horizon, so I just stepped down on the gas pedal.  There was another fellow in an even bigger hurry than I.  I was going 90 m.p.h. and he shot past me like I was standing still.  His haste made me rethink mine and I slowed down.  Even so, I passed him a couple of miles later and he was standing still — he’d stopped to look at some pretty blue flashing lights. 

 Right now I am in a motel just outside Salt Lake City, Utah — halfway to Spokane.  It was a long drive — 7.5 hours — and much of the route was being repaved, so we were routed to single file lines rolling too slow.  For a goodly portion of the drive into Salt Lake we actually traveled on the shoulder of the road.  Mile after mile — over an hour — of driving on the “wake up” strip.  My hands tingled from all the vibration in the steering wheel — and we won’t even talk about the noise …..   Driving in Salt Lake itself is actually a joy.  Even during rush hour the 10 lane freeway doesn’t get crowded.  The drivers were very courteous, too.  It was almost surreal.

After I checked into the motel — even before I unpacked the car –I went down the block to Applebee’s and had my only bite of food in almost 9 hours.  I ordered a steak, and ate like a vacuum cleaner.  I am not certain I didn’t munch the napkin.

Now I’m going to bed.

Good-nighzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…………

Quilly is the pseudonym of Charlene L. Amsden, who lives on The Big Island in Hawaii. When she is not hanging out with Amoeba, she is likely teaching or sewing. Or she could be cooking, taking photographs, or even writing. But if she's not doing any of that, she's probably on Facebook or tinkering with her blog.

14 Comments

  1. Ahhhhhhh… driving on water? Novel idea! I try to avoid the lakes myself…
    So you ARE official now… no longer a Nevadian? (is that what they’re called?) Or perhaps a Nevaho? LOL! SAFE and HAPPY travels to you, my friend!

  2. I know it isn’t nice, but I just love it when somebody blows by me and then gets caught. You have to eat with all that driving Quilly, no falling asleep behind the wheel!

  4. On the move, stay safe don’t sleep behind the wheel and never again go nine hours without food. Lord, I would pass out. 🙂

  5. <strong>Melli</strong> — ha! I am on my way to Friday Harbor for several weeks, THEN Hawaii.

    <strong>Kat</strong> — he was driving a Mercedes, so I figure of the two of us, he likely has more “fine paying” money. Of course, that may not be true. It might all be tied up in that shiny car.

    <strong>Tina</strong> — the kitties could make a whole blog story in themselves, but not when I’m as tired as I was last night. They are safe and will be adored.

    <strong>Pauline</strong> — I have enough — uh, food stores — that a few hours of hunger won’t make me pass out. Plus, I did have a jug of Powerade. However, about 30 minutes after I ate last night my body shut down big time. I slept for two hours fully clothed on top of the bedspread before I woke up enough to get <em>in</em> it.

  6. What an adventure you are having! I’ve moved across the country, from L.A. to PA, with a husband and four kids, but you’re changing your entire life! (Well, I guess I did too.)

    Good luck with everything.

  8. You are a speed demon. I can’t imagine why you would be in a hurry.

    (I know it’s wrong, too, but I admit to a little thrill that the other guy got stopped. I hope I’m not jinxing myself.)

  10. What an adventure. Hurry back to us, but not so fast that the pretty blue lights start following you too. 🙂

  12. I thought I should drop by to tell you to drive carefully, and not to talk to strangers.

    Just what you need advice from a recently graduated college student. ;0

  13. Quilly

    I will ask God’s Angels to get you safely to Spokane, and to make sure you get something to eat. It doesn’t do a body good not to eat.

    Safe journey to Spokane, and once you are settled in the Islands you must take time to tell us about the kitties new home.

    Blessings for a safe journey

  14. TLP — I love adventure. I try to make one everyday.

    Polona — take it easy? Perhaps you should have suggested, “Don’t get lost!”

    Nessa — I have always been fond of fast wheels. If you think I drove fast to my sister’s, wait until my drive to Seattle ….

    Dr. John — so far no blue lights. Yay!

    Brig — I am typing on my sister’s machine — no wifi available in her neighborhood.

    Mumma — arrived — all my pieces intact.

    Cooper — if I wasn’t one to talk to strangers, I’d have never met OC. Or you. Or ….. I always talk to strangers.

    Bill — I am here safely. Thank you for your prayers. I went a bit — several hundred miles — out of my way. But I’m here.

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