Things You Learn on a 13-Hour Solo Car Ride
I drove home--alone--from my daughter's college (near Canada). I drove through the night (got home at 4:30 a.m.). The road is long and dark. You learn a lot. Such as:
- No matter HOW close my gas is to EMPTY, I cannot buy gas from them. Just can't.
- No matter how hungry I am, I can't eat this.
- I really love this.
- There seems to be an extradordinary propensity for motorcyclists on the highway to do 90 mph. I fear for some of the guys I saw on the road. Doctors don't call 'em donor machines for nothing. Slow down!
- I really, REALLY love this guy's music.
- Even when I THINK I'm done crying from missing my daughter, something else will remind me of her and I will start all over again.
- My daughter's idea for me to marry him amuses me A LOT somewhere around 2:00 a.m. Yes, he's gay. But she thinks he would make me laugh, he's a writer, and we could settle into a nice companionship in our old age as we set up house together. (Oldest Daughter believes what I really need is a nice gay guy to marry.)
- I delivered 165 pounds of food to the food bank this week . . . when alone for long hours, I think of the food bank, the homeless, kids in foster care, and come up with ideas for saving the world. I just need to get elected.
- I really, really, really love my iPod. It borders on obsession.
- When I think of all the crazy things he's done, in sequential order, he really deserves the name.
- And most importantly . . . . WHEN ALONE FOR 13 HOURS, the STORY IDEAS JUST DON'T STOP.
Has a road trip ever taught you anything?
Labels: road trip
posted by Erica Orloff at 10:45 AM
13 Comments:
Only that I'm not as young as I once was. I used to drive through the night, LOVED driving at night, but now I have to stop every hour and a half and sleep. Even during the day. Riding in a car just puts me to sleep like a baby.
I'm really trying not to have coffee. But I'm not getting anything done. My brain just doesn't focus!
Yes, that I am old. When I get out of the car after one minute more than two hours, I am stuck in the seated, drivers position, with my right foot looking like it's stepping on the gas and my left leg bent with lethargy from doing nothing, for at least 40 minutes.
Spy and Amy:
Oh, indeed . . . I learned the "I AM VERY OLD" lesson today. Note that I drove 13 hours the day before (with her)--so 26 hours in 2 days . . . I ache from head to toe.
E
Mmmm,
Out of practice, I think. When I worked at the hospital I my commute was an hour to an hour-and-a-half one way, but now that my commute is 11 steps to the basement (yah!) a 30-minute drive seems to last forever and an uncomfortable 30 minutes it is.
Sounds like you've had a momentous and tough week.
Erica, glad you checked in...I was starting to worry.
I usually love roadtrips, but the last one I noticed I stopped more. My bladder has shrunk to the size of a walnut these days. I love the cocoon feeling during roadtrips, and I'm able to really think. I love listening to motivational CD's on the road. I love my new perscription sunglasses, and it's better than wearing contacts with dry-eyes. Comfy pants are a must, no zips or snaps. A last but not least, a goody bag on the passenger seat; snacks, water, and tissues.
Mark:
I used to do 1 hour and 45 minutes (train, plus walk from station) door to door to Manhattan. I MUST say the walk from upstairs down the staircase to my desk is bliss. And I don't even have to get out of my pjs.
E
LaDonna:
LOL! Oldest Daughter and I tried to make as few stops as possible. Toward the end, we were psycho about it.
On the way HOME, I was on very dark roads in central PA. A woman traveling alone at 3:00 a.m. I didn't stop. I didn't want to end up a serial killer statistic. ;-)
But I also like the cocoon feeling. Oldest read aloud to me on the way up--of course, David Sedaris. We laughed until I worried I might crash.
E
I have taken many road trips in different countries around the world and have planned an entire house, my future, many books of course, designed a complete wardrobe and righted the wrongs of the world.
Suzanne:
Yup! Amazing what all that time and space does.
E
hehehe I love my ipod too.
Okay this is really nosy of me and feel free to smack me and say "nunya" but...are you and your kids' dad not together? This has been a point of confusion for me, because you talk about him sometimes like you're together, but then you talk about marrying other guys (in jokey ways) so I'm just deeply confused and more than a little nosy. Like I said, if this falls into 'nunya' I won't be upset lol.
Zoe:
I defy any person to not be charmed--attached or not--by him:
http://www.amazon.com/Me-Talk-Pretty-One-Day/dp/0316776963
LOL!
E
I read the excerpt on Amazon.com. He's a very good writer!
You'll purchase lovely cats and dogs together (since I assume you are done having children, and there is the tiny problem of him liking other men.)
Zoe:
Considering my track record, I can overlook that. :-)
E
Post a Comment
<< Home