Back Home

Well, I'm back... for better or worse. Rachael and I left Louisville yesterday morning about 7:30 or so and headed on our way. For whatever reason, the GPS decided that it would be better if we returned via a route that was different than the one which brought me there. I'm not sure why it does this and if anyone could give me a reasonable explanation, I would appreciate it.

Our "normal" route takes us on an excruciatingly long path through the length of the beautiful state of New York. The "new" route instead took us through the even more excruciating, but just as beautiful state of Pennsylvanian. It was somewhere along this point that I realized something was amiss. Instead a brief cut running parallel to Lake Erie, we were spending way too much time in the state. It's not that I minded it so much as I had the sinking feeling that it was going to eventually send me over the George Washington Bridge into a quagmire much like my return trip from North Carolina.
It didn't as it turned out, but it was still a long ride- about fifteen hours including pit stops.

I had rented a lovely hotel room for my ride down. It was, as it turns out, about an hour and a half to two hours from Rachael. Some people might rent a place halfway through their route to split the driving equally. That's not what I do. I don't look forward to driving, and I typically want to get as much of it over with as soon as I can. I look at my route and figure out what I think might be the absolute limit of what I can stand driving in one day, and then look for a hotel. That way, the anvil of the next day's travel weighs less over my head.

For the ride back, I hadn't reserved anything. I didn't know where we would end up- though this obviously had nothing to do with my unanticipated new route. I didn't rent anything because I didn't know how much driving we would be able to stand. The previous two days encompassed a drive of a little more than nine hundred miles total, plus packing and loading up than van- not to mention anything else we might find time to do. I figured it was better to play it by ear.

It turns out that driving home with Rachael is a lot more fun than driving alone. I say this as if it were a surprise. It wasn't. But the result is that time feels like it goes by, maybe not faster, but easier.

As dinner approached and we drove on, we talked of stopping to get something to eat- more out of obligation than hunger. We first pulled of to a little subway shop/gas station on a dead end that had a kind of creepy feel to it. We filled up the van- and left. After many miles of Are you hungrys and I'm doing fines, we pulled off another exit to look for the apparently non-existent diner that was advertised at the exit ramp.

So we went on. By this time, we were about three hour from home according to my GPS. But my GPS had lied to me before. Still- "Let's go a little further" slowly brought us to an hour from home. At some point along this hour from home, I seriously considered looking for a place to spend the night- not because I was tired, but because we were getting back "too quick". We didn't stop though and ended up getting home sweet home about ten-thirty last night.

The weight of the last few days caught up with me when I got in the door. I went upstairs to peek at Sam, who was fast asleep (my test is I put my hand on him and cover him up. If he doesn't move, I blow him a kiss. If he doesn't blow one back, he's asleep).

So I sat an unwound for a bit, wondering why I rushed to get back- which I guess had to do with the weight of driving hanging over my head. If I had to do it over though, I would have stopped somewhere. Maybe for a couple of nights.