The Drive

Ok, Ok!  I am back!!!  We have been in Longmont, CO, for 3 weeks today.  We finally got internet and satellite installed, so we can now spend a little more time at home, where we can be connected both online and with tv!  It has been a bit strange being so unplugged!  We would get online at coffeehouses and the local library, but the moments were fleeting and often spent searching for and applying to jobs.  Now, we can do so many more things from the comfort of our home, which will also help us to get even more done in a day!

 

While it seems like a long three weeks, the days themselves were flying by.  I think with no routine or real commitments to our time, we have been just moving at our own speed on any given day.  We have done some exercising, visited some new places, unpacked, decorated for Halloween, visited with family and a few other things.  Yet, I am feeling a bit out-of-sorts.  I hope that by putting my thoughts down here (and I have been collecting many), I will begin to grasp a bit of control back.  And then I will really be able to enjoy myself in our new (and breathtaking) surroundings. 

 

So...I am going to begin where it began: 

 

Observations from the Road ~ Things I Learned During Our 2-Day, 18-hour Drive from Indiana to Colorado

 

A squirrel will run out into the highway!  And then I will accidentally hit & kill it!  Usually, I will slow down or swerve a bit, but on the highway, at fast speeds, I had to continue in my lane.  I did briefly take my foot off the gas pedal and scrapped the top of it a bit, but I didn't brake!

 

Somehow, a mouse can fit betwen me and my seat, amidst my sweatshirt that was bunched behind my lower back for support!  One of our pitstops, I look back into my car and see what I thought was one of the cat toys.  However, it just didn't look exactly like any I remembered.  So, Chris takes a closer look and, lo & behold, it is a REAL and DEAD mouse!  My joke on Facebook is that my ass is so rock hard (from all of my working out) that it can kill a mouse!

 

There is a city in Iowa called What Cheer!

 

Isis travelled much of the first day sitting in the litter box I put on the floor behind my seat, in case they needed to use it during transit.  She had my lap, the seats, the top of her carrier, inside her carrier, the back window...yet, she chooses the litter box, which is quite funny b/c that is where she spent her time when we found her at the pet store and when we first brought her home (14 years ago)!  I guess it must be her safe place! 

 

You will always have a Friend in Nebraska. 

 

We were told that Nebraska is the most boring state thru which to drive.  Well, my suggestion: listen to movie soundtracks!  That's what I did and didn't find Nebraska so boring after all!  I listened to "Nightmare Before Christmas," "Moonlight Kingdom," and "Practical Magic" are a few of my faves!

 

Don't pick up hitchhikers!!! Especially when you see the signs and they are posted near correctional facilities!  (We didn't, mind you...it's no longer the 1970's when thumbing for rides was du jour!)

 

Kearney, Nebraska, where my cousin, Tam's, paternal grandfather was born and is the only reason I paid attention as we passed it on Highway 80, is the sand hill crane capital of the world.

 

Stop for gas when you see the first exit, otherwise you get a Dairy Queen-gas station combo with dirty bathrooms, bad coffee and gas pumps from the early 20th century (read: no pay at the pump capabilities)!

 

Head inside the gas station to use the facilities FIRST...if there is no running water, therefore no bathrooms to use, then don't buy gas here!  Spend your money where you get to use the toilet!!