Tales From the Road (Part I)

Howdy, all--

The Trip West has hit a snag, after starting out horribly on Thursday and then cruising through all the excitement of Iowa yesterday. What's happened is, we're snowed in, in North Platte, NE. Whoopee. But before you start feeling too sorry for us, let me tell you that we're exhausted, beat up, and ready for a snow day, and this is a fine place to have one. Actually, the LaQuinta Inn here is particularly nice, including even a refrigerator and microwave, and across the street there's a convenience store run by the world's ultimate example of redneck frat boys (he was very excited when I walked in and went straight to the beer case, but less impressed when I chose Fosters), which promises frozen chicken nuggets for later, unless they've all been bought by the Nebraskans quickly filling up this hotel, in which case we'll be left with cheap burritos and hot dogs that will probably be reduced to charcoal on their little rolling grill by then. But we have access to a hot tub, gym, and business center, not to mention high speed Internet access in our room, and lots of cable channels. Even the cats seem satisfied.

So far, this trip has ranged from dire to passable, so today may actually be the first improvement. We have the World's Largest Truck, which I've named Bob, and which towers over the pavement (there are actually two steps to get up to the cab, and a sort of ladder arrangement for the back), and also a trailer hanging off the back of Phil's car, because, shocking as it may seem we actually have too much stuff to fit into Bob's 26 feet of free space. Yes, kids, the Romanoffs & Louis XIV together (or whatever wildly self-indulgent and materialist historical figure you'd like to come up with) would be proud of us, or possibly frightened, and in the middle of loading, we suddenly had to get a hitch installed on Phil's Honda, rent a trailer, and load it up with one leftover bookcase, an antique sideboard, and all our chairs. We may be stranded, but we'll always have a place to sit. In fact, we could serve dinner for twelve out in the corn fields, if only we could remember where we packed the tablecloth.

You will probably all, at some point, here the great sad saga of our last couple hours in Chicago, after both Bob and the car were packed, after Phil had dashed out to the cable company to return the boxes, after we'd swept and collected cats, and after I spent ten minutes completely breaking down and crying on our staircase. Oy, that was a fun moment. And things only got more exciting, as I scraped a parked car getting out of our driveway, infuriated half a dozen cabs by blocking Roscoe for twenty minutes (hard to care about that one), and then began learning the great new exciting skill of maneuvering something the size of a small ocean liner through city streets and at left turn lanes. Things got better yesterday, aided more than a little bit by the fact that LaQuinta, as a chain, seems to have very comfortable beds, and also serves excruciatingly carb-laden breakfasts every morning. Biscuits and gravy and make-your-own waffles are just the beginning. Oh-- and hideous coffee. Apparently the whole midwest is still in the grip of Folgers. I brought my own, but of course it's packed somewhere, god knows where, in the trunk or truck or trailer, bouncing about among the dozen chairs. But in any case, that first night on the road was good enough to get us going in better moods yesterday, which was good as the trip lasted nearly twelve hours and included way too much fast food and very unhappy cats.

Assuming that the rumors are true and the winds and snow are letting up tomorrow, we'll have a short day into Denver (260 miles or so) where we'll see a friend of Phil's and then maybe even watch the Oscars, and then two long days, one into Salt Lake City and the next all the way across Nevada into Reno. Those are both more than 500 miles, which means at least ten hours in these vehicles, but with a chance to rest and recuperate, we don't expect a problem. And the scenery should be beautiful, which is a lot more than you can say for Iowa. I've had just about enough farmland, thank you.

Meanwhile, I'm spending the day rewriting my resume and applying to jobs out West, and Phil's found us a storage space. Bob can breathe easier, there's a resting place for all those boxes.

P.S. If we can figure out where the camera is, I'll send along some pictures of our lounging cats, our aircraft carrier-sized vehicles, and the complete white out that is our parking lot. Mmmmmmmm-- aren't you excited?!