Unleashing "the beast" (my car)--
Living nine hours away has its perks. Momentarily I cannot think of many, but I suppose the main perk is worth thousands—you get to be somewhere new, entirely new, and you are embarked with a new kind of independence, but when it comes to driving by yourself for nine hours in order to get home one begins to wish that home was a bit closer.
Summer school=being at school for six extra weeks. Now as daunting as it sounds, it wasn’t all that bad considering I got two classes out of the way and I was able to go on a lot of trips during the weekends to visit friends and family that live around the area. But after being in school for a total of ten and a half months I cannot fully explain to you the utter excitement that encompassed me when I was at last able to go home.
I left a day early, in hopes of surprising my mom. I literally shoved everything into my car, that is, after stuffing it all in garbage bags, and dragging it down the stairs and along the black pavement. It was nearly a hundred degrees, and I kept stuffing things into the backseat of my car. I can’t even fathom exactly how ridiculous I looked rolling down the freeway with big fluffy orange and yellow pillows peeking out the windows, and a stripped comforter as my passenger in the front seat.
After nearly two hours of labor, I left:
2:03p.m: Left campus listening to the new Red Hot Chili Peppers CD—all was good.
2:13p.m: Merge onto the 5 North.
2:17p.m: .0002 miles further down the 5, there was, er, traffic.
3:41p.m: Start over the grapevine listening to “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” singing to myself like a crazy person.
4:02p.m: Stopping to get gas, and Starbucks, the Starbucks was a, um, mistake.
4:33p.m: Realizing my decaffeinated coffee was in fact caffeinated, and if you know me this is not good…..dancing to a strange oldies song.
4:44: Call someone and leave a 4 min message.
4:48: Call someone else
4:49: Call someone else
4:51: Is anyone home because the 5 is really boring.
5:33: Ok, I have to use the restroom, too much coffee.
5:44: Where is a bathroom?? Do people on the 5 not use bathrooms??? Can I use the outhouse for road workers on the side of the freeway.
5:59: I see an exit!
6:01: I missed the exit.
6:03: In chronic pain, has anyone ever died from having to pee so bad.
6:15: Can I just use the road? Do people on the 5 not pee?
6:17: I see an exit, I cut off two cars, nearly get killed, and take it. Sign says penitentiary 4 miles, food 9. Ok, not working.
6:19: Back on the 5, I can read my obituary now. “New meaning is brought to the saying when you gotta go, you gotta go, when a 19 year old girl literally has a fatal bladder accident.” (ok, so corny.)
6:21: I see a rest stop. Have I ever expressed how much I now love rest stops? At last the bathroom.
6:26: Back on the 5.
6:40: Undergo early signs or road rage. Why do people who are so freaken slow drive in the fast lane…I cannot handle this.
7:05: Stop for food and get hit on by locals.
8:00: Contemplate the many wonders of life…..needless to say, get know where.
8:33: Get gas at the sketchiest gas place I’ve ever seen. Lock doors twice.
9:03: Call Mom, and tell her I’m in Sacramento, and two hours from home, (this was the highlight of the trip.)
10:00: Suffer from the later stages of road rage, as trucks form in what I like to call a road barricade, taking both lanes at snail like paces, as if they are heading a parade.
10:33: Thirsty, but refuse to stop in fear of experience “can’t find a bathroom” happening again.
10:35: OFF the 5!
11:00: Road work in the middle of a county road, a sign says 30 min waits. My patience is diminishing—fast.
11:05: Open windows to try to wake up.
11:10: Road work let’s up quicker then it said, I speed home.
11:30: HomeJ
Nine hours in the car is very amusing, can’t you tell?