Remembering the road, day 24: The end
Remembering the road, day 24: The end
Day 24
Today we go home, but not before I try and fail to gain redemption in tennis against my brother. One day...
To add insult to injury, I mistook my mom's salt container for a sugar container; I realized the mistake when I shoved a spoonful of "salted" cheerios into my mouth. The only thing worse would have been if the milk was sour. She'll be getting a labelmaker for Christmas...
Throughout the trip we managed to avoid traffic jams, sitting on the highway, construction, accidents, and nearly every other kind of delay. Today we made up for that luck. What should have been a 6-hour drive ended up taking more than 8 hours. Not bad, really, but it's doubly hard when it delays the final stop: home.
The long lines came at the toll plazas; at construction areas; where traffic was simply heavy; and at one point where there was an accident on the other side of the median. That's the worst when traffic slows to a snarl because of rubbernecking. And the accident wasn't even that dramatic. Just a fender bender.
Aside from that, few things were remarkable today. At lunch, a woman who must have been suffering from emphysema was coughing up her left lung as I tried to eat my turkey sandwich. On the one hand, I felt really bad for her; on the other, it was pretty gross.
Speaking of lunch, Cynthia once again proved that the waitress always asks if everything is OK just when you've taken a bite of food. It's true! Another note: about half of the dining booths had phones. I don't know why. And in the parking lot was a woman who looked exactly like a Far Side character. I am not kidding.
Since traffic was so slow, I spent a little more time looking at other vehicles. Several semis had satellite dishes mounted to them, which I thought was pretty enterprising. One semi had a bunch of windows in the living space behind the driver, and we could see a couple of kids and a woman knitting. The family that long-hauls together, stays together...
Speaking of which, another semi I saw declared itself to be a Church on Wheels, not for hire. I really wanted to know what that meant. Did he pull into towns and hold revivals? Does he do anything to earn money, or is this just his thing? But, he was headed in the opposite direction and I never found out any more.
Another family was riding in a giant Dodge Ram duelly you know, the trucks with the double-wide tires in the back that makes it look like it has big hips. Anyway, the entire family looked to be shaped like the truck, which stood about 4 feet off the ground, and the dad driving it sped around the turnpike like Mario Andretti. I thought for sure he was going to cause an accident. Actually, come to think of it, today was the biggest day for rude drivers. I guess we're back on the East coast.
Finally, around 8, we pulled up to the house, found our cats alive and well, and started bringing in our stuff. It's been a long, fun, memorable trip. We're glad to be home, but I don't think either of us would mind going for a hike in Yellowstone today.
Josh and Cyn - Total trip miles: 7,124.
(P.S. Interesting moment Monday morning... we're fast asleep when we're awoken at about 6 a.m. by the sound of our front door opening. "What is it?" "Is someone breaking in??" We hurry downstairs only to find the house empty of other people. Glancing outside, we see one of our catsitters (all of whom we greatly appreciate!) shyly heading back down the path, hoping she didn't wake us up. I guess I should have told her we were home!)
