Off the Road Again...

Saturday

My mom and I have orthogonal traveling styles. I’m the rise at 6 am be on the road by 7 type. Mom is the sleep till noon type (thankfully hotel checkout times force her to be up by 9 at the latest, since she takes two hours to get ready and checkout time is 11). However, we have a compromise in Fort Collins, at least when we don’t have very far to go that day. I get up and do whatever during the morning (today I walked down the frontage road by the interstate, came back and loaded the car, then practiced taiji), so that we’re still in town at noon and can eat at Sri Thai. It’s not JUST because it’s my favorite restaurant. There’s no guarantee I’ll be able to find edible food wherever we wind up next, and any leftovers become future meals for me. If necessary, I can order a dish to go as well. So I don’t pester my mom to get going and she doesn’t growl at me (unless I’m too loud when I get up).

We did some shopping while waiting for the opportune time to dine. I found a wool poncho and blanket at the Nepal/Tibet Import Store. Which means I can get rid of a few more old acrylic and/or polyester blankets. I also finally got a new pair of sandals. The ones I have are still wearable, but they are near to falling apart. I’ve glued the straps back into the base two or three times now, and the elastic that holds the straps to the buckle is about stretched to the breaking point. They no longer make the exact style that I got (and have no color remotely as good as that color), but I found a pricier style that was SOOO comfortable. I mean, if feet could sing, they’d be singing when you put these on. Not as pretty, not as good a color, but for that level of comfort I can overlook a lot of minor cosmetic imperfections. (Incidentally, my mom agreed they were more comfortable; then bought the less comfortable ones that looked prettier. I will not state my opinion of this action).

At any rate, we left for Akron around 13:30, and got there around 15:00. The hotel was more organized this time (last time the hotel clerk was no where to be found), and we got checked in right away. Then we headed over to Beula's house to hand off the Intrepid. She was still rather flabbergasted about the whole deal. However, she seemed to like the car. My mom was rather frazzled and managed NOT to bring the title with her, but she's going to mail it to them.

Then while Mom was at the Alumni banquet, Virginia and MaryAnne (two of Grandma's friends) took me out to Akron's one decent restaurant. They have several things I can eat (that night I ordered salmon, and was very glad they put the sauce on the side: cucumber, yogurt, and garlic. All I can say is, "What's your damage?"). There was a singer at the restaurant, sort of folksy-country stuff. The singer reminded me of my uncle Darwin, though I don't THINK Darwin ever sang.


Sunday

Breakfasted with MaryAnne, Virginia, Beula and Bill at the same restaurant. I ordered sausage and eggs (no hashbrowns or toast). We left town around 10:00. Stopped at the Outlet Mall by Loveland for a bit (for food and because I wanted to go to the Coleman store; I got a very nice sleeping bag for $30). Then we drove. And drove. And drove. And drove. When I wasn't driving, I generally slept. At least with onle one car we COULD trade off. Mom was asleep when we got to Rock Springs, so I continued on to Little America. She got food there and I made use of their microwave to heat up Thai leftovers. I asked if Mom felt up to continuing on, and she drove from there up to Cokeville (I slept through Kemmerer; I'd halfway expected she'd try to find a hotel there). Then I drove from Cokeville to the rest area just barely outside of Pocatello, as Mom needed to stop. I let her drive the fifteen or so remaining miles. We got into Pocatello around 22:15. Mom dropped me off and we unloaded essentials. The rest waited until Monday.


Monday

Walked up to a park by the interstate to practice taiji. It was a bit too warm for this to be comfortable: summer seems to have struck in our absence. Otherwise I didn't do much, but I did go over to see the bouquet that Beula sent Mom. I also got a bit of writing done, but I'm in the process of weaving some threads together at the moment and that happens in my head before it happens on virtual paper.


Today

I think I'll go up to Gibson-Jack after lunch and hike around a bit. Not sure if I'll make it the full 8.5 miles, but I'll go in a ways at least. :^D (UPDATE: I might try Corral Creek instead; it's short enough I might make it all the way through)