2003-08-16
on the road again...

9:57 p.m.

Saturday, as in last week, Becca and Katie threw me a wonderful going-away party, despite the disapproval of the weather gods, who deemed it necessary to have a raging thunderstorm attend our outdoor party. Fortunately, the park that it was at had a large pavillion where we all retreated and spent the entire party. At one point, the power was knocked out and the lovely American-themed soundtrack that Becca and Katie had put together was put on hold until power was restored. However, I really appreciated all of the people who made the trek through the wind and rain to say good-bye to me. Thank you so much!

The next few days were spent packing, packing, packing. And moving. Yuck. I HATE that. Becca left for a conference on Sunday night, and wasn't going to be back until Wednesday, by which time I should be well on my way (I was driving to California). Her last words were, "Well, I'll say good-bye to you now, but I'll see you on Wednesday." Don't think she really thought that I was going to be ready to go on Tuesday, my planned departure date. I said that I was going to leave on Tuesday, even if it meant leaving at 11 PM, just to prove her wrong. Well, I didn't leave at 11, but it was pretty close. I ended up leaving at 9:30 at night. Fred asked where I was going to stop, and I said San Antonio. Well, I did stop in San Antonio...for gas. I didn't tell anyone because I knew that they'd have a fit (my parents included), but I was planning on driving straight through to LA - a 24-hour drive. What ended up happening was that I drove for six hours before I became REALLY tired, dangerously so, and stopped in Ozona, Texas to catch 2.5 hours of sleep in a Best Western parking lot. It was well lit, there were other things around, like gas stations and restaurants and such. I made the trip in 24.5 hours, including that 2.5 hour nap. Not too bad.

Sure enough, everyone I talked to told me I was crazy. My dad said, "Bad Cari!" and that it was a good thing that I hadn't told him what I would be doing. I said that that was why I hadn't told him! Like I mentioned, I didn't tell anyone because I knew that they would worry and I would be the recipient of unending lectures about the dangers and stupidity of doing that, which would really make me upset because it was my decision and I don't appreciate anyone trying to tell me what to do. Granted, I could have prepared better, like getting more than a couple hours of sleep the two previous nights... Sarah said that leaving at 9:30 at night wasn't considered leaving on Tuesday by sane people. I asked, when have I ever been considered sane? She conceded the point.

So, anyway, I arrived at my aunt and uncle's in LA around 8 PM Pacific Wednesday evening. We had In-N-Out for dinner. Yum. Can't beat a double-double animal style (get your mind out of the gutter, Kay!).

The drive was LONG, and I will NEVER do it straight through like that, but I always kinda wanted to. I drove from LA/San Diego to Houston and back a million times while co-oping, and always wondered what it would be like. Now I know. It SUCKS. On the flip side, it has been two years since I made that trip, and while it was just as boring as I remembered, I don't know if it was the weather or what, but I found the desert more beautiful than I remembered. The weather was iffy for most of the drive, which meant that the tall desert hills on the horizon were shrouded in mist, which gave them an ethereal, mysterious presence, as if they hid some secret that was waiting for me to discover. I am such a sucker for that sort of thing. Of course, once you got close, you saw that they were ordinary, sandy hills dotted with the green brushes that come as close to trees as the desert gets. But in the distance, oh, they were almost magical. I took two pictures, and as soon as Becca sends me the cord that connects the camera to the computer (which I forgot), I will download them and put them up for you to see. I also saw the most incredible rainbow that I have ever seen in my life. It was so vivid that each color clearly stood out red-orange-yellow-green-blue-indigo-purple; for the first time, I saw the indigo!

I had planned on driving to Auburn (halfway between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe) on Thursday, but I stayed in LA and left early Friday morning to drive home. I met up with my good friends Andrea and Natalie and went bridesmaid-dress shopping; Drea's long-time boyfriend, Matt, finally proposed and they're getting married next June. As this was the only time between now and then that I'll be in California, we went now. Nat and I found the dress that we liked (it's dark lavender satin, pretty much the color of this page, with lavender trim) and we are betting that the wedding dress that Drea tried on is the one she'll end up picking. It's really pretty.

Becca says that she thinks I'm crazy because I had no time constraints. I did. I had to be in NorCal by 2 PM on Friday. In addition, I wanted to spend some time with my aunt and uncle in LA. Ergo, I must get there Wednesday night. Ergo, I must leave Houston on Tuesday. End of story. She has also been telling people that I am leaving for France on the 23rd, and then that I've decided to leave a day early. Huh? I made my tickets to leave on the 20th weeks ago. Shows how much she knows! ;)

As for arriving in Auburn, I had quite the welcome. I arrived late last night and pretty much went straight to bed, and today my parents are gone half the day attending a wedding reception for one of my brother's best friends and another wedding and reception for one of my sister's friends. That sister is Shelby, who is in the wedding and whom I saw today for all of 10 minutes. My other sister, Katie, is in San Diego, in a wedding. Great timing on my part, huh?

So, that's my road-trip adventure. I leave for France on Wednesday, August 20th from San Francisco. That will be quite the trip - SF to LA, four-hour layover in LA, red-eye to Boston, arrive at 6 AM, 12-hour layover in Boston, leave at 6 PM and arrive in Paris the next morning, August 22nd. Hey, I just drove 24 hours. This ain't nuthin'. =)

On a side note, Mars is easy to spot in the night sky right now, due to the fact that it's as close to Earth as it will be for a couple thousand years. Even if you're not a space-dork like me, that's still pretty cool. Here is an except from an e-mail I received about it:

"Never again in your (or my) lifetime will the Red Planet be so spectacular. This month and next Earth is catching up with Mars, an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years but it may be as long as 60,000 years. The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power magnification Mars will look as large as the full moon to he naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August, Mars will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m. But by the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a.m. That's pretty convenient when it comes to seeing something that no human has seen in recorded history, and which no one alive today will ever see again."

More from Becca. Apparently, Bennet has been moping. He can tell that I'm gone for a very long time, and that this isn't a couple-day trip. I miss my puppy very much. He also is having territorial issues right now. Last week when we had Bennet, Apache, Dixie, and the Mendeck's two dogs, Zoya and Roxy, someone peed on the food dishes. Nasty. I didn't think it was Bennet because he wasn't possessive about his food and would let the other dogs eat it if they came over. Becca gave me a hard time about being prejudiced towards my dog. So, I spent the rest of the weekend proclaiming the perfection of Bennet whenever she was within earshot. But, she did have a point that the likely culprit was the unneutered male marking his territory. It just seemed like such an un-Bennet thing to do, unneutered male or not. Anyway, the next night, same thing - food dishes marked. The following night, I separated Bennet from the rest (I usually had to do that because he is a slower eather and the other dogs will come and eat his food). No marking. Hmmm... Next night, again Bennet eating separate, again no marking. Okay, so it is my dog. It was confirmed when he went over to the Mendecks on Tuesday night and he marked their houseplant. Grr... Anyway, at least we know that as long as he eats separate, he'll be okay. I don't know what to do about the houseplants.

Alright, mes amis, I am going to go watch The Pianist. Bon soir.

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