1st Week of Vacation

My first week of vacation is all over. I spent a good deal of it catching up on some much needed rest. Then after being long undecided on whether or not I would travel to NC to visit my parents, I decided at the last minute to go. It’s not an insignificant drive, so quite a commitment for me as a lone traveler. Also meant I’d need to pull some friends in for cat care. (Thank you Chrisy & Martin!!!)

I decided Tuesday night I’d leave early Thurs morning, so that really just left Wednesday to get everything worked out and ready to go. My to-do list required laundry done, a repair for the screen door, gas for the car, and some cash from the bank. My hair was a mess, and I really wanted to get my hair done (bleach out the roots and re-blue), as I knew mom would want pictures. Oh, and of course I needed to pack and such too! The goal was to get it all done in time to go to Kyudo at 6 PM.

You might imagine that never happened, and you’d be correct. It would have been daunting under normal circumstances, but in my current frazzled state there was no way that would have worked out. I slept in more than I intended, and did a terrible job of staying focused on laundry (which was crucial to packing), and neglected to account for all sorts of little things that would pop up througout the day.

For example, I went out to check the mail and found my mail-in ballot had arrived. Woot! However, that was another item to handle before heading out. I thought voting would be quick, but that was before I realized I had local elections and school board stuff to vote on too. It took about an hour to do some research and get things ready to mail, but I felt good about getting that done.

Woot! Voting accomplished! (If only that meant people would stop harassing me about their candidate of choice…)

I also discovered I had never dropped of the stuff I had set aside to donate when cleaning out the closets over the weekend. I was not going to take it out and leave it in the garage… It would never get done, plus mice might settle into the bags. (They ate into my birdfeed.) So that was another new task for the list. Fortunately Goodwill was open and near the bank. Woot! Took care of that, then was off for the post office and Home Depot.

It was after 5PM by the time I got back, and the cats were anxious for dinner. As they were eating, I realized with everything going on I had never actually eatten anything myself - all day! That’s when I finally stopped for a moment and realized I was totally stressing out and in no shape to go to kyudo. I was mentally a wreak and just needed more time. The more tasks I finished, the more I realized that I still had to do, as all the little things like cleaning the cat box, taking out the trash, etc. never made my list. Argh!!!

After the cats and I had eatten, I set myself to all those little tasks until the laundry finished and I could pack. By 8 PM things were in better shape, so I decided to update the music on the USB drive for my car. (That I think turned out to be a literal life saver.) Finally, around 10 PM I decided to try and tackle my last task, the screen door to the deck.

Abby had pounced right through the screen after a mouse or squirrel Tuesday evening.It really fixed or there would be no leaving the door open for air without cats escaping. I haven’t replaced a screen before, but it didn’t seem too difficult. My first two attempts were crooked and had to be restarted, and it was a little harder than I thought to get the spline in place. It also took longer than I thought (almost 2 AM when I finished), but it really wasn’t too bad overall.

With everything good to go, I made a pot of coffee, drank a cup, and then took the other for the road. I headed out about 3:30 AM. The first part of the drive was fine. It was just me and the road for a good part of the journey. The sun was rising by the time I was starting to get sleepy, and that perked me up again. I was in IL before I needed to stop for gas. That also offered time for a quick breakfast of donut holes and a little wake me up dance music.

Thank you, BTS, for the peppy dance tunes. Best thing I did before leaving was to add them to my USB drive for the car. I would not have survived the drive, particularly the end of it, without it.

No way around it. The end of the drive was brutal!!!

Once I got into the mountains around Nashville about 5 PM, it started to rain, and the clouds killed what little sun was left. Coming down out of the mountains and into Chatanooga was especially bad. The highway is steep and curvy, and the rain was coming down in sheets. I crept along behind some of the big trucks, but every now and then a huge semi would speed down from behind and scare the crap out of me. Even once we were down the mountains and into the city, the rain was so heavy that traffic was still slow at 30-40 MPH on the highway.

The worst was still yet to come. I always mentally think that once I make Chatanooga, I’m basically there. However, it’s still almost 3 hours left to drive, and the last stretch into Franklin goes scenic through the mountains and national forest. The part along Lake Ocoee and the river is particularly bad.

It winds and twists with several hairpin turns and steep inclines. I was terrified and creeping along through the rain and now fog. I could barely see 6 feet in front of me. There were very few cars on this stretch, so no tail lights to follow. The few cars there were, passed me (when they could) and sped off, clearly more experienced with the road. I don’t know how they did it.

I got in several hours after I expected, somewhere around 11 PM. My parents were getting worried, since they hadn’t heard anything. Of course I wasn’t about to try and call on that road. (I later learned there wasn’t cell service along that stretch anyway.) I was quite literally shaking from the drive as I came in. We had some hello hugs, but I was just ready to collapse into bed. It took a bit to fall asleep, but then I slept quite soundly until almost 11 AM. Guess I needed it.

Waking up the next morning was great. Mom had tea and blueberry muffins. Woot! I must say, it’s just really nice there. The views are gorgeous, and it’s so peaceful and quiet.

I had a great two days there with my parents. Mom and I did an evening Korean sheet mask facial one night, which was oddly fun. We talked a lot and had a good time. I brought some games with, and we played a few rounds of Ticket To Ride each night. They held their own pretty well. We all won a game or two, and they enjoyed it so much I left it there for them to play. Sounds like it might be a new after dinner tradition.

The drive home went much smoother. I left Sunday after a late breakfast, refusing to make that drive out of the mountains again at night. It was much better in the daytime, though I did forget to get gas before leaving and nearly ran out in the middle of no where. Fortunately a little gas station and auto repair shop saved me just in time. (I maybe had 5 more miles of gas and probably 45 miles to go to the next real town.)

I took my time more on the way home. I stopped for dinner in Calvert City, KY and then planned to stop for the night after getting through St. Louis. It started raining again as I got into St. Louis, but at least this was mostly flat. I stayed over night in Hannibal, MO and then had about 6 1/2 - 7 hours of drive left to get home the next day. I walked in about 4:15 just as Christy was wrapping up work and kitty dinner time was approaching. We talked a bit before she headed out, then I settled in with the cats for some much needed kitty love.

I had quite an adventure this first week of vacation. I was hoping I might accomplish a bit more, but the time with my parents was worth all the stress and hassle of driving. It was really good to see them, especially with all that is going on right now. Family is important.