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Another road trip
May. 1st, 2006 07:22 pmI'm back now.
Because I've had too many reminders of the shortness of life recently, I decided I'd say yes to everything that looked appealing to me for a while. Therefore I just drove cross-country with my friend Ellen and her two elderly cats (to which I am allergic) as they moved from Cleveland to San Francisco. It was as much fun as I thought it would be; it was much less physically challenging than I had feared. I took a lot more allergy drugs than usual. I am now an enthusiastic convert to NasalCrom and would cheerfully join Vonda in endorsing it any time.
Every road trip could be a story, a novel, a vignette. This one didn't have an obvious hook: two middle-aged women drive I-80, day after day. The car doesn't break down; the cats don't get sick; no hitchhikers are picked up or even encountered. We just talk or are silent, all day long, driving on a well-maintained freeway across America. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa, Nebraska, Nebraska, Nebraska, forget about Colorado, Wyoming, Wyoming, Wyoming, Utaaaah, Nevada, Nevada, California.
Every road trip is essentially the same. This one will have stories about it eventually, but right now it's just road.
A month ago, I was on the train from Portland to Seattle with my Portland grandchildren, escorting them up here for a visit. Our seatmate was a young man on a month-long train trip around the US. He chatted with us pleasantly and encouraged the kids to keep working on their drawings. He was reading On the Road.
Because I've had too many reminders of the shortness of life recently, I decided I'd say yes to everything that looked appealing to me for a while. Therefore I just drove cross-country with my friend Ellen and her two elderly cats (to which I am allergic) as they moved from Cleveland to San Francisco. It was as much fun as I thought it would be; it was much less physically challenging than I had feared. I took a lot more allergy drugs than usual. I am now an enthusiastic convert to NasalCrom and would cheerfully join Vonda in endorsing it any time.
Every road trip could be a story, a novel, a vignette. This one didn't have an obvious hook: two middle-aged women drive I-80, day after day. The car doesn't break down; the cats don't get sick; no hitchhikers are picked up or even encountered. We just talk or are silent, all day long, driving on a well-maintained freeway across America. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa, Nebraska, Nebraska, Nebraska, forget about Colorado, Wyoming, Wyoming, Wyoming, Utaaaah, Nevada, Nevada, California.
Every road trip is essentially the same. This one will have stories about it eventually, but right now it's just road.
A month ago, I was on the train from Portland to Seattle with my Portland grandchildren, escorting them up here for a visit. Our seatmate was a young man on a month-long train trip around the US. He chatted with us pleasantly and encouraged the kids to keep working on their drawings. He was reading On the Road.
