Cross-Country Road Trip, Part the Third

I made it!



3,100 miles from Dracut, Massachusetts, to Hanford, California. From the east coast to the west coast in seven days.

This was my route: Dracut, MA --> East Syracuse, NY --> Maumee, OH --> West Des Moines, IA --> Ogallala, NE --> Grand Junction, CO --> Henderson, NV --> Hanford, CA

The picture is the view from my hotel in Grand Junction, as promised.

I've actually been here in California since Tuesday evening. I started working again on Thursday. The stress of the drive combined with working east coast hours has left me too braindead to write.

Right now Jason and I are plugged in at Panera, being geeky together. It's not that we don't have internet access at home, we just don't have any chairs. Or tables. Or any furniture at all. It could remain that way until the end of the month. The problem with military moves is that they often transport more than one shipment at once, stopping along the route to drop off or pick up, so it can take forever. Our hard delivery date is April 30. We'll see if we can make it that long before buying some folding chairs and pots and pans. Or an air mattress. We've been sleeping on the floor, in sleeping bags. It is impossible to feel fully rested that way.

Overall, the trip was uneventful. I only got pulled over once (no ticket), only cleaned up cat diarrhea in the car once, and only lost a cat once. The culprit on both cat counts was Jacob. I was getting ready to leave the hotel in Grand Junction and had taken a couple of loads out to the car already, and was preparing to put the cats in their carriers. Jasper and Lola were sitting around in the room, but I didn't see Jacob anywhere. I checked under the bed, under the sleeper sofa, behind the shower curtain, and in the closet. I shook the food dish and crinkled the treat bag while making kissy noises. No Jacob. I thought that maybe he had managed to slip past me when I had the door open, so I went and walked my floor to make sure he wasn't running around the halls. No Jacob. I went back to the room and unfolded the sleeper sofa, opened all of the cabinets and the refrigerator. No Jacob. I walked the floor two more times, checking the trash can to make sure he hadn't jumped in there. No Jacob. Heart pounding, I headed back to the room to call the front desk to ask if they had, perhaps, seen my cat. Then I saw a lump under the bed covers. It was small, like the blanket had gotten bunched up, but I checked it anyway. I put my hand on top of it and it moved. And purred. That little shit was sleeping under the covers the whole time.

I don't think Jason would have ever forgiven me if I had lost him. Losing a ring is forgivable. A family member, not so much.

In classic Heidi Renée fashion, I rolled up to our new apartment Tuesday night in a foul mood. I had a pounding headache, had just gotten my period, and was grumpy because of all of the factory farms and run-over dogs and cats I had passed on the highway on my way into town.

My first, tearful words to Jason were "I hate it here already."

I'm so charming.

I apologized later for my behavior. I was genuinely happy to see him--ecstatic, really--but I was dead tired and less than thrilled with the appearance of our apartment.

More on that tomorrow. I'm thinking I'll do a Cribs-style video tour for you. Get excited.