On the Road…to Recovery
WARNING: There is some coarse language used in the following story.
The prolonged isolation from the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on my mental well-being throughout most of 2021. It began with a humiliating failed MRI attempt in February 2021 and then culminated with a complete emotional breakdown while trying to write the story about my friend Malaika. Aside from my wife, Lisa, I had no physical contact with ANYONE for well over a year, and it really started to weigh on me.
I’ve never been a largely social person, going back to high school. Being a bit of an introvert, it was difficult for me to make friends, but when I did, some of them wound up being the most impactful people in my life (i.e. Malaika).
I had such a burning desire to see some of my old friends again. Because of simple time and distance, I had not seen a lot of my good friends in a very long time, some for over 20 years. I knew seeing the friendly faces from my younger days would do wonders for my mental health. It was time to embark on another journey; one to reunite me with those people from the past who’ve meant so much to me over the years, as well as possibly meeting some new faces along the way.
In addition to wanting to see my old friends again, I had long wanted to complete the cross-country road trip that eluded me a long time ago. This was the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
May 11, Day 1
My trip would begin with flying to Seattle, Washington, from Orlando, Florida, with a stop in Chicago in between. I was never a huge fan of flying (ironic being as I joined the Air Force), but I always accepted it as a necessary evil when wanting to travel a great distance in a short amount of time.
I’d never been to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago before and, I must say, it is absolutely MASSIVE. I got lost once trying to find the gate for my connecting flight. Luckily, I found a friendly helper along the way :)
My flights from Florida to Seattle were more or less uneventful, which is a good thing when flying across the country. Upon my arrival, I quickly got my single checked bag and caught the shuttle to the rental car facility.
Now, you might be thinking that traveling across the country would require a lot more than one suitcase. Well, let’s just say that I know how to pack a bag. I was able to fit a week’s worth of clothes, my pillow, and a few other things inside with no problem at all. I have two words…space bags!
Anyway, once at the nearly empty rental car building, I quickly found my way over to the Avis desk. The gentleman at the counter was one of the best I’d ever dealt with when renting a car. He was quick, very personable, and never once tried to sell me on all of the extra coverages they offered for the car. Given that I was going to have this car for nearly two weeks traveling over 3,000 miles, you might think I’d want all of the added insurances. However, between the credit card I used and USAA car insurance, I was more or less fully covered for anything that might happen.
After obtaining my signature for the rental agreement, I was shown to the rental car garage two floors below. There was one lone SUV in the area of the Avis lot, and that was for me. I opted for an SUV instead of a smaller car for a host of reasons, one being, simply, comfort. I’m used to driving a bit larger vehicle, whether it’s my Toyota Tundra or Lisa’s Toyota RAV4. I like all of the extra room each vehicle provides. In addition, I also like sitting higher off the ground when on the road.
This car, a white Jeep Compass, was going to be my home for the next two weeks. I put my suitcase and carry-on bag in the back and quickly got myself acquainted with the car before leaving the lot. I got just familiar enough to allow me easy travels to my hotel. One thing I found rather unsettling was when I turned on the Jeep for the first time, the display on the dash was saying that the car was due for an oil change. SHIT! You’ve got to be kidding me. There was no way I was going to crack open the hood and check the dipstick…that is simply not my problem. I didn’t think it would matter if I said anything as there weren’t any other SUVS for rent with Avis. I just figured I’d chance it.
The drive to the hotel was more or less a piece of cake, with only a little bit of traffic on the highways around Seattle. Once settled in my room, I let my friend Lani know I made it safely.
Lani, short for Evalani, is my oldest friend. We met while we were both stationed in Alaska. She PCSed to Las Vegas a few months before I left Alaska, but I went to visit her a couple of times while she was in Las Vegas. The first trip to see her ended prematurely (I won’t get into the specifics). I’ll just say that our friendship could have ended prior to my departure, but we worked through it like true friends. I went to see her a couple of years later while on another road trip with my friend Jill. This was only for a couple of hours, and it was the last time I’d seen Lani. It’s been 20 years between visits.
Lani came by my hotel to pick me up, with her son, and we headed out to dinner at Duke’s Seafood. If you are a person who doesn’t like seafood, you should definitely NOT go to Duke’s. There is literally NOTHING on the menu other than seafood. I found a decent salmon dish, but the highlight of the food was the sourdough bread. OH. MY. GOD. That was the greatest sourdough I’d ever had. It had such a distinctive tartness that I’d not had in that type of bread before…so good.
Over dinner, Lani and I must have talked nonstop for like three hours. It was getting a bit late at that point, and I was beyond tired after the three-hour time zone change, so Lani dropped me back off at my hotel.
May 12, Day 2
The next day, after I ironed ALL of my clothes after a day stuck in a space bag, Lani picked me up again and we headed off to the Space Needle. Her son was originally going to go with us, but he told his mom that he didn’t think he could stand to be around us talking as much as we did the night before :) Lani and I both got a good laugh at that.
Being that it was Seattle, of course it decided to be cold and rain for most of the day (my only full day there). We made our way up to the top of the Space Needle. The view from the top floor was near nonexistent. All of the glass was just covered with rain and you couldn’t really see anything.
We headed down a couple of floors to the rotating floor. There was once a restaurant on this floor, but apparently it went away a few years ago. It was simply a place for tourists to get some great photo-ops. The view from here was much better than the floor above. I was able to snap a few pics of the skyline from all round the Needle as it slowly rotated.
Some of the views were still not great, especially trying to see across the water, but it was still wonderful nonetheless. Some of the buildings placed things on the roof for people to see from only the Space Needle. It was really cool for different businesses to have some fun like that. The strangest thing was one building that had two giant spiders on its roof. The picture below isn’t the greatest, but the spiders are clearly visible.
The whole time we walked around the Space Needle, which must have been a couple of hours, Lani and I were just talking about anything and everything. I enjoyed every minute of it. We made our way to the gift shop where I opted to get a nice Space Needle hoodie and a couple of bars of chocolate by Seattle Chocolate Company.
When I went to pay for my things, Lani gently pushed me out of the way and said, “I got this, Mike”. I was blown away by her gesture. Knowing Lani, there was no way I could refuse her generous offer. I’ll always have fond memories whenever I wear this hoodie moving forward.
I’d finally had my fill of the Space Needle, and we were both getting hungry, so we figured it would be a good time to find something to eat. The original plan was to head over to Pike Place Fish Market, and the surrounding area, for lunch and to walk around, but I was really starting to get worn down. We opted to head over to a Shake Shack instead. The food wasn’t bad, although I didn’t get what all the fuss was about.
Just like our previous meal, Lani and I yakked away for another couple of hours or more during and after eating. We were seated next to a busy street, so it was fun to watch some of the people that walked by and some of the horrible attempts at parallel parking by others.
It was finally time to drop me back off at the hotel. It was close to 1600 or so and I was really tired. On top of that, I needed to make sure I had everything in order for the long trip ahead of me. I asked Lani to come up to my room for a minute so I could give her a present I made. It wasn’t anything special, just one of the COG puzzles I’ve made before. This one was made from the same mango wood as Shanti’s picture frame from last Christmas. Since Lani is from American Samoa, I figured that would be a perfect wood to use for her gift.
On that note, we hugged a couple more times and finally said our goodbyes. It was so wonderful to have seen my oldest friend again after such a long time. I had an absolute blast with her. I hope we get the chance to get together again soon.
May 13, Day 3
After packing up the Jeep with all of my belongings, it was finally time to hit the road. I made sure to take a good look at the car’s manual prior to leaving, to make sure I knew everything about the buttons and gauges at my disposal. With that, I made my way out onto the highway, and on one of the greatest journeys of my life.
I had planned out EVERY stop on this trip very carefully. There were only a couple of instances where I would be traveling for more than an hour at a time (although not everything would go according to plan…more to come). Over 20 years ago, I was trying to make this same trip figuring I could drive for six to eight hours at a time without stopping. Yeah, there was no way in hell that was happening this time.
I am in no rush on this trip, unlike the trip long ago. In addition, I was woefully unprepared the last time, something in stark contrast to this go around.
Prior to my first stop, at a rest stop in North Bend, Washington, I noticed the temperature was dropping a bit to the mid 30s F. As I came to the exit, I saw that it was starting to snow. Seriously…SNOW!?! I was totally not prepared to encounter snow on the road during ANY of this trip.
I walked around the small shop for a moment to stretch my legs, and I happened upon a shelf that caught my eye. I laughed to myself and decided that I just HAD to take a picture.
This was definitely the place to go…it had ALL the shit.
I made my way back on the road and the snow quickly waned as I dropped in elevation and the temperature climbed.
The scenery along the highway throughout Washington was just spectacular. There were wind farms all along the horizon for miles on end. The endless greenery was a welcomed sight and the snow-capped mountains made for a wonderful complement in the background. Although I was not in any real hurry, I simply could not afford to stop off anywhere that wasn’t necessary just for the sake of taking pictures. This is one thing that sucked about making this trip solo.
I was coming up on another stop, this time in Granger, Washington. This was just a mere pit stop to simply stretch my legs. When I was getting ready to pull into the gas station, I noticed something I was not expecting.
Apparently, Granger has a thing for dinosaurs that I was COMPLETELY unaware of prior to stopping. There are quite a few more of these concrete dinosaurs around the area, but these were the only ones within view from the parking lot. Alrighty, time to get back on the road.
I made my way out of Washington and through a small section of Oregon before I finally found myself crossing into the Mountain time zone and into the state of Idaho. I couldn’t believe that, in certain sections, the speed limit was 80 MPH. I’d seen 70 MPH in plenty of places, but never 80 MPH. I stuck to keeping the cruise control around 70 MPH for the most part (at least for now).
I finally came to the penultimate stop on the first leg of the trip. This one had some special significance. This is essentially where my trip ended over 20 years ago in a place, ironically, called The Stinker.
When I had car troubles, I wound up at this small gas station. Thankfully, the nice woman working that day overheard me when I was on the payphone (yes, those still existed back in 1999) and called for a tow truck to pick me up and that was the end of that trip.
Well, I just HAD to make my way inside the building one more time, just to take a quick look around. It was more or less how I’d remembered it, only where the row of pay phones were now stood an open-air refrigerator case. I thought about asking the woman behind the register if she happened to be working in the store way back then (she seemed like possibly the right age), but I opted to just move along.
Shortly after leaving The Stinker, I drove by the spot on the highway where my old car died. It was very gratifying to leave that area in the dust and head on my way to the hotel and the rest of my journey.
I got settled, had dinner at a great local place called Goodwood BBQ, and called it a night. The first full day of driving was in the books. Aside from the snow, it was an absolutely wonderful day. The remainder of the trip was now uncharted territory awaiting my arrival.
May 14, Day 4
I didn’t sleep very well at the hotel in Idaho, for whatever reason, but the next leg of the trip was to be the shortest one, so that was a good thing.
As I made my way through the rest of Idaho, just like in Washington and Oregon, there were windmills everywhere in the distance. In the morning it was a bit rainy, so the drive and the view wasn’t as nice as the previous day. As I edged closer to the border of Utah, the landscape began to change. The lush greens and farmland were starting to fade away and a more desert-like terrain began to rear its head.
Don’t get me wrong, the changing landscape wasn’t horrible. In fact, the mountains were absolutely gorgeous across the horizon. The burnt ground was now overwhelming the lush greens from the previous couple of days, like I had landed on a different planet. I’d not seen terrain like this for a very long time, so it was a nice change of pace from the likes seen in Florida and much of the east coast, where I’ve lived most of my life.
I came upon the Juniper Eastbound Rest Area, my last pit stop prior to lunch. It was beginning to warm quite a bit by now as the rain and overcast weather from Idaho was well behind me by this point. I was wearing a hoodie throughout the morning, as I’d done most of the previous few days, but it was time to shed a layer and absorb the warming sunlight.
I strolled around the rest area for a few minutes and came across an interesting sign. If I had time to spare, I might have paid that location a visit.
As I made my way through Utah, closer to my destination, the view on either side of me was absolutely awesome. The mountains were so close and looked unreal. The northern-facing side of the peaks were still well-covered in snow, while the rest was bare. I can only imagine the views of these gorgeous mountainscapes from one’s back porch was truly a site to behold. I don’t think any of the houses I saw had a poor view.
I made sure to try and leave Idaho a little later in the morning despite not sleeping well, as I knew it was a short trip. I also took my time while eating lunch and at all of my pit stops. I made it to my hotel in Spanish Fork just in time for early check-in at 1500.
The location in which I chose to stop was just bustling with activity. There was no shortage of anything I could have possibly needed. I opted to forego a sit-down restaurant, due to my tiredness, and just got a sandwich from Jersey Mike’s to take back to my room instead. I sat back, turned on the Stanley Cup playoffs, and simply enjoyed my surroundings, including the view out my window.
This was not my originally intended stop in Utah. I had actually planned on traveling a bit further south to Richfield in hopes of seeing one of my newer friends, Tanesha. I met Tanesha on Instagram over the past couple of years, and she’s a great friend who shares MS along with me.
My plan was to spend an extra day in Utah and possibly get the chance to meet Tanesha over lunch, but I found out a couple of weeks prior to my trip that she was going to be on vacation with her family during the time of my planned visit. That news kind of sucked, but it wasn’t a big deal. I actually decided that, instead of spending the now unneeded extra day in Utah, I would spend that time in Colorado instead (a wise decision as it turned out).
I finally called it a night and went to bed, hoping for a better night’s sleep than the previous attempt. I’ll say one thing, I’m glad I had my own pillow with me, even though I haven’t slept great every night. The trip would likely have been a lot worse otherwise.
May 15, Day 5
I got an early start to my day, thankfully having gotten a good amount of sleep the night before. As it was Sunday morning in Utah, I was not expecting to see a lot of traffic on the roads, and I would be correct.
I was now going to be off of major highways for the first couple of hours of this leg of the trip, so higher speeds weren’t likely going to be in the cards. It was all well and good as I could tell the drive was going to be excellent from the moment I got on the road.
I was driving right in between two mountain peaks, and the sunlight was just starting to hit the tops of them. As was expected, there were a number of windmills in this area given the layout of the terrain. There was not a great deal of elevation change through the winding mountains, but the view was simply breathtaking.
I finally made it through the mountains and found myself in a more desert-like environment. The roads were almost entirely straight, with very few curves. There were still some mountainous terrain about, in the form of many flat-top mesas. The orange and red rocks that traversed these areas were just gorgeous.
I made my final stop in Thompson Springs, Utah, and I was finally able to get a decent couple of pictures of the landscape I’d seen throughout the morning.
I finally made my way into Colorado, and the first portion did not offer much of a different look than that of Utah. After a few hours I finally came upon the great Rocky Mountains. I’ve been through this area once before, on a road trip with Jill some time ago, however I’d long since forgotten the shear beauty of the mountains.
The many twists and turns through the ranges caused me to cross over the great Colorado river a few times. This also meant that I certainly was not going to be breaking any speed records for a while. It was all fine with me as I was enjoying the entire trip regardless of speed.
Something else I’d forgotten was the challenge the mountains were to present in surmounting their great peaks. I finally started my first ascent and I could feel the Jeep struggling much more than it did at the lower elevations. Just maintaining 60 MPH on most of these climbs was a miracle in and of itself. I really felt for the semi-truck drivers that drove these roads constantly, as they were crawling along at a snail’s pace throughout.
After finally reaching the summit, my next pit stop was the Rest Area Vail Pass in Frisco, Colorado. I was eternally grateful to finally reach this stop as I had been fighting the urge to go to the bathroom for the last 20 minutes or so.
When I exited the highway onto the ramp, I came to a sign that said that the rest area was closed…well, shit. I REALLY needed to use the bathroom, but there was absolutely nowhere to go discretely. There was no way I could make it to my next stop without probably wetting myself, and THAT was not happening AT ALL. I pulled onto a gravelly area, just off a side street parallel to the off ramp, where there were a few other cars, likely from hikers/bikers who were entering the trails inside the rest area. I kept a close eye out and didn’t see anyone coming, so I just did what I had to do.
I was facing the highway, but quite far from any motorists’ views as they drove by. I opened the front passenger door to the Jeep and, as discretely as possible, simply peed on the ground. I kept a keen eye out the entire time and no one was approaching, thankfully. By the time I was done and ready to get back on the road, no one would be the wiser. The wet dirt could simply have been made by someone emptying a water bottle. Hey, when you’re a guy, and you gotta go, you gotta go.
Before I left, I did manage to take a few pictures of the surrounding area.
My trek through the mountains continued with one final ascent, and this was the greatest of them all. It appeared much steeper than the previous one, much slower, and much longer. After a slow and steady climb, I finally reached the peak at the continental divide with the Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel at over 11,000 feet.
Heading down the mountain on the other side was in great contrast. I made sure not to hit the breaks a lot while going down the mountains, letting the engine do the majority of the work, as I did not want the brakes to fail on me. Thankfully, I made it down safely and finally found the way to my hotel in Castle Rock.
I was very excited that I was now done with long-distance driving for a few days. I had the rest of the day, plus three more full days, in Colorado with my best friend, Jill.
I was only 25 minutes or so away from Jill’s place, so I headed over there to chill for the rest of the evening. Jill greeted me at the door and once I got inside we gave each other the biggest hug. It had only been a little less than four years since I’d last seen her, but I never got to spend really any time with her then. I presented her with a COG puzzle as well, one made of white oak with both sap wood and heart wood. We talked for a little bit and then finally went out for dinner at Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar, where we talked even more.
After returning, we sat around and talked for a few hours, even though I was a bit tired. It was just like old times again. We talked about work, the past, relationships, sex…you name it, it probably came out of our mouths in a 100% judgment-free zone. It was so awesome to be with Jill again.
May 16, Day 6
I went back over to Jill’s for around 0800 and we headed out for breakfast at The Village Inn (it’s very similar to IHOP). We chatted some more over our meal, and then made a quick stop back at her place. The night previous I had asked if I could run a couple of small loads of laundry since I was getting a little light on clean clothes. Jill, of course, said yes. I ran one while we were out at breakfast.
I had no idea what was in store for the day as I didn’t really have much knowledge of the general area. Jill suggested we head up to Estes Park which was about 90 minutes northwest from where we were. I was certainly game for that, so we hopped into her Toyota 4Runner and made our way to Estes Park.
I think I was talking almost non-stop during the entire drive, about anything that came to mind. It wasn’t so much that I hated silence, it just felt like I had so much to talk about and to catch up on with Jill. It was a nice drive, but it was great to get out and walk around for a bit once we’d gotten there.
There were quite a few people walking around the sidewalks, traversing all of the various shops along the way. Since it was almost lunchtime, Jill and I opted to grab a bite to eat at a small pizza place. The slices were absolutely huge, and they tasted pretty good to boot.
There were a number of candy and fudge shops in the area, and I definitely wanted to check those out, but we decided to wait on that as we were headed for a couple of other stops first (we can’t be having melted fudge, after all). The below pics were while in Estes Park. The view and the rock formations were just so nice.
Jill and I headed back to her car and she wanted to drive us around a couple of the trailheads nearby if I was feeling up to it. I was still mostly awake by this point, so I said absolutely. The twists and turns around the roads were pretty sharp, so we weren’t doing more than maybe 30 MPH the whole way. We came upon one location and it caught my eye, so I asked Jill to stop. It turned out to be Longs Peak. I also snapped a couple pics of more rock formations that looked interesting to me.
We left the trailheads after a bit more driving, and I was really starting to feel a wave of tired hit me. Jill had one more stop in mind, and I was all for it. It was the Stanley Hotel, the place where scenes for the movie The Shining were filmed.
I hadn’t seen the movie The Shining in quite a while, so I didn’t remember much of what the hotel looked like, certainly not from the outside. Upon parking, we headed inside the lobby to take a quick look around. It is still a fully functional hotel, so obviously some areas were off limits to non-hotel guests.
We went into the gift shop to take a look around and there were plenty of things related to the movie for sale. I wasn’t too much for getting those kinds of things, so I didn’t purchase anything. Jill, however, found a nice pair of red shoes that caught her eye and quickly snatched those up.
The hotel offered a one-hour tour of the entire place, including the infamous Room 237. Because I was just totally cooked at this point, I decided to pass on the tour. I would have loved to have seen more of the Stanley, but I just didn’t have the energy for more walking around. I snapped a couple of pics of the lobby, and a few outside (including the hotel itself) and we called it for this stop.
One other thing that was cool about arriving at the Stanley was, when you paid for parking, they gave you a coin that you could redeem inside to recoup the cost of the parking (which was only a few dollars). Jill offered me the coin, instead, as a souvenir.
With our trip nearing its completion, we headed back to Estes Park to hit up the candy and fudge shops. I kind of went a little hog wild in these places, but I’m on vacation so who cares. In total we hit up three different shops, the last of which had one of my favorites, penuche fudge. This brown-sugary fudge is very hard to find, so I just had to get a small piece. Once we were in the car I just had to grab a small taste…MMMMMMMMMM…now THAT’S the stuff!
It was still a long one-and-a-half hour drive back to Jill’s place, but I somehow managed to stay awake the whole time. Usually, when I’m really tired and in the passenger seat of a car, I’ll start to nod off. I was still wide awake. I guess I just didn’t want to miss any of the beautiful scenery that I might have missed on the way up to Estes Park.
I’ve got to say my favorite part of the drive back was when I connected my phone to Jill’s car and started playing music. After introducing her to a little of Nightwish (Ghost Love Score live at Wacken FTW), I selected something that was a throwback for both of us…No Doubt’s second album Tragic Kingdom. OMG, it was so great just blasting that entire album the whole time. Jill was singing along with every song, and I just sat back and enjoyed every second of it.
That album just brings me back to a different time in my life, to the mid to late 1990s…a time when I was still a very young man trying to figure out life after high school and the beginning of my Air Force career. Jill is only one year my senior, so I imagine it might have done the same for her.
After a long drive, and A LOT more traffic than we had in the morning, we finally got back to Jill’s house where her two dogs were anxiously waiting once we opened the front door. I still had my first load of laundry in the dryer, so I got that sorted out and started the last load I had.
While the laundry was running, Jill and I just sat on her couch and watched some TV. Honestly, I could do just about anything with Jill and still enjoy myself, even if we just sat in silence.
After a while, we were both getting hungry, so we decided to get something from Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen delivered by DoorDash. It was going to be a bit of a wait, so Jill decided to walk her dogs. I opted to tag along as I could use to stretch my legs after sitting around a lot in the car.
I don’t know how Jill manages to walk both of those dogs by herself. I took one of them off of her hands and I was having a hard time holding her back. The other one is a little smaller, but he’s quite the handful too. Either way, we made our way along the sidewalk, crossing the street a couple of times to avoid others walking their dogs as well (Jill’s dogs are a bit hyper).
Once we got back, we still had a little time to wait for the food, so we just turned the TV back on. Shortly thereafter, Jill got a voicemail on her phone. It turned out to be the restaurant. Apparently, another DoorDash driver grabbed our food by mistake and delivered it to the wrong person and our order had been completely canceled, probably because it was so late and the restaurant was about to close. Needless to say, we were both a bit upset.
Taking that as a sign, I told Jill I was going to collect my laundry and head back to my hotel for the night. I had some snacks in my room I could eat so it wasn’t too big of a deal, not to mention I was just so damned tired by this point.
With that, I made my way back to my room and called it after a very long day. I had the most amazing time, and it was only day one. Two more days to go in Colorado.
May 17, Day 7
I absolutely crashed once my head hit the pillow. Thankfully, I got a good amount of sleep (at least for me) and I felt invigorated once I woke up. There wasn’t a concrete plan for the day as Jill had some errands to run throughout the morning, so I just kind of chilled in my room throughout the morning and into the afternoon.
Once lunchtime came around, I decided to head over to a gas station to fill up the Jeep and then head just up the street to Arby’s for lunch. I’d always gotten chicken at Arby’s in the past, but I’d been having A LOT of chicken over the past few days, so I opted for the classic roast beef sandwich instead.
Before I headed inside the restaurant, I noticed a hand-written sign on the door saying that they were short-staffed and there were only two workers inside until around 1300. It was 1130 when I got there, so this was going to be interesting for sure. When I got inside, there were indeed only two people working, one of which looked like a manager. Both were running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
There was only one other person in line so I got behind them, all the while the workers were frantically trying to cover both the lobby and the drive-thru at the same time. The drive-thru, by the way, was quickly filling up and out to the street by now. I felt so bad for these two guys. I don’t know if it was management’s fault, or if a few workers decided to all call out sick at the last minute, but the lobby definitely shouldn’t have been open along with the drive-thru.
Anyway, I ordered my food. It was made as quick as possible, and I went to sit down. The fountain drink machine had virtually no ice and the drinks coming out were room temperature at best, so that sucked a bit. The roast beef was great, so that was a definite plus.
As I finished up and was getting ready to leave, the line inside was eight or nine deep (along with the growing drive-thru). One gentleman finally decided to leave just as I was heading out the door. I guess he didn’t notice the sign or the huge lines everywhere. Again, I really felt bad for those guys. I’ll give them credit for keeping up with the traffic as well as they did. The lunch rush was just beginning when I left, so I can only imagine it got worse.
I headed back to my room and just decided to watch a movie I’d recorded on DirectTV back home. I opted to get NordVPN service prior to the trip so I didn’t have to worry about logging into unsecure sites, and it worked fabulously the entire trip.
Shortly after the movie, Jill let me know she was just about done with her chores and that I could head over whenever I wanted. A couple of hours after that I made my way back to Jill’s place.
Prior to starting my cross-country trip, I told Jill that I wanted to make dinner for both of us one night while I was there. This day would be the perfect opportunity.
After my arrival, we headed over to Walmart and I picked out everything I would need for lemon teriyaki chicken. It was a new recipe I’d just found earlier in the day, so I wanted to give it a shot. Thankfully, we were able to find everything needed for the meal, along with some rice and green beans to go along with the chicken.
Once we got back, Jill just sat back on the couch as I toiled in the kitchen. The only help I asked for were for the location of some utensils and the like while cooking, and for her to remind me to start the microwave to heat up the green beans. Thankfully I told her to remind me, because I completely forgot once everything was nearly done.
The chicken, beans, and rice came out great, but the teriyaki sauce could have been better. I’d give it a grade of ‘B-’ overall. It was nice to just sit down with Jill and have a quiet meal for just the two of us, away from the hubbub associated with restaurants. After dinner, we just relaxed on the couch and watched some TV and talked more.
It was an otherwise uneventful day, free of any long distance driving. There was only one more day left for my stay in Colorado, and then the hard part would begin.
May 18, Day 8
Jill and I had planned on leaving for Pikes Peak at like 0900, but Jill forgot that she had a virtual appointment with her VA therapist, so we wound up pushing the trip back until after she got done. I figured I’d stay at my hotel until after she was finished, but Jill told me to come on over. Jill wasn’t going to be discussing anything with her therapist that I hadn’t already heard before, so she didn’t figure it would be a big deal unless I objected, and I did not. I headed over to Jill’s and I just kind of sat around for a few minutes once her appointment had started. It was then that I remembered something from a couple of days prior.
When she was on the phone on Monday taking care of something, I just kind of strolled into her small office and was perusing through the many books Jill had on her sagging bookcase shelves. I saw a few IT books (some of which probably aren’t relevant anymore), and some other things that were of interest to her. I didn’t look through all of them as there were quite a few, and her office was in a bit of disarray.
When Jill was finished with her call, she saw that I was looking at the books in her office. She asked me if I saw the book Tickle His Pickle. I think I did a double-take and said, “What?!”. She went into the office, scrounged around and found the aforementioned book. It was a book for women on how to…well…you get the idea. I glanced at the first few pages and just kind of laughed. I didn’t think much more of the book until Jill was on her VA call.
I didn’t know how long it was going to take for her appointment, so I decided to read through Tickle His Pickle…what the hell, right? It was, obviously, tailored toward women and went over many aspects of men’s erogenous zones and the things that are typically turn-ons for guys. Of course, a decent section went into detail about fellatio. It was quite interesting reading, I must say.
There wasn’t a terrible amount of information that I, as a guy, didn’t already know about, but it certainly helped me pass the time while Jill was on her call. Once she was done, Jill saw that I was reading the book and let out a big laugh. I’m not sure she thought I would actually go through the book. With that, we headed out for our next adventure.
Jill wasn’t taking the highway down towards Pikes Peak, and I’m not really sure if that was on purpose of not. Regardless, shortly after we were on the road, the weather was starting to take a turn, so I decided to call it on Pikes Peak. Jill was cool with that, as she figured we could just stop in Manitou Springs, which was on the way to Pikes Peak, instead.
The drive down to Manitou Springs was quite nice. Despite the weather, the views of the surrounding mountains were still beautiful. I was trying to snap a few pics while on the road, but it’s not exactly easy in a moving car.
Jill’s windshield was a bit dirty, so some of the pics have some noticeable smudges on them. Oh well, the views were still awesome.
Before heading to Manitou Springs, Jill suggested we drive through the Garden of the Gods since it offered some nice photo ops. I didn’t really want to stop, so we just kind of drove by. I didn’t get any pictures, but the place looked kind of like the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, when I visited there as a kid.
It was well into lunchtime, and we were both getting a bit hungry, so Jill drove us to this barbecue place called Rudy’s. It was a Texas-style barbecue, so brisket was the main focus. I opted for my old standby of a pulled pork sandwich instead. The food was quite good, and the sauce I tried (Rudy’s Original) was not too shabby. It had a noticeable brown sugar flavor, but with just a bit of a tang and a little bite to it.
We headed off to downtown Manitou Springs and found a place to park. The big thing Jill wanted me to do was go to the old arcade they had in the middle of town. It was so cool. They had games in multiple shops, some were even outside in the open air (under cover of course). I decided to change out only a couple of bucks and have some fun.
I found and played a lot of my old favorites like Q-Bert, Dig Dug, Ms. Pac-Man, and Galaga. I didn’t last very long on most of these games as I was VERY out of practice, but I did manage to set the high scores on all of them (they weren’t very high to begin with).
While traversing the many varied games, I saw one that I hadn’t played in person since my days in Pensacola some 26 years ago…the Star Trek: The Next Generation pinball game. I blew half of my change on this one game. I did absolutely terrible the entire time, but it brought back so many memories of my days just wasting dollar after dollar in the rec center on Corry Station in Pensacola, while in technical school in the Air Force. The entire time, Jill just kind of looked on while I was playing the games. She could tell I was really having a great time.
Once I’d blown through all eight quarters, we walked down Manitou Avenue to check out some of the shops. We came up to the Green Horse Gallery at one point, and outside was this strange chair/bench.
In one of the other shops, I actually wound up buying another hoodie for myself.
I’ll always have wonderful memories of my time with Jill whenever I wear this hoodie.
I was starting to get a little tired by this point, but I didn’t tell Jill that. All of the walking around, and the adrenaline rush of playing the arcade games, really took a bit of my energy. We walked back to her car and made our way out of town and back to her place.
About halfway back to Jill’s place, she got a call and a voicemail on her phone. It was one of her old coworkers and he told her that one of their old bosses was in the hospital and it wasn’t looking too good for him. We just so happened to be coming up on the exit for this particular hospital. Jill made a quick lane change and asked if I minded going there with her. I, of course, said that I didn’t mind at all.
I didn’t know who this person was, and I didn’t know what kind of condition the guy might be in at the hospital. Also, I didn’t know how well Jill really knew him. All I knew was that I wanted to be there for my best friend if she needed support.
After masking up, we found her old boss’s room and Jill went inside to speak to him. I simply stayed out in the hallway as I had no reason to be in there with her. She stayed briefly as he appeared to be in a bit of pain. Once we made our way out, Jill told me that he was suffering from liver failure due to a history of alcoholism (he was apparently quite jaundiced). I asked Jill if she was alright, and she said she was, but I think it hurt her a little more than she let on. She’s never been one to show a lot of emotion, especially tears (at least not in front of me).
We finally made it back to Jill’s place, and after she hopped on her laptop to attend an online meeting, we headed out to Noodles & Company for a bite to eat. There was a fair wait as they were pretty busy, mostly with to-go orders. After a much longer wait than I’d hoped for, we finally got our food. Mine was straight up cold, and I don’t think Jill’s was much better. It was a rather disappointing meal, to say the least.
While we were waiting for our food, I started thinking about what was going to happen in a couple of hours…saying goodbye. Thinking about how I was going to react was starting to get to me, and I was fighting back tears a couple of times just sitting at the table across from Jill. She saw that I was a lot quieter than usual, and asked if I was o.k. I said I just had a lot on my mind (which I did).
I was trying my hardest not to burst into tears in the middle of the restaurant. Even after our food came, as I was chewing a mouth full of food, I was straining to keep the tears at bay. Coupled with the terrible food, dinner was an absolute bust for me. My appetite was lost once I started thinking about what was to come.
Upon arriving back at Jill’s place, we sat and watched a little TV. After the program ended, I decided it was time to head back to my hotel. I had another long day of driving ahead of me, and I needed to make sure I had everything packed up and ready to go for the morning.
This was the moment I was dreading. I had such a wonderful time hanging out with my best friend again. We hadn’t spent that much time together since we were in Maryland, close to 20 years ago.
I hugged Jill tight, and the waterworks started. I don’t know if Jill knew I would react that way. I don’t think I’d ever shown that side of myself to her before. We’d talked about everything during my visit, but I never shed a tear until that moment. I hugged her again. After we went outside, I hugged her one last time and said, “I love you, Jill”.
As I made my way to the Jeep, I wiped the remaining tears from my face. Once inside, I cleared my nose and made my way back to the hotel. I was still really sad for a bit of the drive. At one point, shortly after leaving Jill’s place, I actually said out loud in the car, “I don’t want to say goodbye” and began crying again. Even after only three or four years between my last visit, which was VERY brief, I missed Jill so much. I don’t want to have a long time pass between now and the next time I see Jill again. She means too much to me not to see her.
And with that, my trip to Colorado was all but over. I packed everything up for the next leg of my journey the following morning. There is but one more meaningful stop over the coming days, so hopefully everything goes smooth (a bit of foreshadowing there).
May 19, Day 9
The Jeep is packed up, and it’s time to head back on the road to the next stop…Amarillo, Texas. This was just a travel day, with nothing but pit stops along the way, so there wasn’t a lot to look forward to really.
As I made my way out on the road, my thoughts turned to Jill again. I was going to miss her, but I’ll always have the memory of the great times we had over the previous three days.
Most of the drive during the morning was rather pedestrian in nature. The scenery was that of the previous day’s drive down to Manitou Springs, which I passed on my way out of Colorado towards New Mexico. Once I got further from the mountains, the terrain began to change and it looked more desert-like, kind of similar to parts of Utah days before.
The section of this leg of the trip I most dreaded was now in front of me. While planning this trip, I saw that there was not a whole lot as far as good stopping points in New Mexico. Thankfully, I wouldn’t be in New Mexico for a terribly long stretch. In all, I only had two stops in the state, but they would not be what I’d envisioned.
The first pit stop in New Mexico was just a place to stretch my legs. I had filled up at my previous stop, and I didn’t need to buy anything to eat or drink as I still had plenty of stuff at the ready. I’d been using Google Maps GPS on my phone for the entire trip to help guide me, especially when I was not on the interstate highways.
When I was coming up to my first stop in New Mexico, the Raton Truck Stop, The GPS kept telling me it was on the right, but I kind of just drove right on by it. It didn’t look like much more than a gravel lot, and it looked really sketchy…well, shit! I decided to just keep on going and not bother turning back. In the end, I’m not sure if that was a mistake or not. I didn’t find another decent place to stop until I found a Sinclair gas station some 35 miles down the road.
I finally stopped and was able to stretch my legs. It was already starting to get hot by this point, and it was only 0900. It’s a good thing I didn’t need to use the bathroom because the door to the store clearly stated the restroom was for paying customers only. I don’t begrudge the owners for having that policy. I would have gladly made a purchase, if needed, but I didn’t need to in the end. With having finally stretched my legs, I got on my way to my final stop in New Mexico.
I arrived, just prior to 1100, at Mary’s Back Porch in Clayton, New Mexico. I’d read about this place prior to my trip and was really looking forward to it, actually. The front of the building is a gift shop, and there is a small cafe in the rear with a decent menu, and by decent I mean not everything on the menu was a Mexican dish.
It was plenty hot outside by this point, so it was nice to go inside where it was cooler. I saw Mary at a counter working on a flower arrangement for a customer.
“How can I help you today?”
“Well, I was looking to grab lunch and I understand there’s a small cafe in the back.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s closed. I don’t currently have a cook.”
SHIT! Can this day get any worse (don’t worry, it will)? I was surely disappointed, but I wasn’t going to get upset with Mary. Times are still tough with the pandemic causing work shortages. I wound up talking with Mary for a good 20 minutes or so about anything and everything. She allowed me to use her restroom, and I felt obligated to make a purchase so as not to feel like a freeloader. I found a display with some Russel Stover chocolates and I grabbed a box of those.
I finished the transaction and wished Mary a good day. She was a very nice older woman (in her 60s, maybe). I felt bad that she couldn’t have the small cafe open. According to her, the cafe really drove a lot of the business for the craft shop, which I totally understand. Despite my experience with New Mexico in general, if I ever found my way back through Clayton, and Mary’s Back Porch is still around, I’d gladly stop in again. Mary was a very friendly and kind woman.
With lunch plans now in the shitter, I opted to just snack on some of the stuff I had with me in the car. It wasn’t anything especially filling, but it kept my hunger at bay. I continued on into Texas and found myself amidst another time zone change, this time to Central time. All along the way, the heat outside was continuing to build. I was glad to finally be out of New Mexico. The terrain was desolate and some of the towns I’d driven through looked like straight up ghost towns, where a psycho killer might be lying in wait for an unsuspecting stranded motorist. The beginnings of Texas weren’t too much better, honestly.
I finally made the way to my hotel in Amarillo. This is what the Jeep was showing when I arrived.
I don’t know how hot balls get, but it was definitely hot as balls.
Despite the high temperatures, the wind was howling a bit, and the air was very dry, so the temperature didn’t feel as bad as it actually was.
After checking in, despite it being around 1530, I decided to head out to grab dinner. I hadn’t really eaten anything of substance all day, so a good solid meal was definitely in order.
I opted to check out a local place just across the street from my hotel. It was called Hoffbrau Steak & Grill House. It was kind of a local chain to the state of Texas. I’d been eating A LOT of chicken during my whole trip, and I was really craving a nice juicy steak.
I arrived well before regular dinner hours, so I was seated quickly in a small two-seater booth. My server, whose name I cannot remember, was one of the best I’ve had in a very long time. She was very attentive and constantly checking in on me throughout my time there. I got a simple 7 oz. sirloin steak with a baked potato and broccoli. The steaks at Hoffbrau are seasoned with only salt and fresh cracked pepper, and that is definitely the way to go. That was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. The whole meal was just wonderful. I don’t know if it was because I was so hungry or the food was just that good. It was probably a bit of both. I made sure to leave a very generous tip for my server since she did such an awesome job.
I hung out in my room for the rest of the afternoon and evening. I turned on the Stanley Cup playoffs, like I’d been doing throughout my trip, and just sat back and relaxed. It was nice to stay out of the searing heat and sit on a much more comfortable seat than the Jeep had to offer.
After a while, probably not until close to 2100, I felt it was time to get a shower and relax a bit more prior to heading off to bed. I got undressed and went to turn the shower on to heat up the water. The handle for the shower was turning REALLY hard, but I finally managed to get it on, but the water was barely coming out at all and almost cold. I went to turn off the shower, but it kept running with the knob in the off position. WTF!?! You have got to be kidding me, right? I knew there had to be at least ONE day like this on the trip, and I guess this was it.
I called down to the front desk and the young man working there came up to see if he could fix the shower, which I knew he probably wouldn’t. While waiting for him to come up, I started packing EVERYTHING back up again. I knew I was not staying in this room on this night, but I didn’t know if I would still be staying in this hotel.
The young man arrived and he couldn’t fix the problem. He asked me if I’d like another room for the night, to which I obviously said yes. I really did not want to have to drive around and find another place to stay if I couldn’t get another room here.
I finished packing and waited for a call from the front desk. He called me a few short minutes later and said he had a room for me on the same floor, and I was upgraded to a suite at no additional charge. Honestly, I would have straight up refused to be charged for an upgraded room if it came to that. I went down to get the new key, even though I had a digital one in the first place, and proceeded to move all of my stuff down the hall to my replacement room.
My upgraded room was satisfactory, meaning it had a working shower, A/C, a bed, and a tv. The room seemed overly crammed with furniture, in my opinion. I finally grabbed my shower and headed off to bed. This day from hell was finally over.
May 20, Day 10
I got a terrible night’s sleep in my new room. I was not entirely surprised after all of the hubbub the night prior. I left a little earlier than planned, so that was likely going to cause a problem further down the road with meals. I didn’t care. After the horrible time at this hotel, I wanted to leave ASAP.
There really was not much of note as far as things seen while on the road in Texas. There were a lot of wind farms everywhere, much like Idaho and Utah, but I think a lot of these were running oil drilling rigs instead of just providing power to people’s houses.
I didn’t get any pictures during the last couple of days, mostly through Texas. There is not a lot in the state of Texas that I care to take pictures of, in all honesty.
As I suspected, when I got to my lunch stop, I was a bit early and they were still only serving breakfast. I opted to just sit in the Jeep and snack on some of the trail mix I made the week prior. It’s not what I preferred, but it would keep me from getting hungry too quickly.
The heat was definitely still ever-present, but it was nowhere near as bad as it was the previous day in Amarillo. I’m glad the A/C in the Jeep has been working just fine the entire time.
I was nearing my hotel, and very grateful to be near the end on this leg. Having not slept well, coupled with not eating a lot during the day, I was really starting to drag ass.
I missed a couple of turns to get to my hotel in Temple, Texas, but thankfully the GPS found me another way. I arrived at the only Hilton Garden Inn I would visit during my entire trip. Ever other hotel was/will be a Hampton Inn of some sort.
The first thing I checked, before I grabbed ANY of my bags, was the shower faucet. Everything worked just fine, so I moved all of my stuff inside. I grabbed a bite to-go from a Panera Bread that was a short walk from the hotel, and sat back in my room to enjoy a relaxing evening.
The next day would be my final meaningful visit…Chiray.
May 21, Day 11
Today marks the final extended stay I’ll be making on my odyssey. The previous afternoon, after I arrived and got settled, I let my friend, Chiray, know that I finally made it safely. I was hoping that maybe we could meet up for dinner, but she had to stay home with her daughter due to a medical problem encountered during the day. She was, however, open for breakfast the following day (now today) so we could meet up then. Not what I was hoping for, but I’ll take it nonetheless.
While Lani is my oldest friend, and Jill is my best friend, Chiray is my most important friend. In Chiray, I found the person who allowed me to know what it feels like to love someone, in any capacity, for the first time. You see, when Chiray left Alaska in 1998 (prior to Lani’s departure), and I said goodbye, it was a little harder on me than I thought it might be. I was near tears and I felt a sense of loss that I’d never experienced before.
What I didn’t realize, until much later, was this feeling was love…the love I had for Chiray as my friend. Even though we’d only known each other for a year or so, I’d grown quite close to her. Saying goodbye to a close friend was something I’d never done before.
In addition to her love, Chiray introduced me to some other people along the way, all of whom would become some of my closest friends still to this day.
I would go on to visit Chiray one more time, about a year after we parted ways, when I made my way to Texas from Florida before heading to my next duty station in Maryland. I never imagined back in December 1999, that it would be the last time I would see her until this day, over 20 years later.
After some discussion, I chose IHOP for us to meet and have breakfast. I was staying about 30 minutes from Chiray, so I made sure to get there a little early. When we finally met outside the restaurant, we hugged once again. Chiray looked great, just as she always did.
I wasn’t overly into the food, although I was a bit hungry. I was more enjoying the conversation and the company, honestly. All the while sitting with Chiray, I occasionally took a look around the restaurant and was wondering what some of the other patrons were thinking. They saw me, as white a guy as you could see, and Chiray, a brown-skinned girl of Panamanian roots, sitting together enjoying breakfast and chatting. I mention this because I know there were likely a couple of people in the restaurant who might have taken exception to seeing the two of us together, not knowing that we were only friends. I, frankly, just don’t give a fuck either way.
We must have been at that booth talking for a couple of hours before I finally settled the bill. I followed Chiray back to her parent’s house, the same place we last saw each other oh so long ago. It was great to visit this place I briefly stayed in once before.
I met her mom, once again, and her oldest son as well. The last time I saw her oldest son in person, I was holding him in my arms while we got a picture taken of all three of us. That young baby is now a full-grown man bigger than the both of us. I also finally had the opportunity to meet Chiray’s other two children for the first time. I took this opportunity to present Chiray with a gift I made, the same gift I made for Lani and Jill…a COG puzzle.
We talked for another couple of hours and I just enjoyed being in Chiray’s company again. It was a bit more somber than my previous visit as her father has now since passed away from cancer only a couple of years prior. I only met him the one time over 20 years ago, but he was very kind to me. He took me to find a replacement spare tire as I had a blowout on the way from Florida (long story there). I’ll never forget how great a man he was. His loss has been extremely hard on Chiray and her whole family.
It was time to finally say goodbye, so we made our way back outside. We chatted briefly before we hugged and said our final goodbyes. It was so wonderful to see my friend again after such a long time. I made my way back to the hotel and just chilled for the rest of the day.
I grabbed another meal from Panera Bread and filled up the Jeep in preparation for the penultimate leg of my long journey. Unfortunately, the final two legs are the two longest of my entire trip. No matter what I did, short of adding ANOTHER day to this already long trip, there was no way to get around this.
May 22, Day 12
Ah, another day, another eight to nine hours worth of driving. The time to visit friends is now over. All that’s left is to make it home in one piece. The Jeep is packed up, I’ve eaten breakfast…let’s hit the road.
At this point, I’ve had a wonderful time throughout most of the trip, but my body is starting to let me know it wants to quit. Most notably, my hands and wrists are REALLY starting to hurt after any significant length of time in the car. All of the constant gripping of the steering wheel makes for some achy and stiff hands. It’s a good thing I didn’t try to make the entire trip in consecutive days, from Seattle to Florida, because I don’t think my body could have taken that kind of abuse. Having the extra days off periodically was a real benefit.
Anyway, with that being said, I was happy to be leaving Texas. It was extremely hot most of my time driving through and the scenery was not the greatest either. I couldn’t wait until I finally got to I-10. Once I found my way onto there, I was more or less in the home stretch. With that being said, I’m not a huge fan of I-10, especially west of Florida (long story there).
My first couple of pit stops weren’t noteworthy. My third one in Channelview, Texas, provided a little change of pace. I stopped at a Flying J Travel Center just to get out and stretch (maybe hit up the bathroom). Upon pulling into the parking lot, I immediately saw two dogs around the gas pumps. One was just sitting right in the middle of the concrete pad between two sets of pumps, appearing to soak up some of the morning sun. The other was roaming around a bit, not causing much of a disturbance. I’m assuming these were either strays or someone working inside owned them, but I’m not sure. I kept my distance from them both just to be safe.
I headed inside to just walk the aisles for a minute or two and decided I’d head to the restroom. I walked over and saw that the men’s room was closed for cleaning. Well, good thing I didn’t really need to go that badly. With the restroom a no-go, I head back to the Jeep and started stretching my legs. Whenever I’m stopped, I try to stand next to the Jeep and just swing my legs forwards and backwards, one at a time, to stretch my hamstrings a bit. It really helped with getting the circulation going and kept me from cramping up during the long drive.
As I was stretching, I heard someone say something. I looked to my right and a guy in a small work van was commenting on my stretching. We got to chatting and I told him I was on my way home from Seattle to Florida. His eyes got the size of soft boiled eggs when he heard that. He wished me a safe trip and then I got back on the road.
The next stop was going to be lunchtime, so that was my motivation on the next leg. When planning all of my stops, this one in particular had me scratching my head the most. For whatever reason, Google Maps always had me going up one exit past where I wanted to stop and doubling back. When I finally got near my stop I realized why this was the case…construction. They were building a new overpass over the road I would have taken and the road was closed. No matter…I made it and enjoyed another lunch at Arby’s with a chicken bacon swiss sandwich.
The Love’s Travel Stop and the Arby’s was my last stop in Texas (thank God). My first stop in Louisiana would be my only fill-up for the day. As I was on my way out of Texas on I-10, just prior to crossing the border and over the Sabine river, I saw a semi truck with an ultra-wide load on the side of the road. There were also quite a few police cars there to act as escorts. I didn’t figure they’d be getting on the road any time soon, so I didn’t pay them too much mind. I made it to Iowa (yes, that’s the name of the town in Louisiana), filled up, and got back on the highway thinking to myself, “I’m glad I passed that truck when I did”.
As I made my way further eastward on I-10, I saw that damn ultra-wide load truck up ahead of me…FUCK! There was no way to pass this truck as it’s payload was blocking THE ENTIRE HIGHWAY. Thankfully, he was traveling at a decent speed the entire time, although still not as fast as I would prefer. There was nothing I could do at this point. Passing was not an option, especially with the police cars right there.
I was only a few cars back from the truck, but I could tell there was quite a line of traffic building behind me. I was coming up to my next scheduled stop in Lafayette, and this truck was definitely not stopping any time soon. There was no way I could afford to get off the highway now. With being so close to the front of the line, I would risk getting trapped behind miles of traffic and causing untold delays. I decided to just press on and skip this stop.
Thankfully, shortly after Lafayette, the highway opened up to three lanes and allowed cars to start passing the truck and his escorts. The speed limit was 70 MPH, which the semi was mostly following, but everyone who was passing (including me) was doing at least 75 MPH. I don’t think the cops cared and I’m sure they understood. I kept it at 75 MPH for the rest of this leg until my next stop in Denham Springs, Louisiana.
I made it a VERY quick pit stop in Denham Springs, because I didn’t know how far in front of the semi I was at that moment. On the way, I passed Baton Rouge and the exit for New Orleans, so I kind of hoped that the truck might have gone to one of the ports in either location. I got back on the highway, but I never saw that truck again.
I figured with Denham Springs being my last stop before my hotel that it would be smooth sailing from there…WRONG!!! Traffic came to a screeching halt because of an apparent accident up a little ways. At one point, there were people making a u-turn and going back the wrong way on a on-ramp just to get off the highway. I mean, REALLY?
Thankfully the delay was relatively short-lived, and by the time I got to where the slow-down began, I saw nothing anyway. I finished the drive and finally made it to Slidell, Louisiana, for my final hotel stay of the trip.
As with my last hotel, I made sure to check the shower faucet to make sure it worked. In the words of Dubya, “Fool me once, shame on…shame on you…you ain’t gonna fool me again”. It was a nice room, actually better than the pricier Hilton Garden Inn in Texas. The mirror in the bathroom caught me by surprise as it had its own light.
The mirror gave off more light than the one in the ceiling, I think.
It had been a long and lonely trip up to this point. Yes, I did make a couple of stops and saw some old friends, but all of the time on the road alone is rather lonely. I did, however, have someone along with me throughout the duration of the trip…Malaika.
I decided to bring her along with me (at least her picture) so that she could see the country right beside me. It was nice having her there the whole time. While I didn’t take her with me when Jill and I went everywhere in Colorado, she was still there with me, in spirit, nonetheless.
I found a Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen not far from the hotel, so I had a nice dinner there. After that, it was back to the hotel for one last time. Tomorrow would be the last day, and I couldn’t wait to get home to Lisa.
May 23, Day 13
It’s been a long almost two weeks. I’m ready to get home at this point. And this last day of driving will be the longest of the trip…over 530 miles. I got up early (sleeping just fine) and was on the road just after 0600. Most of my stops were not for very long…just enough to stretch my legs and get moving again. I made it a point to go a steady 75 MPH on the highway, too.
After so long on the road, I was growing tired of eating fast food for lunch, so when I started getting hungry, one of my stops happened to be at a Walmart in the panhandle of Florida. I didn’t know what to get, I just knew I didn’t want fast food. I headed over to the deli and saw a pre-made ham and swiss sandwich…perfect! I grabbed a bottle of cherry Pepsi and a small bag of chips and ate in the Jeep. I only got about halfway through the sandwich and I was already sick of it, so I just wound up throwing it away.
Once I finally made it to my final couple of stops before home, I saw that I might be able to make it home in time to drop the Jeep off today instead of tomorrow. It would save Lisa from having to take any time off from work and I didn’t have to deal with the rental car anymore. I called her and told her my plans and she told me to let her know once I was at my last stop and how long it would be for me to get to the drop-off location. With any luck, I’d make it just in time before they closed.
It turned out my timing worked after all. I stopped to fill up the Jeep one final time and made my way to the drop-off. Lisa got there a couple of minutes after me and I offloaded everything from the Jeep to her car. We made our way to the office and it turned out I made it by around 15 minutes before they closed…PHEW!!! I turned over the keys and that was it. Lisa drove us both home.
We unloaded everything and I was then, finally, able to give Lisa a big hug. It had been two weeks on the road and I was just exhausted. In the end, I arrived back on Lisa’s birthday, so it was definitely a happy birthday for her (and me, really).
In the End…
I DID IT!!! It took me almost two weeks, but I finally completed the cross-country trip that eluded me over 20 years ago. It sure would have been nice to have Lisa along with me the entire time, just to share the experience and have her meet some of my old friends, but she simply couldn’t get that much time off from work.
Despite a couple of hiccups towards the end of the trip, I could not have asked for a better overall experience. The Jeep performed great the entire time (despite the constant oil changes warnings). That was my biggest fear…having another car breakdown on the highway. Thankfully, that never came to pass.
Making the cross-country trip was important to me, but even more important was seeing my old friends again. With Lani and Chiray, despite not spending a lot of time with them, I feel closer to them both now than I ever was before. And with Jill, I got to hang out with my best friend for over three days, just like we did oh so long ago. Saying goodbye to her was the toughest thing on the entire trip. I knew I would get emotional, but I didn’t expect to break down the way that I did, especially in front of her. I can’t wait until the next time I get to see all three of my friends again. Hopefully Lani and Chiray will get to meet Lisa next time (Jill and Lisa have met a couple of times a long time ago).
Despite the wonderful time I had, there was one hole in my trip. There was a fourth friend I’d hoped to see while I was in Colorado, one I wanted to see almost more than anyone else (I won’t mention their name). They have a special place in my heart, and always will, but they just left me kind of hanging out to dry when I was in Colorado. I don’t have an explanation as to why (only they have that answer), but it really hurt my feelings that they blew me off the way in which they did.
In fact, while Jill and I were in Manitou Springs, we actually were no more than half a mile from my other friend’s house. I, as much as I might have wanted, was not going to simply drop in on them. It probably would not have gone down well, and I, frankly, was already done with them by that point in my trip.
My friends, especially my oldest friends, mean so much to me. As I get older, their meaning grows ever stronger. However, with what transpired with my one friend, I’m afraid that I must sever ties with them, at least until I hear back from them. If I do not hear anything from them after quite some time, I guess I’ll know where I stand with them. I never thought I would go through something like this, especially with this one particular friend, but it’s something that must be done.
As someone once told me, “Spend your time with people who want to spend theirs with you. Time is precious, too precious to let people live rent-free in your head.” I’ve decided I need to start living my life this way. It will hurt to leave some people behind, but I cannot let them run or ruin my life.
Even with the aforementioned disappointment, I’m eternally grateful for getting the opportunity to complete this journey. It has done wonders for my mental health. After all of the isolation from the pandemic, seeing Lani, Chiray, and especially Jill, really gave me the boost that I needed. I enjoyed every second I was with all of them. Getting to meet Lani’s and Chiray’s children was just the icing on the cake.
There are still a few people I’m hoping to meet with over the coming weeks and months, many I’ve not seen for a very long time. I can’t wait for the opportunity to see them as well. It may not be good to linger in the past, but when it comes to those who make you the most happy and raise your spirits, the people from your past can often be the best medicine.
