Once again, I am absolutely terrible at updating this blog regularly. My apologizes to all of those who were on pins and needles wondering if I ever got back to Phoenix. To tell you the truth, I wasn't too confident that I was going to get back to Phoenix alive. I won't go into all of the details but the return journey was quite the adventure. Here's a brief summary:
Day 1: Went to pick up Pops at the airport. Circled around for 40 minutes until I thought to check the Departures instead of the Arrivals. He was in the Departures the whole time :/ Loaded up the U-haul truck and cleaned up my bedroom. Crazy-ass landlady conveniently wasn't present for my inspection so she wouldn't have to deal with my father. Horrible horrible traffic all the way out of Seattle. Pops asked to switch drivers after it got dark; the moment I took the wheel I lost control of the trailer and nearly crashed the truck. We switched drivers again. Stopped in a town called Kelso, WA for the night.
Day 2: Drove to Eugene, OR when Pops decided he wanted to ditch the trailer that was pulling my car, meaning I would have to follow him the rest of the way home. Was not thrilled about this idea but wasn't given any choice. On the bright side, was looking forward to listening to my Harry Potter audio books (the U-haul truck had no CD player). Torrential rain and crazy sick fog all through the mountains. Drove white-knuckled for about 400 miles. Stopped in Medford, OR for the night.
Day 3: More torrential rain ALL day. Immense stress following my Dad because he had no cell phone and wouldn't be able to contact him if we got separated. Dad decides to get off I-5 and switches to a different highway. Almost made it to Fresno when traffic comes to a standstill. Stuck in traffic for 3 hours!!! It turned out that there had been a gas leak on the freeway so they couldn't let anyone through. When we finally got off the freeway my windshield wiper broke. Had to locate an auto parts store through flooded streets. Once windshield wiper had been replaced we drove to Stockton, CA then called it a day. Not a very happy pappy by this point.
Day 4: Rain Rain Rain again alllllll day. Add crazy California drivers to the mix and you've got one tense Mama! Drove until I thought I might pass out. Stopped in Bakersfield, CA and counseled with Pops on where we should stay for the night. We found two Super 8 motels on my smart phone, one in North and one in South Bakersfield. We decided on the southern one since it was closest to the freeway. I told my dad three times to exit onto the 99 S but before I knew it he was getting on the 99 N. I honked my horn at him but he exited anyway and the thing I had dreaded had happened. WE WERE SEPARATED. I didn't know what else to do so I continued to follow my navigation system to the motel. When I got there, it wasn't even a Super 8 but a Roadway Inn & Suites so if my dad tried to call the Super 8 in south Bakersfield I wouldn't be there. I pulled over anyway and prepared myself for an epic meltdown. All I could think was "What am I gonna tell Mom?" It was the one of the most terrifying 10 minutes of my life. I had lost the old man. But then my cellphone started ringing; it was the front desk of the north Bakersfield Super 8!! I couldn't believe my dad had A) found the other motel completely on his own and B) remembered my cell phone number was in his wallet. I used my GPS to find the other motel but was still very shaken for the rest of the night. Also of note, we had the worst pizza ever for dinner.
Day 5: Woke up to SUNSHINE. Had not seen actual sunshine in about a month. Kept getting cut off by truck drivers and there was a lot of screaming going on in my car. Drove to Needles (that's where Snoopy's brother Spike lives) and stopped for lunch at Denny's. We had grilled cheeses at Denny's almost every day of the trip. >___< After lunch we switched to a different highway which turned out to be a nightmare. Constant bumps and winding roads for almost 2 hours. Once it got dark I almost fell asleep at the wheel--very scary! Had to turn off audio books after that and crank my I-pod for the rest of the drive. I could tell we had entered the Phoenix city limits when folks started driving 85 mph on the I-10 and I was getting constantly cut off by Honda Civics. I did not miss Arizona drivers one bit. No, sir. Arrived home about 10:30pm and felt close to death but thankful to have made it home ALIVE.
In summary, I felt like Frodo trying to get the ring back to Mordor this entire trip. I honestly didn't think we were going to make it home. It was just one unfortunate event after another. I am glad to be home though. I missed my people here sooooooo much. I've been doing some hardcore hanging out for the past 8 weeks. It's been the cat's pajamas.
Tomorrow I leave for Florida with my very dear friend, Heather. We are going on our long awaited Harry Potter Land/Disney World trip. It's going to be EPIC. I'm super stoked! Once I return though, playtime will officially be over and I'm going to have to make a real effort to find a full time job. But I'm not gonna think about that now, gonna just focus on VACATION...it's all I've ever wanted ;)
SO LONG STINKTOWN!
