After swimming on Wednesday, Anne mentioned that a "friend" was leaving campus and moving to Oregon. Now I say "friend" because this is a woman I've enjoyed working with over the years and wanted to explore a friendship with but never got around to it. We'd never had so much as had lunch together. I went right home and messaged her on Facebook, after which she called and I got details.
She was in fact driving a UHaul alone, unless you count her dog, across the country that weekend. Now I'm not a fearful person but that had me concerned, especially thinking about the barren desert between the mountains and the coast. I certainly wouldn't want to do it myself and so I hung up and checked on how much a one way ticket would be back from Oregon. When it was only $300, I started thinking I should offer to go with her.
After running it by a couple of friends, that's what I did on Thursday morning. Susan jumped at my offer and then said she could leave her dog home since she'd be driving her other 2 dogs back in her car a week later. So I bought the ticket, put in for Monday as a vacation day and called friends to get watering and cat coverage. Good thing I'd gotten so much done early in the week with my to do lists!
From that point until I met Susan at the Lincoln airport at 7:00 on Saturday morning, everything was a blur. On Thursday I treated Dodie to birthday lunch at Green Gateau and then there was a going away party for Dawn at Lana's house after work, for which I'd baked brownies Wednesday night – one of my many to do's. I went right home Friday to throw a load of clothes in and pack what I'd need for 3 days – 2 days of comfy veg clothes for driving and 1 presentable outfit for flying home. I also packed a big bag of snacks and all my travel must haves like hand towels, napkins and Kleenex. I went to bed early on Friday and set my alarm for 5:30.
After a quick breakfast, I headed to Lincoln. After stopping at McDonald's for Susan's breakfast and filling up the tank, we were on our way by 7:30. She was driving a 17' UHaul that was apparently chock full. For someone I barely knew, we got along swimmingly and talked for 12 hours straight, sharing each other's life stories. Other than many, many stops for gas and bathrooms, we grabbed a salad at Runza in Ogallala and a decent dinner in some little town in Wyoming. Salt Lake City was halfway but we stopped just short of the Utah border and stayed at a Motel 6. I slept like a rock.
All the maps I'd checked routed us on I-80 to Reno before heading north but the GPS on Susan's phone suggested another route that would save us many miles and half an hour of driving so we took it. Here's a warning – your phone GPS doesn't take terrain into consideration. When we stopped for gas, we asked a woman at the next pump if there were any food options up ahead because the phone was showing nothing. She said that the Denio cutoff, which was what the phone said to take, was hundreds of miles with absolutely nothing so we needed to gas up and get whatever food we'd need. Susan went in for chicken fingers (they were delish) and off we went.
The first sign was 81 miles until the next services, which were a roadside food stand and nothing else. We didn't stop. It was another 100+ miles to Lakeville before we stopped for gas and a bathroom break. It was already starting to green up by then but we had a steady climb ahead of us. And what goes up must come down!
The multiple warnings signs were no preparation for the scary ass mountain driving we were faced with. Picture a 2 lane – 1 in each direction – highway hugging the side of a mountain. At least we were on the inside lane but the transmission was screaming as we descended going around hairpin turns. Twice. It was white knuckle driving (I even stopped knitting!) and Susan did great. And with each valley it was getting greener and greener. It was a huge relief to finally get through the mountains and see Klamuth Falls, which was 2 hours from our destination. We were bone tired but with her sister's in sight, we powered through, arriving after 14.5 hours of driving. A shower and beds were calling our names.
But I'll end this post with the biggest surprise ever. Susan had told me that her sister was married to someone from Rhode Island who had changed his name from DiFillipo to Phillips. So when I met him I asked if he knew a Paul DiFillipo, a friend of mine from Brown's Urban Environment Lab garden who I'll see at a UEL reunion dinner when I'm in RI in August. Turns out that's his brother! What are the chances? Knock me over with a feather!
No comments:
Post a Comment