Road Trip - Day 1

Blogging through time

Capable of altering time and space, the Zen Dragon entered the past to presently post previous futures - that is, the relating of a most adventurous and enjoyable road trip. Enjoy :)

Disclaimer!

Blogger does not support retro-posting.  During trans-temporal dimensional shifts through the time-space continuum Blogger got confused. Be advised the above date is incorrect. Please check back yesterday for additional retroposts.
~Zen Dragon

October 24, 2012

Prepare to Depart!

On a warm sunny day in Florida Tanya and I prepared for the road trip of our lives. Planning has been underway for 6 months, but a week out from departure the most careful laid plans are flopping like fish out of water. The smooth transition I had foreseen was in tatters. 

Dates and departure times,  destinations and travel paths altered by the week. Couchsurfing was the original and free plan, but carting two animals, two people and a trailer apparently wasn't so kosher. Camping, the back-up, was nixed because of practicalities considering our 80 pound black retriever, Beau. That left hotels. What was going to be free would now easily cost $500 - $700, quite the distressing monetary setback..

Concerning our departure date, the 'final' plan gave us a week and a half without jobs to get everything ready, and we packed them full. We planned over 40 miles of road biking, eating at umpteen restaurants and having a drink at our favorite bars. We were going to see all our friends one last time before packing our entire lives into a tiny storage unit and even tinier pull behind.   

14 days out we tried to book our first hotel. Whoa. $150/night for Fri & Sat in Nola. Did I mention we quit our jobs? If we pushed the dates forward and arrived on Monday night it went down to $60. Three nights for the price of one, yes please. I mean really, with our budget, there wasn't hardly a choice.  

My work mysteriously ended early so I took some leisure time to enjoy myself. We also decided to visit her folks, which somehow never figured into our original plans. Moving the hotel dates, chilling for leisure time, and  a weekend with the parentals chopped our 10 days down to two. Camping and biking got cut, as did most of our eating drinking and friend plans. Sad times. We made it to one eatery and said goodbyes via text or phone. The real killer was packing. I've traveled all my life. Packing doesn't take that long, right? If right is being hit in the face with a 10lb sledge, then yes, I was completely right. Imagine 10 drunken midgets trying to change a light bulb without a ladder, and you get the picture - absurd and crazy. 

still preparing...

It certainly didn't help that Monday started off with two wrong feet and proceeded uphill from there. Item number one: Drop Beau off for a bath and turn in my final grad school document. Tanya dropped me off, and I was in and out of that building like lightning. I called her to get me. No answer. I texted her. I called her again. Nothing. She'd left her phone at the house, I knew it. My phone was dying. I couldn't keep trying.

I turned a corner, prepared to hike the 13 blocks to where I thought she was supposed to be when I saw her. Thank God. "Where is your phone?" I grabbed the keys from her. The truck wouldn't turn over. I lost it. I don't know what I said, but it wasn't pretty. We still had the trailer to pack, the apartment to clean, not to mention coming back to get Beau, and she ran my battery out. This was not what I needed today.

I ran to the nearest building. They couldn't help. I accosted some college student who pulled around to give us a jump. Nothing. It was completely dead. A 10 minute phone call had roadside assistance on the way. They would be there in an hour. I'm pulling my hair out. What to do? What to do? I see a tow truck in the lot next to us and run to him. He can't help us unless I call roadside assistance back. I'm on the phone 15 minutes, 20. The lady picks up just as our original tow truck arrives. He jumps us no problem. Really?

Long story short, her phone was on silent it was just my battery's time. She did nothing to kill it.  Still, the damage had been done, and while we tried not to let the tension fester, it was palpable. The last day before leaving, a day that was supposed to start at 9, didn't begin until after 1.

What a nightmare

We rushed, and we packed, and the day slipped by. Pizza for lunch – more packing. Pizza for dinner – more packing. Midnight rolled around – more packing. There was no way we would finish. We had reservations though. We had to leave the next day. We had to finish packing. There was still a trip to Goodwill and another run to the storage unit to make. 

We passed out, got back up, and hit it hard. Our lives apparently did not fit neatly into a 4x6 space. Poor clown also did not fit neatly into the back of my stuffed up truck. No time to dilly dally though. We departed at 11 with 9 hours of driving ahead of us. No problemo.

Depart!

3 bikes + 1 dog , + 1 cat + 1 car topper + 1 trailer =
mondo adventure!

"Let's take the scenic route," I said, perking up. No point in road tripping if you're not going to see the country. Turn 9 hours into 12.5, but it actually wasn't that bad.

One high point, Simon is the greatest travel kitty ever. There was no crying, no meowing, no howling or growling. He would either hide amongst the mass of disarray, or crawl into our laps for some purring and cuddling. It was simply amazing.

Beau didn't complain either, although I know his poor butt had to hurt him. It was perpetually getting stuck between the back seats and front. Bags fell on top of him whenever we braked hard, and he couldn't quite make it out without help. No wonder he was stiff, poor old man. He did well for being 13 years old though. We heard not a peep.

We made a side trip to the hazardous waste recycling center to properly dispose of a bag full of electronics, batteries, cords and chargers we had been collecting for over a year. We debated just tossing it, but after collecting the stupid things for a year, it had to happen.

Our B & B (Taken the next morning)

We arrived at our Nola B&B around 11, quickly settled in, and headed out for a much needed drink. Although starving, we did decide to pass on the street vendor preceded by the distinct and pungent smell of urine. We made no eye contact with the sketchy dudes in the park and somehow entered the only bar that was already closing. Our second try was much more successful. Authentic Mexican hot off the grille and cheap good beer was the best thing that happened all day. We kept it tame and headed 'home' for a much needed rest.

An auspicious start to an auspicious trip. Why did I ever think this was going to be easy?