Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig

I'm back in my house. Four states, three time zones, one agricultural inspection, three Border Patrol inspections (two in California), fourteen hours, and 880 miles after I left my hotel in Van Horn, Texas, this morning. My hands hurt from holding the steering wheel.

One of the rest areas I stopped at had this warning sign, and without thinking, I started walking across the dirt, because the sidewalk went out of the way.


But then I inspected my path and found it clear, so I kept going.

While I'm on the topic of rest areas, I'm putting in my vote for the Worst Rest Area Along the Interstate System. It's near Glamis, California, between the Gordons Well and Grays Well exits. It's in the median between the two directions of traffic on I-8, so both directions can go there. But all it has is lots of dirt, a few shade trees, a few Porta-Potties, a few dumpsters, and nothing else. Not even parking spots. Use it only in case of dire emergency. I gave it a miss this time.

I hadn't planned on driving all the way home today. I was going to stay somewhere in Arizona and finish up tomorrow. But I got to Yuma at 6:30pm, and I knew that the minute I crossed the Colorado River on the other side of town, it would only be 5:30pm, and that's much too early to stop for the night.

Granted, I could have stopped in El Centro, but Yuck! So I kept on going. Gina told me that I should get home around 8:30pm, but the Border Patrol stops slowed that down, and I didn't get home until just after 9:00 (after a stop at the grocery store for some creamer and breakfast food).

I called my mom and left a message for my daughter, letting them know I got home safely. Now it's time to get in my jammies and go to bed.

5 comments:

The WordSmith from Nantucket said...

Welcome back home!

janice said...

Welcome home Skye!

Glad you made it home safe.

Bekah said...

I could not have handled that sign!!! But I'm glad you're home safe!

I remember when I was out in Kansas right after the tornado, and my niece was driving us to a nearby city to shop for some things they needed...and she drove right over a massive (live) snake in the middle of the highway. I about passed out in the front seat!

SkyePuppy said...

Bekah,

The snakes come out to sun themselves, and they won't do it where they're going to get stepped on. So by the time I got there, any snakes would have headed off into the brush. So the sign is really for the first people in the morning.

At least that's what I told myself as I walked across the dirt...

Anonymous said...

My text is small, so at first I thought the word "Yuck" said something I'd never heard you say before. Either way, I agree.

-son