Home Again, Home Again

…Jiggity Jig

In my lifetime, I have visited 23 U.S. states. In the last seven weeks, I visited 17 of them, sometimes twice. I am nearing the end of my trek and can see my original starting point over the dashboard, in my mind.

Since I had to do most of the driving and drove, mostly, on a drive-through schedule, I didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked. I thought of cute things to write down but if I could find a place to pull over so I could write them, I probably would have forgotten what I wanted to write anyway. I will have to figure out an app that I can record on. Some of those notes were gems.

In seven weeks, I stayed at 12 motels. It is true, you get what you pay for. I did not pay for higher-end hotels, mainly because they did not allow pets. No matter the price, there was always something off, broken, missing, or just super worn out. Perhaps it was because they had “special” rooms they kept aside for dog owners. I will never know. I am grateful they allowed JoJo, and I always felt safe, wherever I was. Unlike my sister, I am not really a “city girl.” So, all of my motels have been on the edge of town and that has been fine for me. They have all provided me with the three most important things. Sleep, shower, and morning coffee.

One thing I have tried to do is to daily touch people’s lives in some small way. A woman was in the grocery store trying to shop while herding three small children. At the checkout, I turned to her and told her I was impressed, she was doing a great job. At a restaurant, finishing my meal, I walked up to my server, who had chatted with me talking about working and going to college. I handed her an extra twenty and said, “You go girl.” Another time, another server, whipped out her phone to show a picture of her three-month-old baby, whom she couldn’t wait to get home to. She also received an extra “tip.” But I told her she had to do something for herself with it. I believe an eyebrow appointment was in her future.

Was I ever afraid? No.
The two rainstorms I drove through did cause great alarm. I knew there was only one way to go… forward. I told God I knew He was with me in the car. I kept breathing ‘in through my nose, out through my mouth.’ And I was alive by the end of the storms.

Was I always careful? Yes.
Everything was done out in public, always in a well-lighted area. My motel room was double-triple-locked while I was resting within. People tend to ignore a senior citizen, but one that holds her head up and walks toward a specific direction, well, even those who would take advantage tend to bypass.

There are some things I learned:
*Don’t look back while you are driving.
*Check your hotel reservation dates twice.
*When traveling solo, take half of a Benadryl at 5 PM so you, later, sleep well and wake up refreshed.
*Do talk to strangers. Just make sure you are in a very public place.
*Simply state, “Table for One.” Guess what? Nobody cares anymore.
*Water, at any motel in the U.S. is drinkable but it doesn’t hurt to bring bottled water and drink that instead. Tap water doesn’t always taste, well, let’s just say, bottled water always tastes good.
Note: Don’t drink the water at any rest stop, period!
*Bring an emergency kit, even if it sits in the back of your vehicle, untouched. The time you don’t bring it you will need it. Murphy’s Law!
*Packing: I packed smart. I took what I gathered together and removed half of it. I ended up wearing a quarter of that half, dragging the suitcase in and out, every day.
Suggestion: Don’t drag your suitcase in and out every day. Pack a carry-on size with three outfits. No one will know that you wore that same top two days ago.
Exception: Bring seven days of underwear. You can’t know if the guest laundry washer will work or not. You also, may not want to use it when you look at it.
*Bring all pills and medication needed for the time you will be gone. Add on to that, at least, an extra week’s worth just in case. You may not need it but remember Murphy’s Law…
*In almost all the other states Fireworks are now being sold. Even if the sign says, ‘Buy one, get five free’ don’t buy them. California will find you.
*Surprise! (and sad) No one recycles like California does.
*In most states, if you are allowed to go 80 miles per hour, the semi-trucks are also allowed to go 80 miles per hour.

What has surprised me most is the fact that I have not gotten sick once. Watch, I’ll get home and catch a cold. Maybe I should just keep going…?

So, what has a 70-year-old widow, on a cross-country trip, learned in seven weeks? She has learned that a 70-year-old widow can, indeed, make a cross-country trip, and do it in seven weeks.

This is the end of my trip blog. Never fear, it is not the end of my blogging. I look forward to seeing my friends. I will try to squeeze a trip up North to see two high school friends and one stepdaughter, fresh from her own trek in the Scottish Highlands. I wish she had her own blog. Maybe in a few decades when she has more time.

This is the end of June. By the end of July I will be back on the road, this time straight across, to North Carolina. A POD will be waiting there for me. My apartment has been reserved and ready for the POD to be emptied into it. Once I am settled…I’m thinking a cruise. (hmmm?) Who knows what is next?

But before then, I am sure I will have brilliant thoughts to put on paper, well actually on computer.