A weekend at home turns into a drive across the country

Last weekend, I was all set to have a nice quiet few days at home.

I had dealt with a minor health problem for a few weeks and then had to work the two previous weekends. I was tired and I was ready for two slow days of working in the yard, doing some writing, watching television and relaxing.

So, of course, I drove from Ohio to New Mexico instead.

It was a little unusual, so I thought I would tell you about it here.

My stepdaughter, I will call her Sophia since she is not currently in Ohio to get mad at me for using her real name, decided to move to Los Angeles. I don’t know what is so special about California, but I guess she thought she might like a winter with no snow and beaches that are larger than what we have at the nearby creek.

I doubt, though, that have any good places to skip stones in Los Angeles. And I am pretty sure she will miss the snow when she is dealing with 70-degree weather in January. Honestly, I feel a little bad for her.

Anyway, she was all set to drive out to Los Angeles with another family member, but the night before she was set to leave, those plans fell through.

Since I really didn’t have any big plans for the weekend, my wife and I decided that I would drive with Sophia until Monday and then stop in Albuquerque, New Mexico to catch a plane back to Ohio so that I could work on Tuesday. If I could have skipped work on Tuesday, I would have continued to Los Angeles, but I am very, very important and knew I needed to get to work.

Also, I don’t want them to forget who I am and eliminate my job, so it seemed like I should get back to the office.

So, Saturday morning we filled up the gas tank, bought a few bottles of water and headed out on the highway. We stopped for lunch after an hour, and honestly, we weren’t making very good time.

As a dad, I enjoy making good time and staying on schedule, so I was a little concerned. I like to have a plan and a schedule for just about everything in life. What time should we get to Indiana? When will I snack? What time(s) should we stop for a bathroom break.

Sophia for some reason, just wanted to go and not worry about any of that. I agree with you. I don’t understand it either.

Anyway, not long after lunch we made it to Indiana. While I like Indiana as a state and the people seem very friendly, the drive through Indiana is very boring. It looks a lot like Ohio, but with fewer cities, more signs for RV stores and more buildings shaped like giant candles for some reason.

After what seemed like forever, Indiana turned into Illinois, and I was happy that we were on our third state of the day. I thought maybe we would drive just past St. Louis to stop for the day, so I was fairly happy with our progress.

When we made it to Missouri and were near St. Louis, though, Sophia said she wanted to keep going in order to shorten the drive the next day. Before too long, we were all the way to Kansas City and I was pretty tired.

Sophia drove the rest of the night then and got us quite a ways into Kansas before we stopped for the night at what I think was 3 a.m. Ohio time. I felt old and tired, but also proud that she had led the trip and gotten us so far.

The next day, we drove through heavy rains in Kansas that slowed us down, but then made it into Oklahoma, Texas and then New Mexico. The drive was much more interesting as the landscape and the cities changed. The scenery was beautiful, and at one time stopped just to get out to see the plants and flowers and to touch them, and it was a good break in the drive. I was glad we got to see the plants, and I think the rash from them is almost gone now.

Just kidding, it all went well, and somehow we made it all the way Albuquerque that day.

t was a fun drive, but it was also hard at times riding and driving all day for two days, especially when you tend to worry about traffic, if your daughter is seeing that truck ahead of you(!) if that car coming up behind us sees us (!) and if I will have to stop and go to the bathroom again.

But all in all, I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. I was proud I was able to help her a little, and I loved spending time with her on the drive.

She is doing fine now in California, and I am back home watching television, writing and relaxing. The yardwork can wait until next weekend.