Friend Making Monday

Alright!  It’s about time I posted a blog.  I was going to post last Monday but there was no Friend Making Monday post by the host blogger, so I was unmotivated to post anything at all.  So, it’s been over a week since I posted.

Well, as some of you may know, I am traveling right now.  I drove from the Austin, TX area up to the Salem, OR area.  And I did it between 9:30pm (CST) on Friday and 2:30pm (PST) on Sunday.  If my math is correct, that’s 42 hours.  In that 42 hours, there were 2 naps…a 2 hour nap and a little over a 4 hour nap.  I also stopped for food, gas, souvenirs and the restroom.

I headed out of town Friday night after work.  My supervisor let me comp out some time I had accumulated earlier in the week for going to the gun range to qualify, so I got to leave 2 hours early.  One of the guys at work told me to be careful about deer in west Texas since I’d be driving through that area at night.  I didn’t see any deer until about 5:30am in New México.  Thankfully that one didn’t bounce out in front of me, though it did scare me.  As I continued through New México, I also saw a hare on the side of the road.  This also did not bounce out in front of me.  I stopped at a rest stop around 6am Saturday morning.  It took me a few minutes to fall asleep as it was already light out.  I slept for 2 hours and hit the road again.

After I left the interstate and was heading up US550 toward SW Colorado, I saw a LOT of bicyclists.  Most were just out for the day, but obviously doing some high mileage…some were obviously going out for a multiple day trek as they had some serious saddle bags on their bicycles.  That was something that, years ago when I was kind of serious about cycling, I wanted to do.  Go on a bicycle trek.  But I never got around to it and Texas highways are not bicycle friendly…like this New México one plainly was.  I made a stop at the Walmart in Cortez, CO for some post cards.  While I was there, I noticed all the native Americans and it was really neat to hear them speaking in Navajo!!!

After Colorado came Utah.  I love southeast Utah.  It’s so red and gorgeous!  In Utah there was a lot of [motor] bikers to be seen.  Made me think of my biker buddy Steve.  I don’t know if he’s ridden through Utah or not, but I think he should do that sometime.  I stopped in Salt Lake City for some dinner and gas.  I had stopped at the Walmart and was horrified.  It was GHETTO…big time.  I didn’t find any post cards right away, I asked a few employees but they either didn’t understand the word souvenir or told me to ask someone that spoke more English than they did and pointed toward the electronics section cashier who had a line of like 15 people…yea, no, I don’t think so.  I speed walked out of there, made sure my car was fine and left.  I bought some postcards at the gas station.

I was leaving Salt Lake City as the sun was going down.  I drove until about 30-40 miles east of Mountain Home, ID and stopped at the rest stop there.  I crawled into the back seat of my car and slept for about 4 hours, maybe a little more.  Then I hit the road again.  I stopped in Boise for breakfast and gas.  Then I made the final leg of my journey to my parents’ house.  I forgot that Oregon’s speed limits are still stuck in the 70’s…the 1970’s that is.  The highway speeds are 55.  Ugh.  Thankfully there’s not many places for a state trooper to sit and run radar, and even if there was, in eastern Oregon you could see them miles before you got to them and slow down, so I went about 10 miles over the limit most of the way through eastern Oregon.  When I got to the more populated areas, I kept it to at the speed limit (in the 40 and lower areas) or to just 5 miles over.

I arrived at my parents’ house around 2:30pm Sunday afternoon.  My mom was already home, waiting for me and my dad got home about an hour after I arrived.  YAY!

I was going to run this morning, was going to do 4 miles, however my back is still killing me from the drive so I’m going to wait until tomorrow morning to run.  Then I’ll run again Wednesday morning, then no running until the half marathon Saturday morning!  I’m so excited for that!  My first out of state bling!

Oh!  So, the drive from the gas station near my home to my parents’ house was 2060 miles.  Which is funny because Google told me it was going to be like 2216 miles.  I don’t understand why Google was off so much.  Oh well, I’m off to scrub the bugs off the car and then go have lunch with my mom!

The Next

1. What is the next movie you want to see?

Maleficent

2. What is the next book you want to read?

I’m currently reading the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, so the next book I read will be the next book in the series :)

3. What is the next trip/vacation you are going to take?

I am currently on vacation.  I drove from Texas to Oregon in less than 48 hours, only stopping for naps, food, gas, and potty breaks.  While I’m in Oregon I’ll be visiting with friends and family and running a half marathon.

4. What is the next restaurant you want to try?

don’t really have a list of restaurants to try.  really, I try not to eat out…I rarely succeed in that, but I still try

5. What is the next workout you are going to do?

Running.  I was going to run today but my back is killing me from the drive up to Oregon so I’m going to wait until tomorrow for my run

6. What is the next task you are going to complete?

Washing the car…it has bugs all over it!!!

7.What is the next hobby you want to try?

no new hobbies I want to try, but I would like to do more sewing projects.

8. What is the next big event you will attend?

while I’m here in Oregon, tomorrow there is a family only bbq at my brother’s house, then on Saturday I’m running the Helvetia Half Marathon (I guess this is really the only actual “big event”) and then next Tuesday is my nephew’s 2^nd birthday party.

9. What type of animal do you want as your next pet?

When I buy/rent a house (aka-move out of my apartment), I want to get another cat…specifically, a female Siamese…short hair

10. What is the next topic you would like to see on Friend Makin Mondays?

favorite activities…indoor, outdoor, with others, by yourself, etc