Jimspeak

This drive was less painful than the one to Vegas, even though it was longer. The day before we left I took the Race Saturn over to U-Haul to have a hitch installed (can you weld to plastic?) and pick up the trailer. It was a bit strange driving back home with a small trailer strapped to my ass, but we made it. Unfortunately, I noticed that plastered all over the trailer were placards saying: "Never exceed 45mph". I did some quick math (accurately, since I am no longer an engineer and thus can do math sans calculators.) and realized that at 45mph it would take us over 20 hours to reach Chicago. Since I had to be in Chicago for a bachelor party by 9am the day after the drive, this would not work. So like all seemingly important things, I ignored it and started loading the trailer.

Packing up is easy when you don't own anything. It's even easier when your roommate owns nothing and doesn't want to buy anything, and is willing to 'let' you leave some stuff behind for storage. What did I leave behind? A dresser, 2 night stands, all my dishes and pots and pans, grill, and my undying lo...never mind.

By 9pm Thursday night I was all packed up-the 4'x8' trailer was filled (I am an excellent packer), and there were a few things in the car and trunk. Now we had to worry about how the Saturn would handle the trailer. But that was later. We ordered a pizza and drank some Busch Light, and relaxed. Or tried to. I got into bed after 1, and was up at 4:30 to tidy things up.

We were on the road by 5:15, saying goodbye to Denver!

You could ask my girlfriend, R, about the drive, but it would be a very incomplete account. Her first 'nap' extended thru the first 5 hours or so of the drive. This was followed by 2-3 more naps which varied between 30 minutes and an hour. I have never met a napper as skilled as she. Overall, she was asleep for almost half of the drive. I napped too, so don't worry. In fact, I think I slept thru Nebraska even though I was driving (no worries about going off the road. The damn thing has no curves in it)

Uneventful drive, really. The Saturn handled the load easily (45mph my arse. 70mph seemed to be the magic speed) and the hitch did not tear off. It went really quickly, actually. I am used to doing that drive alone, and overnight. So doing it during the day with a second driver (yes, I did let her drive for a bit, and was even able to relax enough to fall asleep! I'm getting better...) was cake.

We rolled into my folks' place around 10:30. We unloaded the car, unhitched the trailer, and I managed to sleep for a few hours before driving into the City for a day of revelry.

But that is a different blog