.::sunday & monday, september 25 & 26::.


In September I get a frantic call from Val.


"Danielle? I can't live on the East Coast anymore."

"That's okay, I didn't want them scrambled anyway."

"DANIELLE... did you just wake up?"

"Only if they're brown on both sides."

"IT'S TWO IN THE AFTERNOON! WAKE UP! I can't live on the East Coast anymore."

"OH... okay."

"You don't understand. I'm moving to Arizona. I want you to come with me."

I yawn and peer out the window at the changing leaves, tossing lightly in the brisk fall air, high above the college students as they walk back from class in cardigans and lightweight scarves.

"Uh... no thanks, I kinda like it here."

"NO, I mean I want you to help me MOVE!"

She was leaving the very week I'd planned to have an emergency vacation to a yet-undetermined destination. Val is my soulmate.

And so on the Sunday night before our departure, I joined Sonja and her boyfriend James and Val's parents and friends for a good-bye meal (also known as a "please take my houseplants, I can't fit them into my car" meal)...

... after which Val finally started packing her car, and we excitedly hopped into bed, ready to take on the open road the next morning.

Val and I spent 3 weeks in Europe last summer and we took on this cross-country trip exactly the way we did the last one: with a starting point, a destination, and nothin' but a whim in between.

Once we got on the road the next morning, I started playing navigator as Val picked off the last few purchases we needed to make before we left civilization.

"Hey, did you know that Route 70 goes all the way to Utah?" I pointed out.

"I do now!" she replied, and we ripped away to the beginning of 70 (which is conveniently just a few miles from her parents' house) to start the trip off right.

The first few states were decidedly booooooring, as we'd both been to Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio before. We ooed and ahhed a little when we crossed the state line into Indiana, new territory for both of us, and the farthest we'd ever driven west.

We neared Indianapolis before dawn and pitched the tent (oh yes, we're Girl Scouts!) at the first side-of-the-road campsite we could find...

... which happened to have a Yogi Bear theme. We did a little night registration and wound up being the only tent in Jellystone Park that evening. The RVs hummed nearby, but we slept soundly after a stove-cooked meal of homemade chili.

The next morning I resisted the urge to have a campsite employee dressed in a Yogi Bear costume come wake Val up. Partially because she was already up before I was.

Val cooked breakfast because I'm a lazy ass. Bacon and eggs every morning!

This sign cracked me up because... because I'm easily amused. We passed a town called "Effingham." Almost needless to say, Val had to listen to me call it something that sounds like "Buckingham" but starts with a different letter (and then giggle uncontrollably like a 12-year-old with a good dick joke) all morning.

We got back on the road and soon found ourselves in...