Final leg of the journey North

So it's only taken me a month to get around to writing this. LOL. For once James has been much better at blogging than I have.

One of the hardest things I've ever done was pull away from the OCSC parking lot and watch James fade in the side view mirror. I was very excited to be going to visit my mom, but leaving him was heart breaking. And the dogs had no idea what was happening.

The drive is a bit of a blur. I left James in Berkeley at about 7am. I made good time, got through the high traffic areas before traffic. It was July 3rd, so a lot of folks were taking 3 day weekends so the roads were pretty clear. I took I-5 to 97. I had a burner phone for emergencies. At each rest stop or gas stop I called to check in with mom or James. I learned at the first rest stop that I'd have to walk the dogs separately, which was good for me, longer to stretch my legs. I made it as far as Chemult without incident. I stopped at a truck stop there to get some food, they had a Subway. The line was ridiculously long, so I decided to skip it. I then spent the next hour trying to start the van. I had plenty of power so it wasn't the battery. It wasn't making those funny sounds that indicate a starter issue, so I assumed it was the ignition switch. I checked fuses. I called James, no answer. I didn't want to call my mom and freak her out. I called the Good Samaritan hot line for road side assistance, and while panicking that I would run out of minutes on my burner phone, I tried the van again....VROOOM. Started right up. So I hung up and was on my way again, still hungry, and a bit worried about the next gas stop, but back on the road.

I was worried about driving after dark, I have trouble with the bright headlights, as many do, so I stopped at a few inexpensive looking hotels to see if it was in my budget. Nope. I wasn't fond of the idea of trying to sleep at a rest stop alone, even with the dogs with me. And I'm stubborn. It got dark right as I hit Hwy 84, about 9pm and still at least 3 hours to go. The first part of the highway was no problem as it was a one way only, no cars coming at me. Thankfully there was very little traffic by the time I reached the regular highway, and almost none at all when I finally turned onto highway 11, the last leg of the trip to Moms. I was exhausted. The dogs were tired, but restless. I was 45 minutes away and ready to just pull over and sleep. Stubbornness won. I pulled into moms neighborhood a little after midnight. Mika was nuts. She seemed to know where we were, and by the time I pulled into moms driveway she was ecstatic. So was the 12th Van. It died in the driveway before I could put it in park. I was too tired to care. I'd made it.

I tried the van the next morning. It started right up. Good 12th Van. But I was done driving for at least 2 weeks. Mom couldn't get me in the car if the house was on fire. I rebuilt her front porch steps. I then painted the whole front porch, cleaned and organized her back patio, tore out the carpet from her living room and hallways, pruned roses, planted marigolds, fixed fences and gates, and done anything possible to keep my mind off missing James. Being with my Mom is awesome though. She's an amazing person who's been through a lot this past year. I wasn't able to be  here then, so I love that I'm getting to spend so much time with her now, helping her with the small and large projects.