Evening: rehearsal for Coro Stella Maris which is doing a pops concert Aug 8. So imagine the fun of a bunch of folks who specialize in Renaissance polyphony trying to learn the peculiar harmonies and rhythms of Over the Rainbow and Blue Moon. It's coming along, though. Got home 10-ish, put out the trash, went to bed. Supper was a pair of granola bars and some water.
Tuesday, 6/22 which is the 9-month anniversary of I Love Ravyn day. Up at 0400, logged in and sent the "here I come" e-mail. Hiked to the subway with the remaining two granola bars and a travel mug of coffee, suitcase in tow.
5:15-5:39-5:45 First Orange Line train into town; it was standing room only by the 2nd stop. Transferred pretty immediately to the Blue Line at State Street, and thence to the cool new Airport T stop.
6:07 At the gate, with no significant extra searching, even though I had a one-way ticket and was towing all my luggage (for gate check, since the airplane was a little one).
9:25 Arrive Raleigh/Durham, ten minutes early. Down the escalator, no toxicfur, but hey, I'm early. Suppress the urge to believe the media-fueled nightmare scenario, of getting exactly this far with TEH AOL GF and then be left standing. Hear my name mispronounced over the PA system, see the infodroid's lips moving, find out about the mechanical problem (is fire mechanical?) on I-40. Four pay-phones later, I find one that will both send and receive, get the whole story from toxicfur, and a promise to be there in about an hour.
10:45 @brother{$toxicfur} pulls up in front of the terminal in his pickup truck, so we stuff one small suitcase and three full-size adults in a two-seat truck cab with jump seat. So good to be in touching distance again.
11:15ish Arrive at mns's place for coffee and donuts with yankeehack and mns. Photos were taken, and I'd love to see hack's. Much very useful advice was given on the subject of navigating in Darkest NewJoizey, all of it useful.
13:30 Nowhere, NCia at a redneck garage. Electricals fixed, and @brother{$toxicfur} wants to patch the transmission line himself (cheaper, faster, better; take that, NASA!).
14:30 Borrow @mother{$toxicfur} truck, on the road homewards, after watching @terrier("jack russell", @mother{$toxicfur}) bounce off the walls for a while. Seriously consider @mother{$toxicfur} offer to sell the truck and forward the proceeds.
15:30 Back in Wilmington, NCia and a nearly empty house full of excited critters. They clearly know something's up. $cat[2] and $cat[3] want out in the worst way, and $cat[3] wants his catnip fix.
17:00 Met a few friends for beer at the former employer of toxicfur. Beer is good, company is good. Partings were sad. Parting gift: "White Trash Detergent: good for Ring Around the Trailer, and Front Porch Couches". Dinner at a nice place near the river, and another parting.
19:00 Home. At last. Missed @brother{$toxicfur} call somehow. He's still working on the truck, which was delivered late by the tow company.
Wednesday, 9/23 05:30 Alarm. Ugh.
07:45 Finally everything's packed and checked. Thought $cat[3] would injure himself before the benadryl kicked in and mellowed him out a bit.
08:55 Leave @town{@mother{$toxicfur}} after a slightly teary goodbye, and getting pulled over by @otherbrother{$toxicfur}, who's a cop, just for a hug goodbye. @brother{$toxicfur} is driving the moving truck, following toxicfur and me in the (soooo recently blazing) blazer. We managed to stay together the whole way.
09:40 I-40 at I-95.
10:45 Rocky Mount, NCia rest area.
11:30 VAia is for lovers.
1-1:30 lunch at Richmond
3:50 The Beltway. And extra half hour or so to admire the skyline whilst waiting in line for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Next time, believe it when the map says construction. We perfected the lane-change maneuver here, though: Blazer, in the lead, signals. Penske truck behind cuts someone off, changes lanes, leaving an opening for the Blazer.
4:45 I-95 between Baltimore and Washington. The helpful credit card folks have by now noticed unusual activity on my card, so I hafta go inside instead of letting the computers figure it out at the gas pump. Like nobody normally buys gasoline 80 gallons at a pop.
It's $2 to use the Harbor Tunnel in Baltimore, which surely must be a gigabuck project. It's $5 to use one little bridge further up along the bay in MDia.
6:05 Delaware. The bridge is pretty. Also free, northbound.
6:23 NJia. Found the turnpike no prob. Contrary to our expectation, at least on the southern end, they hand you a card which you turn in with some cash upon exit. Rather than feeding quarters to bins all along the way. Stopped at a rest area to pass another $20 to @brother{$toxicfur}.
7:50 Joyce Killmer Rest Area, just short of Exit 9 on the NewJoizeyPike. Thanks to yankeehack for recommending it, as we had a chance to talk through the next couple maneuvers.
9:20 Arrive, in Parsippany, NJia. Which we picked weeks before, more or less at random, because it had a pet-friendly motel, and because we liked the euphonialism of the name.
Thursday 9/24 Aquired some cat scratches, trying to persuade $cat[3] that he'd rather be in my arms than running (and, presumably, hiding) outdoors. First blood, I think.
7:30 on the road, going the wrong way. Eventually clued into the turn-right-to-turn-around thing.
8:30 gas in Boonton, NJ, and some bagels and muffins and coffee.
9:45 Newburgh, NYia. Have I mentioned lately that the cats are still crying every time we pass a semi? Sometimes just $cat[1], but sometimes all three of them.
11:00 Rest stop near Albany.
11:45 Mass Pike. At least we're in the right state.
12:40 Springfield, and lunch.
1:15 on the road again.
2:45 get off the pike at I-95 aka 128. On a scale of ten, the traffic is about a four, which is still enough to largely freak both NCian drivers.
3:20 HOME! W00H00! And all the people and critters were unkilled. So far as we know, none of the cargo was broken either.
Total miles: 957.1
So a bunch of my cow-orkers came over to help unload, help figure out how to twirl large furniture pieces up stairs with elbow joints, help drink beer, help eat pizza.
We discover that if you bake two pizzas in the same oven at the same time the bottom one is fine, but the top one's crust oozes between the bars of the oven grill before it toasts.
Friday, unpack stuff, twirl a few more furniture bits around the house, sort stuff, install washing machine, find dog food. Redeem coupon for birthday dinner at Cambridge Brewing Company. So I'm now the proud owner of a beer glass with their logo on it. We had a K5m33t there once, so a theantix near you will remember the place. Pool around the corner. Was kind of amusing, in a train-wreck kind of a way, for us to watch @brother{$toxicfur} trying to pick up the bar waitress in the pool hall. And getting more and more obnoxious and talky as the beers slid down his throat. He's a good kid, and did a really really good job of driving truck, fixing stuff, and just being a standup guy. But we were glad to send him home on Saturday.
So, we're home. And today, as they say, is the first day of the rest of our lives, together.
| < Out. Of. Practise. Fuck. | BBC White season: 'Rivers of Blood' > |
