Ummm... Chili Mac for Breakfast...

Here is the scene. Its a little after 10:30AM, I've just woken up and have already done some preliminary e-mail checking etc, Daphne is still asleep in her bed in the other room. I've just pulled some re-heated left-overs out of the microwave and I'm trying my best to enjoy the "5-way Chili Mac" from last nights trip to Hard Times for Wing Night, and type at the same time. A challenge, but if anyone can do it, a Registered Dietitian can do it. After all, we ARE experts in food and nutrition...

We got into DC on Tuesday night, arriving from State College. The trip to Pee Ayyy was unplanned and somewhat last minute, but I think it turned out nicely. But lets start at the beginning.

Loyal readers know that I stopped in Ashland, OR on night one. This was somewhat uneventful, as I simply drove down I-5 all day until I got there. I did make one two stops in Oregon. 1) Barnes and Noble in Portland to pick up some books on CD, and 2) Burgerville for a Hazelnut shake, which was fabulous, though technically it was a "Smoothie" because it was made with frozen yoghurt instead of ice cream. All I wanted was a kid's size shake, but they only do those in boring flavors. A full-on Hazelnut shake while delicious, can be a bit much on a poor souls stomach if you know what I mean...

So the girl at the counter swore that the smoothies were easier to handle. The jury is still out on that one.

So I stayed at a Super 8 because they allow dogs for a small fee, and that was that.

Woke up early and made it to Mountainview, CA to stay with Beth and Tim that evening. It was great to see them, even if it was just for a short night. Beth and I took Daphne to a California Dog Park. Daphne felt hip and trendy. Beth felt normal, as she was finally at the dog park with a real live dog. And she make Sloppy Joes from a recipe that someone gave her at a Bridal Shower that were- no joke- out of this world. Pretty sure I've never used that term to describe any food item with the name "sloppy" in it before.

The next morning I was on my way to Nevada or Utah (whichever I could make it to) via Reno. I crossed over the Sierra Nevada Mts with little in the way of ice or snow, but as soon as the coast was really clear and you could actually start driving again, I got a speeding ticket. I was speeding. And it was in Truckee, CA, so I guess I just have to accept it. But now I can say I was pulled over by a CHiPs officer. Would have been a whole lot more fun if it were Ponch and/or John though.

After Reno I had a decision to make: stay on the slightly longer more northern route on the major interstate (which was advised by mapquest), or go in a straight line to Denver, on a state highway through Nevada...

I probably should have chosen the interstate, even if it was a little longer, but I didn't.

About 100 miles into it, having seen absolutely NO signs of life other than the white steaks across the sky from airplanes that let's face it- Could have been on military training missions about ready to drop dummy bombs on me- I started to panic, as I only had a 1/4 tank of gas, and the cell phone reception was spotty (at best).

A few broken/panicked calls to J (as we will now call my live-in life partner, since he has a super secret job and can't be tracked online...) which had me explaining that I was probably going to run out of gas out in the middle of NO WHERE and would then proceed to shrivel up and DIE, also helped me to learn that there was a town with gas about 50 miles away. He even called them and confirmed that they were open...

But would I make it 50 miles... No.

So by the grace of god, after about 20 miles a tiny little middle-of-no-where motel with a gas pump appears in my line of vision... And it was real!

I practically had to pump the gas manually, but I was happy to oblige, and happy to pay the $3.60 a gallon that they were charging. It was there that I learned that Highway 50 is also nicknamed, "The Loneliest Highway in America" and rightly so. Needless to say, I nearly learned the hard way that when driving in unknown places, fill up at every opportunity.

The gal at the motel/gas pump (it really wasn't a gas station, it was just a pump) gave me a map and tried her best to tell me about each bend and turn in the road that was coming up until the Utah border. Which was actually quite helpful later on when things got dark and icy and really curvy.

Her last words were, "And keep an eye out for cattle, because they're really out there!". The entire area was open range land, which gave me a better appreciation for the Old West, and make me understand that the "cow catchers" on old trains were not in fact, just for show.

I made it to Ely, Nevada that night, which I assumed from its bold type on the map was going to be a thriving metropolis. When I got there, it seemed to me more like a Ronald, WA. Only not conveniently neighboring the bustling Rosyln and CleElum.

But there were a few hotels, a some places to get food, and the next town over in Utah was over 100 miles further, so that was my stop for the night. I stayed at a small but clean/comfortable Best Western, and it was so late when I checked in that the gal at the counter didn't even charge me for Daphne. Gold Star for Ely Nevada!

From there I made it all the way to Denver, which was a great drive until the very end, which had me dealing with the Rocky Mountains at night (I had to pay so much attention to driving, that I couldn't even get my John Denver CD's out!) and navigating unexpected exact-change-only toll roads after I got into town.

It is here that I met up with J, we stayed at his sister and her husband's house and I met a large portion of his family. This was largely a blur, as I was really tired from driving, and trying my best to keep track of everyone. Also by the time, Daphne was starting to give me the "Do we live here now?" eyes every time she got out of the car. We stayed two nights in Denver which was a great rejuvenator, and were back on the road again to Kansas City, KS for the next night.

I ate a lot of beef in Kansas City. On recommendation, it was steaks the night we got into town, and a copious amount of BBQ the next day for lunch. Very tasty, but way too much of everything.

The next day, we were likely still in a Beef-Induced haze, as I had the hair-brained idea that maybe we should drive to Chicago after all! Visit Jennifer, have deep dish.... I wasn't noticing however, that it was already 2PM.

So we both agreed it would be fun, and set out toward Chicago. About 3 hours in, we realized that it was going to be another 9 hours of driving, which wouldn't put us into town until well after midnight, and Jennifer had to work the next day. So with great sadness, we aborted the Chicago mission and pressed on to Indianapolis where we found another Super 8.

J and I both agreed that this had to be the worst hotel either one of us had ever stayed in. Period.

It was a non-smoking room that smelled like an ashtray, with cigarette burns in the sheets, pillow cases and curtains. The sheets were threadbare and yellowish, and the towels were just as bad. If it weren't already 2AM, we likely would have had more energy to get our money back and move on, but at the time, it just seemed like too much work. No Gold Star for Indianapolis.

From there we probably could have made it to DC, but we'd already thought about going to visit Lisa in State College, PA as part-two of the "let's drive to Chicago to see Jennifer and get deep dish!" plan, so we continued toward PA, arriving that night just in time to catch the end of the Golden Globes, and get some cheese steaks. We stayed at Lisa's (yes, Daphne stayed there too- unbelievable!) and had breakfast at the Corner Room the next morning before Lisa had to get to work. There we met Lisa's friends and fellow bloggers Josh and Emily (in real life!) and then got back on the road.

We arrived in DC on Tuesday afternoon, hauled my things up to our place and cleaned out my car. So now here I am... Still surrounded by boxes, but making some headway. We bought some hangers last night, so I'll be able to unpack clothes today and hopefully feel a bit more settled in.

Okay- Daphne is officially awake and giving me "let's please go outside.... now!" nudges. So I'm of to walk around the block with her and get some fresh air.


One of these days I'm going to have to actually get a job and go to work everyday. Until then, I'm going to enjoy these lazy mornings :)