ilyĀIMY

I’d Love to say something wide and encompassing like “the first morning on the road is always…”, but it’s never “always” ANYTHING. Sometimes it’s exhausting, sometimes it’s brutal. We often frontload our travels with long drives so that we get OUT and work our way back. But not always. It’s USUALLY a relief to be away from home, but sometimes it’s a stressor. It’s OFTEN a day where my back is sore from the first day’s drive (a solid 10 hours yesterday!), but today I’m feeling pretty okay.

It’s usually NOT a day that dawns with staring.

There are two small white dogs, staring.

There’s no whining, there’s no accusation, there isn’t even the usual mental pressure of “come be with me”. Just steady eye contact. Maybe they’ve learned it from the taxidermied antelope (?) head on the wall, which, I’ve just realized is aligned to stare right at this seat.

There’s a whole lot of not blinking going on.

Yesterday’s drive was long, but easy. Heather ate the miles like she was at a metaphorical all-you-can eat buffet and she’d been starving for weeks. The Hyundai balked a bit at the Appalachians under a full load of gear and people, but she crested every hill and leapt forward on the downward slopes eagerly enough. But, she absolutely seems grateful to be on the flats of the burgeoning Midwest.

Gas prices climbed, crested, fell. We’re in Indiana right now where they’d offed the gas tax some time ago to make Life easier on the Hooziers buuut the state of I-70 in this state reflects that lack of income. Kristen seems downright rattled, and I think Indiana could use a little gas tax.

We rolled into our friends’ house here on the far side of Indianapolis at around 9pm and though it felt quiet at first, soon the household was in Receive ilyAIMY mode and handed us rats and cookies, not necessarily in that order.

I Love people. I Love enthusiastic people who take joy in what they do and what they make and what they collect. We didn’t “drink and break rocks” last night, but we hung out and swapped stories of what we’ve been doing and what we’ve been reading, as we passed the pet rats back and forth and fed them cheese. Unobserved, one of the otherwise pristine little white dogs got into a grill in the backyard and was discovered COVERED in grease and smelling delicious. A strange before-bed activity: washing the dog in the sink and demonstrating the grease-cutting powers of Dawn.

That’s certainly the short version. It’s not a typical first night out. It’s not a typical first morning out. There BEANO “typical” anything and I appreciate that. We can move slow, Kristen slept well, creatures are staring at me.

The sun is bright and I-70 beckons us, but we don’t have to go anywhere. Not just yet.