I have received several emails and seen several comments worried I am going to drive distracted- I’m not! That’s why I waited a couple days! I’m gonna head out tomorrow. Gonna hit the gym, swim, and get a beard trim and load the last few items today and head out. And another thing, don’t worry about me being “too angry” to drive. Here’s the thing- there has never been a scene in a movie I have identified with more than this one:
I will be fine. I would never in a million years get behind the wheel of a guided 2 ton missile if there was any chance I was going to be a danger to other people on the road. I would not be able to live with myself if I took out a family of five because I was driving tired or distracted. It’s why I don’t plan cross country drives with the hotels already chosen- I drive until I am tired and then find some 70 dollar a night hotel, pull over, and stay the night. This trip can take 3 days or it can take seven, because my laptop is my office.
So stop worrying about me- I’ve got a pretty decent record of keeping you all informed when there is something wrong. No need for you to fret. If there is a problem I will tell you.
TBone
Worry is a waste of imagination.
TBone
Have some CAP! 💜
https://showercapblog.com/on-the-bright-side-i-just-saved-a-bunch-of-money-on-my-car-insurance/
Steve LaBonne
Good to hear. Self-knowledge and self-care FTW. Have a great trip.
WereBear
But what about the pants? Did you remember your pants?
raven
RIP Ben the dog.
WereBear
@TBone: Not when one is a thriller writer!
😎
This settles it. The cozy mystery will still be charming and funny, as much as I can… but this must be a dark cozy.
Which means the usual things, turned up to eleven for the intensity, with here and there a soupçon of realism.
WereBear
@raven: Looks like he had a long and happy life. As should happen to every Golden.
Jackie
How are Steve and Max handling the “knowing sumthin’s up?”
TBone
@WereBear: I’m too old for frills! 😆😎
Oh that’s not what you said? My bad…
I love your outlook if that wasn’t clear in my silliness.
(My post at #2 ends along your line of thinking.)
Omnes Omnibus
You are more likely to crash because Malcolm gets out of his crate and comes for you with his silver hammer.
TBone
@Omnes Omnibus: 😆
TBone
Now I need to find some Lewis Black to jam out with.
brendancalling
I identified SO HARD with that scene, Cole. Because that’s my [not so] secret as well.
Spanky
@Omnes Omnibus: Where did you come up with “Malcolm”
Eta, maybe he’s in the middle.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
I for one, never worry about you. I mean that in the best possible way too.
I love solitary long car trips and do exactly what you do: sleep cheap somewhere at the last minute.
It’s always hysterical to channel surf on the radio to see how many times you hear the same song being played on “classic rock” radio when driving thru different markets. One time driving from Jeff City to Lincoln, I heard Van Halen’s “Jump” five times on five different stations.
You also learn the songs that are “back in vogue” on such playlists. Some years, you’d never her a ‘Bad Company’ song, other years, tons. I swear AC/DC has gotten more airplay loooong after they were making the songs you now hear constantly on such stations.
I digress. Have a good trip, they’re soothing, particularly if you don’t do it all on the Interstate.
Mr. Bemused Senior
Bless you, John. Safe travels.
Omnes Omnibus
@Spanky: Misremembered Maxwell’s name? It’s been a bit of a week. Cut me some slack.
twbrandt
@Omnes Omnibus: Maxwell, not Malcolm
ETA: Spanky got there first, didn’t mean to pile on.
sixthdoctor
Safe travels and yeah, Mark Ruffalo is my spirit superhero now…
raven
@WereBear: Yea 10 seems short but about right for a Golden.
Jackie
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
With two freaked out cats in the backseat…
lowtechcyclist
@Spanky:
I was wondering that too.
Along with the piggy.
ETA: Glad to know we’re not just jackals, we’re dorks too. :-)
Andrew Abshier
Excellent planning. As I learned the hard way, a hotel room always costs less than an accident–or a life.
(In 2014 was driving past exhaustion and nodded off on the turnpike. Thankfully all I did was hit a traffic barrel and take off my left-side mirror. I had passed on pulling over and getting a hotel room some miles back because it was a Hampton Inn and was expensive. Hotel room: $100 or so (in 2014); replacing the mirror: around $900. I’ve never done that again; lesson learned.)
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@Omnes Omnibus: i thought I had missed Cole adding a new animal to his menagerie. MalCALM would be a good name for an attention seeking lap cat though.
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@Andrew Abshier: $900 for a side mirror. Jeez what kind of car was it? A German car like an Audi or a Beemer?
sab
@Jackie: Cats eventually sleep. My bestie cat settles right down after we have been through the bank teller window. I don’t know why. I doubt he worries about money and they don’t have cat treats.
ETA Although as I remember satby did say that Echo yowled the whole way from South Bend to Akron. Five hours.
sab
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: Isn’t he just fostering the new cat? Apparently a long term and committed fostering.
WereBear
Kind of the inverse of that movie scene was going on with me the other night. I tried a Tao meditation to get to sleep. After some study, I calmed. I must be diligent in my studies moving forward.
I was having a hard time with the bolded words. Then realized I was letting my rage do the thinking. Once I worked through my process, I was calm.
Essentially: I’m already sitting in the roller coaster, the bar has lowered and locked, the ride has started.
The only choice each of us have is how we react to it, and I’m just a bleeding heart do-gooder, and proud of it. Since I’ve been in Rescue my whole adult life, you might even say I have trained for it. :)
That’s why, when I saw the clip, I reminded myself, “I’m always kind.” That’s my reflexive first response.
And you know what? At least it’s an ethos!
Kelly
One of the nice things about being retired is adding travel days to long trips. When I was in my 20’s the whitewater river crew I adventured with would gather on a Thursday to load the gear trailer (drink a lot of beer), head out Friday after work, drive until after midnight, set up camp in the dark, launch on Saturday, pack back up on Sunday, get home after midnight, unpack the gear trailer Monday after work (drink a lot of beer). We did this every few weeks for about 5 years.
WereBear
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: The year of “My Sharona,” I was on a road trip from Alabama to Connecticut.
We’d lose one station as the song ended and we’d find another one where it was just starting.
sab
@Andrew Abshier: They say for 85% of people sleep deprivation is as bad for functionning as being drunk. I am one of those.
One tax season after four hours sleep and a sixteen hour day I drove away from a gas pump with the nozzle still in the car.
Years later my stepson who worked at a BP says that happens all the time and their equipment can deal with it. A minor nuisance.
WereBear
@sab: Foster failure!
That was our Sir Tristan.
TBone
President Biden will “host” Donold in the Oval Office on Wednesday. Needless to say, I am hoping for an immune “official act.”
Dark Brandon style.
I know my hope in this instance is in vain, but it remains nevertheless.
sab
@Kelly: If you have kids I hope you check in. We were bad kids about that and my parents paid us back when they retired. We spent years worrying about whether they were safe in their travels.
TBone
@WereBear: my parents bought me that album for my 13th birthday. Much to their ongoing regret 😆
Also the first Van Halen album, for contrast!
Jackie
@sab:
Steve and Maxwell are Cole’s forever cats. Rosie, the foster cat has been handed over to Cole’s sister while he’s in Arizona.
trollhattan
@TBone: Hamberders and regular Coke.
sab
@WereBear: You are so cynical. Of course Cole will return that cat after years of fostering.
ETA I always tell my stepkids that this is not a foster situation. You dump the critter here and it will be ours forever. Which is how we got seven cats and a pitbull.
Kelly
@sab:We text pics along the way to kids.
Now days Mrs Kelly and I leave for the river put ins the day before launch, take twice as many days covering the same miles on the rivers, get a motel room when we take out.
sab
@Jackie: Good to know. I was surprised that Steve accepted Maxwell. Our Steve lookalike is an asshole to other cats, and we have six other cats.
WereBear
@TBone: At least you could alternate! Which of your parents was the fan :)
WereBear
@sab: Bet the pitty is happy about it, too.
TooManyJens
Outwardly I’m about the most mild-mannered person in existence, but I’ve been angry ever since I was old enough to understand what was going on the in the world.
sab
@WereBear: She LOVES our new house. She doesn’t even miss the old fenced yard because she loves being inside the new house.
ETA Also too I let her sleep in bed with me. She used to have to sleep locked in a crate in the basement.
Ohio Mom
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: We’ve had a couple of mishaps on car trips. Once in the dark, we drove over a blown out truck tire that ripped up the front grill, another time we had a tire blow-out ourselves.
When you are far from your regular mechanic, out in the middle of nowhere, at the mercy of garage you don’t know, you get taken advantage of. They know they got you city folk right where you want them.
Ohio Mom
Safe and peaceful travels, Cole.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Kelly: what a schedule. What did you guys do Saturday night? Spend it on the river?
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@WereBear: Thank you for sharing this.
Kelly
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: Yep, camp on the river somewhere. Drink more beer. Ah the energy of youth
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Jackie:
Lemme amend my original statement then:
I hate solitary long car trips with two freaked out cats in the back seat.
TBone
J.C. just wanted to thank you again for the Sewer Rat poem last night.
I sent it to my DelCo peeps who will immediately understand.
TBone
@trollhattan: BLECH
TBone
@WereBear: neither after they heard both albums several hundred times! 😆
I think they asked the guy at the Granite Run Mall records store what was popular and didn’t know what they’d gotten into.
WereBear
@sab: Upgrades are always welcome :)
la caterina
@WereBear: My meditation is now to greet each person I encounter with good cheer, especially on the road, where I let everyone go first. Sometimes you get a nice smile or a wave.
ETA: Have a safe trip, Cole.
Jackie
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: 😂
SomeRandomGuy
Cole, I read your poem on hope last night, and GET THAT FUCKING WEBCAM OUT OF MY ROOM!
“Hope is a rat,” and there’s an essay on my fucking BEDROOM.
(Okay, it was a good sentiment, but (makes “my eyes – on you” gesture three times before realizing how ineffective it is in text.), sighs in exasperation, and gives up)
glc
“Stop worrying about me” says the man.
And this is done how?