7/27/15,
“The Return Journey”
New York,
New York
Technically
the trip ended the moment I set foot in my apartment at 8 AM this morning. I could have opened up my laptop and quickly
written the few sentences necessary to close out the trip. I think my readers know me well enough to
know that that is not my style.
After I
published last night’s entry, the plan was for me to take over the wheel drive
until we left Ohio. However, well, this
isn’t going on Facebook, so I might as well use names, Stuart wanted me to
finish going through the receipts so that I could write him a check for what I
owed him, since we used his credit card for almost everything. That took some time, almost an hour, in fact,
I think. Once that was finished, we
pulled over, and I took the wheel.
It
was now close to 11:30 PM, and I had been up for 17 hours, only having 3 hours
of sleep. Stuart had not gotten much
more, and he barely slept on the ride in Friday night. Connor got some sleep on the ride in, and he
got the most sleep of us Saturday night.
We had thought he was sleeping while we were driving, but Stuart’s
constant yammering kept him awake. In
other words, it was 11:30 PM, we had 7 hours to our destination, and we were
all tired af.
So, the original plan was
that we left the restaurant at 9 PM, and Stuart would drive for an hour while I
did my entry. I would then drive from
like 10 PM to 12:30 PM, which would give Connor over three hours of sleep. He would take over the wheel for 3 hours or
so, until 3:30 AM, which would give Stuart over 5 hours of sleep, and then he
could finish the drive home, which would get me and Connor to work properly
rested. Great plan, right?
“Best-laid plans…” I almost fell asleep at the wheel, and it was
clear I would have trouble making it to midnight. Connor didn’t get his sleep due to
conversation in the front row. Stuart
couldn’t get himself to sleep, even though he was on 4 hours of sleep total in
two nights. Around midnight, we pulled
into a gas station, and I changed into my pajamas, giving Connor the
wheel. Tempers were flared at this
point. Connor’s most of all and
rightfully so. Stuart can be very annoying,
but I have gotten used to him by now.
Connor not so much. Connor
thought I was being lazy by not doing my share of the driving, but I knew that
I was risking an accident by continuing.
Stuart was well, just being Stuart.
After two days of travelling with very little sleep and lots of driving,
it was not a good combination. I woke up
close to 2 AM with a very full bladder, and Connor refused to stop on the side
of the road. I waited about ten minutes
for a rest stop, and then he told me the next one was in twenty minutes. I could not wait that long, and I said that I
was going to U out the window if he didn’t pull over. He didn’t stop. I literally opened the window and was about
to make a very unofficial U when we saw an emergency stopping shoulder. The tempers got a little more frayed. Connor and Stuart split the driving while I
slept in the backseat. I definitely got
the better end of that deal, though I suppose anoher way to look at it was that
I paid for Connor’s share of the trip, and he did my share of the driving or
something, but still. It was his
birthday present, so he shouldn’t have ended the trip regretting he took
it.
It was soon daylight, and we were in
New Jersey. We did not beat rush hour
traffic, and it was going to be tight for Connor to get to work by 8 AM. I had until 9 AM, well 9:07 AM, but I need to
shower and change. Reader, recall I was
still in my pajamas. I packed up my
stuff, and Stuart dropped me off half a block from my apartment. I grabbed all of my stuff, still in my
pajamas, and walked back to my apartment.
Connor was about fifteen minutes late to work and I took the full heat
for it, knowing that the staff at the cigar shop would understand.
Reader, why did I go into so much detail
about that drive, about everyone’s emotions?
I did it for one simple reason.
There is no better way to judge the character of a trip than by
examining the return journey. Is it
exhaustion? Triumph? Fighting?
Comradery? That was what this
trip was, exhausting and filled with fighting.
When Connor and I did our New Mexico trip together, the return journey
(from the restaurant to the airport) was triumphant and relaxed, just like the
whole trip. That was not the case on
this trip. A group trip like this is a
very new experience for me, but I hope to repeat such trips in the future.
The only other such trip I can recall was the
one to Canada with Sokol and Larsen. The
difference there was that I was financing almost the entire trip. Here, Stuart and I were equal partners. Further, Sokol and Larsen are very laid
back. Stuart, not so much. Connor is laid back, but he has limits, and
they were pushed this trip. Stuart and I
will probably go to Pittsburgh next summer, and Connor and I are talking about
trips to Delaware and Toronto, but I doubt Connor and Stuart will ever get in
the same car together again. I enjoyed
the trip, but it won’t rank anywhere on any of my lists.
Okay, so what happened after I got home? I lit up a cigar right away, hoping to finish
it before work, but it was only halfway done when I got to the cigar store at 9
AM, ready to tell everyone it was my fault Connor was late, but he beat me to
the punch. “He’s the reason I’m late,”
Connor said as soon as I walked in. I
agreed with him, and T said that he didn’t doubt it. I said that I drank about a gallon of diet
soda, which necessitated numerous pit stops.
No one cared. He has had perfect
attendance and punctuality so far. If he
was fifteen minutes late from a road trip to celebrate his birthday, it was
fine.
I then went to the office, and I
did as much as I could throughout the day, my fatigue setting in early
afternoon. I had a dentist appointment
to get my cavity drilled, and I had some Chinese food in the fridge from
Friday. I had that for lunch, went to
the cigar store to finish my cigar for the morning, then went to the
dentist. My afternoon was not
particularly productive, since I was dead tired. I barely made it to 5:53 PM. I went to the cigar store to say hi then
biked home, lighting up a Cusano Raymond had left at my apartment when I got
home. Don’t try to parse that sentence. The grammar’s right. I then proceeded to write this entry, which I
will now close, along with closing the trip.
Next stop: Hood River, Oregon for my brother’s wedding.
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