On the road again

One more day of journeying, and I will be home to Happy Valley, Utah. On Sunday, I left sunny Erie after a fond farewell to some of my favorite people on the planet. I drove south, heading toward I-70. I passed Columbus (skipped Cleveland), and I passed through Dayton, OH, where I got gas for--to my elation--$3.62/gal. This was the lowest price I saw until that evening, but I'll get to that. I got lunch just before Dayton, eating in the car because I didn't feel like stopping. I passed through Indianapolis in the early afternoon--it was smaller than I thought, passed in a few eyeblinks, long enough to take a crappy camera-phone shot out the window as I drove. I stopped for dinner somewhere between Indianapolis and St. Louis. It was a choice between a Steak and Shake and Denny's, and I went with Denny's purely because I knew if I went to S&S I would have to get dessert. Ergo, Denny's was a form of resistance. :)

I got to St. Louis just as the sun was setting, which (thanks to the smog-cloud) was absolutely beautiful. All I got to see of downtown was a few glances over my shoulder as I headed out toward my aunt's house, but that was good enough for me. I saw the arch and everything, then crossed the Mississippi River into the state of Missouri proper.

I stayed Sunday night and all of Monday at my great aunt's house in St. Louis, mostly to see my great-grandmother. My grandma lived with my family in Orem for about ten years, 1996-2006 (I think). A large, very important chunk of my life, anyhow, spent living across the hall from her. She's 92 now, and she has dimensia. She can't really remember anything from one moment to the next. She has very little to no memory of her life. She spends her days watching old family videos and going through family albums looking at faces that look like strangers to her. She doesn't even recognize herself in the photos. It is, admittedly, very sad to see her like this. But it was still good to see her, good to see that she is as happy as she can be. We talked for awhile. I went through a photo album with her, explaining who everyone is. Afterward she turned to me and said, "Well, you sure know a lot about us!" She asked me every hour or so if I was related to her, and I would explain again who I was. But this morning when she got up, she recognized me from yesterday. That was something, at least. I am glad that I went.

And so today I have journeyed out of miserably hot St. Louis (with the heat index it was 113 degrees yesterday! It's like walking around in a very humid sauna.) I drove across Missouri, then up toward Iowa, then across Nebraska. I listened again to "The Host" on CD, because none of the bookstores I visited had anything more interesting to offer me.

On this note, I have visited Barnes and Nobles across the face of this silly country, and am pleased and disappointed to report that they are all the same, except that the one in Des Moines is still the biggest and most memorable. On this trip alone, I have been to B&N in Orem, UT, Omaha, NE, Des Moines, IA, Cleveland, OH, Erie, PA, St. Louis, MO, and Lincoln, NE. I'm rather proud of that fact, too. But it doesn't help that audio book collections are still limited, and still prohibitively expensive. Phooey.

Tonight I am staying with my aunt and uncle in Kearney, NE. We just got back from a lovely dinner at a steakhouse in town. As they proudly told me--and I heartily believe--Nebraska is well-known for it's beef. I had a delicious filet mignon, preceded by calimari and a house salad. My steak was accompanied by this strange potato dish that none of us really liked much. I cannot recall what it was named, but it wasn't cooked nearly well enough.

Tomorrow I will continue my trek across I-80 home to Utah. I cannot wait to be home, to see my family, Hollie, Ben, Elainabug, the silly dog, my friends, my own bed. Then this weekend I shall be going camping with my birthfather and his family--I don't know yet when we are leaving or when we will be back, but I'm excited to go. I do so love my fambily. But after that, it will be nice just to rest for awhile, before picking up my life and figuring out what to do with it...