The eight hour drive takes, actually, 12 hours.

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

Listening to “Sonic Reducer” by The Dead Boys and some other punk obscura on a college radio station out of UC Riverside.

Having a “middle-aged-man” moment and really admiring the luggage-rack bag on top of a random SUV. I thought “that looks really strong, and weatherproof, would hold a lot of stuff, and I don’t think I’d have to worry about it flying off or flying apart.

The kids’ main memories of driving from SoCal to Southern Utah last year for our wedding were losing Mom’s wedding ring at 10 at night, in the rain, while we were fighting a tarp on my truck. At least they’ll never forget our wedding.

Me: “Leah, can I have a Grandma Sandwich?” (G’ma, which is to say, my mother-in-law) fixed us turkey sandwiches for the journey. Not bad either.

Corn Nuts are a pretty good snack for driving. The plain ones are the only ones I can tolerate. Leah has the same opinion.

Las Vegas traffic is the worst. It’s just broken. I want to be able to ride the train.

Packing the van was a fun challenge. So much stuff, and it all fit. Amazing.

Arriving in Baker, trying to eat dinner at Coco’s. Being told they were out of steak, chicken, pasta, and pretty much everything else. The hostess was warning us because she “didn’t want you to wait a long time, sit down, and be disappointed.” The poor young woman who told us this had clearly not had a good day. Californians had run her out of everything, and then other Californians got upset about it. I would never want her job.

Finding tapes of mine. Listened to some old tapes from Erin with some great songs on them. The main was “Valley Vista” by Wendy & Lisa. I also listened to Eno and Byrne’s “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.” Really excellent analog dub / electronica.

Talking with Dev about the high school culture of my high school.

Dev telling me he wants to teach me an instrument. Guitar. He has been before, and continues to be, incredulous that someone as musically informed and knowledgeable does not play an instrument.

Going to the bathroom at some random Mobil and the Men’s bathroom was closed. I used the women’s. Ali told me that the lady was really freaked out and worried about that. Dude, when a body has to go and it’s 11pm, I would have no compunction about using any appropriate bathroom – women, family, hermaphrodite. I just gotta pee!

Getting home in the middle of the night and deloading the car. Many hands make light work. Awesome.

Being greeted with our US Airways bags, and everything was there, and everything was unbroken. Score!

So, so tired.