August: roundtrip to
Pennsylvania for Christine's surgeryM 26th Anna calls at 9am, I run, then we eat lunch at Avanti's with Mom, Dad, and Mark. Jan and Anna come to Avanti's independently. Christine and I switch tables, saying goodbye to Mom, Dad, and Mark. Then we say our goodbyes and I head west with Anna. We have lots of great conversation. When asking for the map/atlas, Anna accidentally (or Freudianly) says "Matlas." It's really starting to snowstorm pretty bad, so we stop at Des Moines and stay at Best Western. I briefly watch a Super Bowl preview and then we head to Cracker Barrel. We have some really deep, personal conversation. I've been looking forward to being able to spend this time with Anna. Back at the hotel, we make the "Anna Timeline."
Tu 27th We sleep 'til 8:30 and have a continental breakfast. My cold is doing better, but there's no treadmill here. We get on the road, and everything is nicely plowed, but it's still very cold, about 1° F. As we drive west on I-80, we are amazed by the number of vehicles in the ditch. There are cars, vans, even semis all over the place at some very strange angles. Up hills, facing the road, sideways, even several car-shaped piles of snow. There's a semi on its side stretched across the median so that it is just off the shoulder of both the westbound and eastbound lanes of the interstate. It's really amazing to see all of this, and we decide to start counting how many vehicles are in the ditch. From when we started counting (which was already after seeing lots), we see fifty-six (56) vehicles in the ditch! This includes at least 6 semis. So yeah, it was a good idea to stop off early last night.
We stop in Lincoln, NE and the gas pumps have The Weather Channel and you can also order Subway at them. Anna says, "Well, there's not much else to do in Nebraska…" We have lunch at Godfather's and get the buffet for $4.95 each. It's the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet with salad, drinks, breadsticks, and dessert pizza. They also have a nerf hoop put up high and they give you a shot for a free buffet with each buffet purchase. Anna (who is paying for everything for me on this trip) gives me the ball and I have 2 shots. After missing the first, I get the nice high arc on the 2nd shot and make it! The coupon is good for a later buffet, but it has to be at a Godfather's in Lincoln, so I give it to a local guy. The pop has vanilla and cherry shots-sweet! We load up, and even ask to take out some dessert pizza, which they let us. Then I drive, and I'm going 80-85 mph. This is nice: "Over 80 on 80." Anna takes over after a gas stop, and then heading into night she gets pulled over. Well actually, she had a policeman behind her with his lights on, and I had to say "pull over." It turns out that she has a headlight out.
Anna wants to get it fixed, so we stop at Sterling, Co. and look for hotels. We also try Wal-Mart and Napa to see if we can get the headlight fixed, but they are closed. We stay high class tonight, at the Ramada. Anna says, "I'll be in a dorm for 10 months; we're staying at Ramada." There's a nice lobby, and when the lady at the desk asks if this is business or pleasure, Anna says, "It's a military thing." I have to give her a hard time about that one. We see that the hotel has Country Kitchen, then go to the exercise room and I run on the treadmill. Anna is thinking about how she's going to have to be doing some exercise over the next 10 months, so she rides the stationary bike. I also show her how to do some stretches. She has some knee issues. We watch C-SPAN and see Kerry in New Hampshire. While I'm stretching, she scopes around and finds that Country Kitchen is closed. She gets the dining guide, and notices that it includes Wal-mart, which gives us a chuckle. I take a shower, and now the lounge is closed, too. Anna is tired and doesn't want to go out, but we do.
Almost everything is closed, and everything that we wanted is closed. We end up driving through Wendy's and eat it at the Hotel. Anna expresses her reservations about this whole AmeriCorps thing. "It was a nice idea, now do I actually have to do it?" She takes a 30 second bath while I study. She goes to bed and I stay up and read the papers.
W 28th We get up at 8 and leave at 8:40. We hit NAPA and the guy fixes her light for her. The start of NAPA's driveway is such a dramatic dip that it is virtually impossible not to scrape the car while entering or exiting. I say, "I think they're trying to generate more business." It's McDonald's for breakfast and then on to Denver! We get gas and a phone book to find a cell phone store for Anna. We find Sprint in the book, call, get the location, then head into the heart of Denver for the Sprint store. It's not a good deal, so we go to Panera. Then we head to headquarters and Anna asks me to look in her handout for information about the "base." I see that they do describe the "campus." Then instead of saying "dorms" as listed in the manual, I refer to the "barracks."
We check in and move her in, then meet her roommate and many others. One girl with a thick Northeastern accent talked about her "floight," and it took us at least 3 tries to understand that she was referring to her flight. Anna gets the room setup, and she has brought so many hangers that literally they will not fit in the closet even without any clothing on them. So she gives many of them up and I take the huge pile to the hallway and make a sign indicating that these hangers are available for the taking. I take a nap on her bed, and while I'm resting I hear a mad rush in the hall with the sound of thin metal wires scraping together. When I get up, the entire pile is gone with the exception of one misshapen hanger left on the floor.
When she's finished organizing, she drives me to the airport. This is huge for her, to be able not to panic at the high traffic airport, one of the few remaining steps in her driving development. She passes with flying colors. We don't quite have time to park and eat supper together, so she drops me off with a big hug and says, "Love ya, Phil," as she gets back into her car. The airport is almost empty, and every exchange is very quick. I guess a Wednesday night in January is a good time to fly from Colorado. I eat my leftover Panera and read more Super Bowl previews in the free hotel USA Today. Then I fly to Chicago. There is a TV on each seat with DirecTV free until reaching cruising altitude, then it's $5 to watch. I do see the end of the UNC-NC State game before they shut it off. I try to study, do 15 minutes, then decide to journal and plan my week.
I also realize I've done a lot of flying the last 6 months, in fact 9 flights:
August: roundtrip to
Pennsylvania for Christine's surgery
November: roundtrip to Boston to visit Paul
December: roundtrip to PA
again
Dec/Jan: roundtrip to Florida
Jan: back from Colorado
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