First Day on the Road: Goodbyes, Lightning Storms, and Jon Krakuer
8/22/07
Began my arduous journey back home today. It proved tremendously difficult to leave. Kristine had late shift that night, so she could go into work at 10 AM, much later than usual. That gave us a nice chance to spend a few final hours together and say our goodbyes. This was easier said than done, obviously. Many tears were shed and soft words spoken. I thought it would not be so hard to say goodbye. We’ve done it some many times in the first half of the year. Spending several months in close company evidently only made us more reluctant to part ways. Which, now that I think about it, is a very good sign. While many relationships might crumple under the pressure, we reveled in the chance to be together nearly all the time. I think it impressive that we weren’t eager to get the hell away from each other.
I hit the road at 11 AM, armed with movies and an iPod stocked with music and audiobooks purchased the previous night from Audible.com. (Shameless plug: Audible is an amazing company. It is simply the most logical choice for procuring audiobooks, especially if you intend to listen to them on an iPod or other MP3 player.)
Not much worth mentioning for most of the day, aside from nearly being crushed by a careless semi driver. Around 4 PM though, things started getting interesting.
I figured a storm was coming when I got out of the car to fuel up. Winds probably 20 mph strong buffeted me immediately. I could hardly believe I was driving in the wind and didn’t even notice. Twenty minutes after getting back on the road, the rain came.
It was like God transplanted the Niagara Falls to the sky above Iowa. I hit a wall of solid rain, instantly blinding me. It took me a good twenty seconds to regain complete control of the car - during that time, I certainly couldn’t avoid any mishaps that might’ve occurred in front of me. Luckily, God was watching out for me and nothing went awry. Lightning accompanied the rain shortly thereafter.
The storm raged on an off as I pushed westward. It fortunately never slowed my progress below 65 mph, so it wasn’t a huge problem. Considering the perfect weather we enjoyed driving east to Chicago, I take this as some cosmic balancing act.
Lightning crackled in the clouds most of the evening, but at nightfall unleashed a spectacular lights show. Bolts ripped across the sky, literally lighting up the night sky. Some were big enough to actually brighten the interior of my car. Most astounding, though, was viewing several lightning strikes on a smattering of tall cell towers dotting the barren Nebraskan landscape (I reached the delightfully unremarkable state by nighttime). Lightning would streak down and slam into the tower, which paradoxically seemed to intensify the strike and cause smaller bolts to branch off. These strikes would truly fill up the night sky, and stay vibrant and terrifying in its power for at least a whole second (which, by lightning standards, is really long). I wish I could’ve captured pictures of the sight, but I know that would’ve been impossible without a tripod. All I could do was do my best to stay on the road while I, awe-struck, watched the event unfold before me.
Made tremendous progress the first day, covering around 730 miles. For those of you who’ve never traveled such long distances before, this is a tremendously long haul by car. I probably spent 11 hours of actual driving time, meaning that I was on the road for nearly half a day. It came easy, though, thanks to the engaging book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. It recounts the terrible tragedy on a 1996 Everest expedition, where six (?) people died by the end. The story is so gripping that I find myself actually wanting to stay in the car, just so I can keep listening.
Checked in at a Days Inn at North Platte, Nebraska, concluding my first day on the road.
Began my arduous journey back home today. It proved tremendously difficult to leave. Kristine had late shift that night, so she could go into work at 10 AM, much later than usual. That gave us a nice chance to spend a few final hours together and say our goodbyes. This was easier said than done, obviously. Many tears were shed and soft words spoken. I thought it would not be so hard to say goodbye. We’ve done it some many times in the first half of the year. Spending several months in close company evidently only made us more reluctant to part ways. Which, now that I think about it, is a very good sign. While many relationships might crumple under the pressure, we reveled in the chance to be together nearly all the time. I think it impressive that we weren’t eager to get the hell away from each other.
I hit the road at 11 AM, armed with movies and an iPod stocked with music and audiobooks purchased the previous night from Audible.com. (Shameless plug: Audible is an amazing company. It is simply the most logical choice for procuring audiobooks, especially if you intend to listen to them on an iPod or other MP3 player.)
Not much worth mentioning for most of the day, aside from nearly being crushed by a careless semi driver. Around 4 PM though, things started getting interesting.
I figured a storm was coming when I got out of the car to fuel up. Winds probably 20 mph strong buffeted me immediately. I could hardly believe I was driving in the wind and didn’t even notice. Twenty minutes after getting back on the road, the rain came.
It was like God transplanted the Niagara Falls to the sky above Iowa. I hit a wall of solid rain, instantly blinding me. It took me a good twenty seconds to regain complete control of the car - during that time, I certainly couldn’t avoid any mishaps that might’ve occurred in front of me. Luckily, God was watching out for me and nothing went awry. Lightning accompanied the rain shortly thereafter.
The storm raged on an off as I pushed westward. It fortunately never slowed my progress below 65 mph, so it wasn’t a huge problem. Considering the perfect weather we enjoyed driving east to Chicago, I take this as some cosmic balancing act.
Lightning crackled in the clouds most of the evening, but at nightfall unleashed a spectacular lights show. Bolts ripped across the sky, literally lighting up the night sky. Some were big enough to actually brighten the interior of my car. Most astounding, though, was viewing several lightning strikes on a smattering of tall cell towers dotting the barren Nebraskan landscape (I reached the delightfully unremarkable state by nighttime). Lightning would streak down and slam into the tower, which paradoxically seemed to intensify the strike and cause smaller bolts to branch off. These strikes would truly fill up the night sky, and stay vibrant and terrifying in its power for at least a whole second (which, by lightning standards, is really long). I wish I could’ve captured pictures of the sight, but I know that would’ve been impossible without a tripod. All I could do was do my best to stay on the road while I, awe-struck, watched the event unfold before me.
Made tremendous progress the first day, covering around 730 miles. For those of you who’ve never traveled such long distances before, this is a tremendously long haul by car. I probably spent 11 hours of actual driving time, meaning that I was on the road for nearly half a day. It came easy, though, thanks to the engaging book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. It recounts the terrible tragedy on a 1996 Everest expedition, where six (?) people died by the end. The story is so gripping that I find myself actually wanting to stay in the car, just so I can keep listening.
Checked in at a Days Inn at North Platte, Nebraska, concluding my first day on the road.