I have had a penchant for car road trips by myself since I got my driver's license as a teenager. I would take long exploratory drives all over Marin and Sonoma county, not knowing where I was going and how long I would drive. I love the sense of freedom it gives me. There's something about the movement, the new places, and the sense of adventure that appeals to the restless part of my nature. I turn up the music, think, feel, and process. I wouldn't say I'm a loner but I am very independent and my life has required me to take care of alot of moving, traveling, and other projects on my own. Lots and lots of road trips by myself - some for fun and some out of necessity.
Judas Prius
I'll never forget the trip by myself to go visit my dad after my mom had died unexpectedly of acute respiratory failure. Then the awful trip with my family two weeks later when he was killed in a car accident. I drove up to their place every two weeks for over 2 years to help deal with all their stuff, business and finalizing their estate and life. The 4 hour road trip each way helped me process all my different emotions and gave me time to decompress as I went back and forth from my busy family life to helping my brother and sister deal with my parent's abundant stuff and the complications of the tragedy of their deaths.
In 2004, Mike's job moved us to San Luis Obispo and it was a huge project for me involving two separate moves and alot of road trips. Then again in 2007 he had a job change and we moved to Napa which entailed two moves in a year. Lots and lots of road trips and time by myself. I wasn't very happy about having to move away from SLO and when we purchased a wonderful 2007 Prius and it became predominantly my car that I would take on all my road trips. Mike nicknamed it "Judas Prius". It's a wonderful car and I've put many miles on him up and down from Southern California thru Oregon in the last couple of years going to classes and visiting friends and family and moving.
I started working full-time a year ago and haven't had much opportunity to travel or visit the girls or friends by myself. I was feeling pretty good and perky after my surgery two weeks ago and really wanted to visit San Luis Obispo, see my daughter Devra, hang out with friends, go bead shopping, see the ocean, and just generally have fun. I spent most of Wednesday morning packing up my car with luggage and lots of stuff including jewelry that I wanted to give to Devra to sell, and tools and other beady things. Car was full and on one of my last trips back into the house, I almost slipped on the pavement and instead my big toe jammed into the cement drainage canal in front of my garage really hard. I'm sure it saved me from going down and it felt really painful but it wasn't bleeding and just looked a little beat up so I stuck a band-aid on it, and hauled down the road. The drive was really challenging for me because I discovered that my gallbladder surgery incisions didn't really like the long drive and my toe was hurting and I was exhausted. So it took an extra hour to get to SLO and then I had dinner at Big Sky with Devra and went to bed. Thursday was really busy and fun spending time with Devra, then tromping all over Morro Bay with friends having fun, and then dinner with another friend. I really didn't notice my toe until I got back to Dev's place and realized it was really hurting so I took the bandaid off (finally) and my toe looked ghastly. I should have changed the bandage and aired it out, etc. The nail was partially broken off...it was ugly so off to the ER we went. We went to Sierra hospital in San Luis Obispo at about 10 PM and got right in as soon as they saw the ugly beaten up toe, got triaged, and then got to see the ER doctor. He looked to be in his late 30's, very tan, fit, and good looking - kinda remined me of Dr. Kildare. I asked him if he was a surfer and he said yes.
