After chilling at Aly's parents' idyllic posh lakefront house for a week or so, we packed up my car and hit the road. It was a rainy, cold, miserable day. Although I was very excited to be finally heading out west, on this day I would have rather stayed in bed late and padded around the house in pajamas all day, watching the rain pound the water's surface from the incredibly comfy confines of Chez Trasher. But alas, this was our scheduled departure day so off we went.
I was experiencing an incredible array of emotions during the first day of driving. Excitement, boredom, anxiety, sadness, joy, etc. It was a real rollercoaster. We listened to a book on tape (The Kite Runner), and the story was itself was quite heavy, so while it helped pass the time, it also enhanced the already emotional state I was in.
During a stop at a rest area in NY Aly suggested we stop in Philly for a cheese steak. I hadn't ever tried one so why the hell not? Philly we was only an hour or so out of the way. Aly txted her dad and asked him to suggest where we should go as he has traveled to Philly many times.
We ended up at this place called Geno's. I'm glad we did it, but it was meh.
Back on course, we completed the first leg of the trip and arrived at my brother's place in Baltimore. We were tired, somewhat dazed, and experiencing a plethora of emotions brought on by the surreal fact that we had actually gone through with everything. I still don't think it's fully hit me that I've left absolutely everything I know to start anew in a crazy place like Los Angeles.
Anyways, it was great to be in company of family. James and Sam took us out to a delicious dinner and for a short while my mind was distracted from the swirling thoughts and emotions surrounding what I am doing.
That night Aly and I barely slept. I think we're both going through similar challenges emotionally, and it kept us up for most of the night (along with the tick-tick-tick sound of their dog walking around on the hardwood floors).
I sure am glad we're in this together.
The next morning we awoke to bright sunlight. I already felt better. After coffee and a bagel we said our goodbyes and hit the road. We were both in better spirits, due to the clear skies but also to our slow acceptance of our new reality.
After several hours, the skies clouded up once again and it started pouring buckets. Fuck. We stopped a few times for gas and bathroom breaks but eventually made it to Johnson City after around 8 hours of driving. We listened to more of The Kite Runner and the story got EVEN MORE depressing. Oh well. Better to get this one out of the way during the rainy days...once we're in the south I'm sure spirits will be high and we will require a slightly less emotional story (I have Steve Jobs' Biography cued up for that leg of the trip!!).
Anyways, once we got to Johnson City, we checked into the hotel and then headed out for dinner. The book on tape we've been listening to was written by an Afghan and he often mentions middle-eastern food so we were both craving something along those lines. We manged to find the only Indian restaurant in town, and wouldn't you know it, it was excellent!
So here we are, back at our posh room at the Super 8 Hotel. Tomorrow we only have a 4+ hour drive to Nashville where my dear friend Cathy is hosting us for the night. More to come then!
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