i made it back. i am home. back with my sweetpea and my animals and my cozy little house.
i know i waxed all poetic-like about my love for the road and travel and the west a few days ago. but i should never forget how the same road can be cruel and treacherous. my travels yesterday were indescribably hellish. i had the most stressful, scary 9 hour drive yesterday. it was not fun.
i got up at 6 am yesterday to make the drive back from fort collins, co to salt lake city to return my rental and make my flight home. there was 3 inches of snow on the ground when i left and it came down hard for the first 3-4 hours of my drive. i made my way through a storm coming out of the rockies that left me feeling my own mortality pulling away from me like a thin silver thread.
i lost control of my (4 wheel drive mind you) jeep libery no less than three times within the first few hours. once, i slid toward a steep embankment, stopping *right* on the edge. i must have seen 12 semis that had gone off the road in various contortions, many on their sides, cargo spilled everywhere. another time, i had to brake suddenly and slid right toward the side of another semi for the longest 10 seconds ever, stopping only a few inches away, breathing hard and cursing. fucked up.
do you know that feeling, that helpless, surreal, terrible feeling as the vehicle you are in slides out of your control, slow motion-like, as it plays out the physics of the situation? this is not the first time i have wondered about angels or winter fairies or magic in my life....
next ensued about an hour of slow movement over solid ice-packed roadway. sooo scary. then i went down in elevation enough to get out of the shitty weather and hauled ass to make up for lost time. but my rental fuck had no windshield cleaner fluid and i get kept getting coated with road salt and dirt and grime and couldn't see out my windshield. there were literally 9 semis for every passenger vehicle on this highway. one almost ran me off the road. then i hit another snow storm (no visibility) in the mountains just outside salt lake city. fuck.
it was many hours of constant adrenalin and stress and cold fear. believe me, i am generally pretty fearless, but fuck this shit. suprisingly i made it to the airport with plenty of time. plenty of time for a much-needed dirty martini or two at the airport bar. i felt like i had just run a goddam marathon. i still hurt today, physically and mentally.
on the flip, there is really nothing like seeing the stars and the moon and the features of the earth (both natural and manmade) from 35,000 feet above on a clear night. plus i had a kickass trip.
ying for yang, i guess.
i know i waxed all poetic-like about my love for the road and travel and the west a few days ago. but i should never forget how the same road can be cruel and treacherous. my travels yesterday were indescribably hellish. i had the most stressful, scary 9 hour drive yesterday. it was not fun.
i got up at 6 am yesterday to make the drive back from fort collins, co to salt lake city to return my rental and make my flight home. there was 3 inches of snow on the ground when i left and it came down hard for the first 3-4 hours of my drive. i made my way through a storm coming out of the rockies that left me feeling my own mortality pulling away from me like a thin silver thread.
i lost control of my (4 wheel drive mind you) jeep libery no less than three times within the first few hours. once, i slid toward a steep embankment, stopping *right* on the edge. i must have seen 12 semis that had gone off the road in various contortions, many on their sides, cargo spilled everywhere. another time, i had to brake suddenly and slid right toward the side of another semi for the longest 10 seconds ever, stopping only a few inches away, breathing hard and cursing. fucked up.
do you know that feeling, that helpless, surreal, terrible feeling as the vehicle you are in slides out of your control, slow motion-like, as it plays out the physics of the situation? this is not the first time i have wondered about angels or winter fairies or magic in my life....
next ensued about an hour of slow movement over solid ice-packed roadway. sooo scary. then i went down in elevation enough to get out of the shitty weather and hauled ass to make up for lost time. but my rental fuck had no windshield cleaner fluid and i get kept getting coated with road salt and dirt and grime and couldn't see out my windshield. there were literally 9 semis for every passenger vehicle on this highway. one almost ran me off the road. then i hit another snow storm (no visibility) in the mountains just outside salt lake city. fuck.
it was many hours of constant adrenalin and stress and cold fear. believe me, i am generally pretty fearless, but fuck this shit. suprisingly i made it to the airport with plenty of time. plenty of time for a much-needed dirty martini or two at the airport bar. i felt like i had just run a goddam marathon. i still hurt today, physically and mentally.
on the flip, there is really nothing like seeing the stars and the moon and the features of the earth (both natural and manmade) from 35,000 feet above on a clear night. plus i had a kickass trip.
ying for yang, i guess.
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
first of all, early starts are a bad omen..at least I think so. :-D
ok....umm driving in the Rockies in the wintertime....not good. still it's only November , so I mean...what the hell?
but I am glad the trip itself went well and was good.
nothing beats travel for adventure!
but most of all i am glad you made it home safe. and I promise your trip next november will be much more comfortable and fun! well if I have anything to say about it.
*hugs*
V