On the Road

I'm writing this post from a hotel room in Liberal, Kansas, where I'm staying for the night after driving from Lincoln, Nebraska.  I flew in to Omaha, NE yesterday, and what a long trip- left home in California around 7am, plane left LAX around 11am, had a layover in Denver, CO, and landed in Omaha around 6pm yesterday.

I'm out here driving to Phoenix, Arizona, with my grandma.  My grandpa passed away on the 1st, and she was out there for the funeral and burial in Minnesota, where he was born and raised.  She drove up with one of his kids (from his first marriage) and I came to drive her home so she wouldn't have to do the whole trip alone.

This is my first time in this part of the country, and it's a very pretty place.  Not always a ton of things to see, but it's all green and gorgeous.  Being from the desert, it's great to look out and see lush trees and thick, green grass instead of dry brush and brown dirt.  We've been driving in the rain for a lot of the trip, but the overcast sky means no sun in the eyes.

Being on the road with my grandma has inspired a new story; loosely based on the idea of a granddaughter and grandmother traveling halfway across the country together, but not based on my grandma and I.  I like the story, but I'm not certain I'll write it because I always get worried that my family will think it's directly based on them or other relatives and become offended.  But then I think that there's tons of stories based on similar situations to what the author's experience in real life.

I'm exhausted.  Probably an early start tomorrow; the plan is to get to Phoenix by Saturday.  Another 8 hours of driving tomorrow.  So strange how driving can wear you out so much, even though you're just in the car.  I wonder how many calories switching back and forth from the gas and the break burns...