After an emotional farewell to Maggie, who we will not see again until late Monday, Teddy, Riley, and I hit the road. Victoria, BC, remains a speck on the horizon but an ever so slightly larger speck.
Teddy O, the Orange Utan, took over navigation once I convinced him that his inability to see over the dashboard was a hindrance to driving. With my phone in hand, he immediately got us into the infamous Y at Oak Hill. If you aren’t from Austin, you very much MUST visit it, as it will reduce the number of people wanting to move there. But once we got through that, traffic got much easier. And stayed much easier for a very very very long time. I thought I had seen the back of beyond. It it turns out, the back of beyond has a back, and we had steered straight into it.
We did find a rest stop. A very quiet empty rest stop with only a tiny bit of shade. Riley here is occupying that shade. We had a brief walk and fled, as it was 11am and 101 degrees.
Long story short, we got to Roswell. And thanks to Mountain Time, an hour earlier than it was at home. It’s witchcraft and I’m suspicious of it and will need to cleanse my soul at the end of all this. But a 4:15 arrival, I can get on board while I’m on this trip.
Of course, the Marriott app told me my mobile key wasn’t ready. Which, at the front desk, I was informed was because I had canceled my reservation (spoiler, I had not). After a delightful few minutes, for some reason it turned out that I “had not canceled after all and here is your room key.” It has me looking forward to the same amount of fun tomorrow at check in.
So we checked into the room. Riley drank two bowls of water (yes, I did regularly provide this throughout the day) and Teddy O found that we get Cartoon Network and settled in with a beer to watch King of the Hill.
Riley and I went to a restaurant for my dinner… it’s 100 in the shade, so it was 100 where we sat, but there was a nice breeze, a dog bowl for water, and we had the whole patio to ourselves because did I mention 100 degrees? A good burger, a nice glass of wine, and we left happy.
As we headed home, Riley insisted on the most Roswell photo op possible. So I present that as our sign-off for today. Let’s see if I have the energy to do this again tomorrow.
