Penny's Excellent Adventure

Forget Bill & Ted's excellent adventure....this is about MY excellent adventure!

I did something I've never done before-I went on a long road trip, all by myself. People seemed surprised when I told them I was going to AZ alone to see my niece and her family. I guess it surprised me that others were surprised. I mean, it's not like I'm 92 and doing this...LOL...but anyway, I needed to do this to prove something to myself: that I CAN do things like this. Call me crazy, but I just felt like I needed to do something for myself, and this was it. So sit back and read on:

Saturday morning, 7:15am, I am on my way...whoo-hoo! Pop in a worship CD, and I'm good for the long haul! Hit some sprinkles in Alpine and points east, then wind. LOTS of wind. HARD wind. The kind that makes you white-knuckle your steering wheel so that you don't go flying where you shouldn't go. What a trip! LOL....Up & over the mountains, and down into the Imperial Valley, and the winds picked up, and remained for my entire trip.

I was headed I-8 East....and was to pick up I-10 east, and go to 587 North to get to Willow & Kevin's. Got the first two right anyway. Didn't know that the 587 exits on the LEFT of the freeway, so there I am, cruising along, looking for Hwy 587 North....never did find it, but an hour & a half later, after cruising the freeways of Tucson, I decided to give Kevin a call, because by that point I was 99.9% sure I'd gone to far. But before I could call him, he called me. By now it's 2pm, about an hour or so since I SHOULD have arrived at their house...

K: Hi Aunt Penny, it's Kev...where are you?
P: Hey Kev, I was just about to call you! Ummm....I'm on 10 East still...at Exit 294...I think I went too far Kev, I just drove through Tuscon.
K: Ohhh Aunt Penny, yep, I think you went ALOT too far! Can you turn around somewhere?
P: Yep, I'll get off at this next exit and head west again...what Exit do I want for your place?
K: You want 587 North, and it's just down the road from where you picked up the 10 from the 8...I'll check in with you in a few.
P:Ok got it...

20 minutes later:

K:Hey Aunt Penny, it's Kev again....you want Exit 175 or 177-it'll also say 587 North...
P: Wow! I went a LONG way past where I should've been! Ok hon I'll see you soon!

Long story short, I went roughly 3 hours round trip out of my way to get there, and a total of 10 hours driving time on what should have been a 6.5-7 hr drive, but I made it!

Had a wonderful time with Willow and the family. Everyone was so attentive and gracious, and I loved the time I spent with them.

I left at 6:30 this morning to head for home, and THIS time I got on the RIGHT freeway the FIRST time...LOL...a fairly uneventful drive, but oh the winds! Once I got back into CA they picked up and I again found myself white-knuckling the steering wheel-it was incredible! Hit a sandstorm, and was SO glad I had the van closed up tight!

Got in about 2:00 this afternoon, and am now unpacked, settled, and back to 'normal', whatever that is...

I'd write more, but I think you get the picture. Will definitely do this again-it was fun! BUT....

It's good to be home.