Unquiet Desperation

The second day on the road was much smoother. We decided that the minivan with my wife, my mother-in-law, and kids in it should drive on it’s own, and my father-in-law and I would follow along in his car and the truck. This gave the minivan the ability to stop whenever it needed. Since the truck is slower than the pace of the minivan, it meant that when they were done with their stops, generally we would catch up with them. Instead of twelve hours on the road, we only had eight, which was wonderful.

Got through all of Half Share today while driving, and once again, I was loving the book. Half Share spends more time in the inner lives of the characters, and also on the interpersonal relationships. It was some of the most realistic writing I’ve read in a long time; Nathan Lowell captures the emotions of the moment exquisitely¹ . I’m very curious to know what’s waiting for me in Full Share, but I’m putting off listening until we are driving again.

We’re stopped in Bartlesville Oklahoma for a three day stop. This is where my father-in-law’s family lives, so we’re taking the opportunity to visit them and see the sights. I’m working during the days, but will be catching up with them after hours. We’ll be leaving Thursday morning for Tucumcari, New Mexico.

1. There is a seduction scene in the latter half of the book that took my breath away.[back]

We wanted to get started around 7am. It was an ambitious deadline, and made a very pretty whooshing sound as it flew by. By the time we packed every square inch of our cars with the remaining boxes, luggage, etc. it was about 8:30. We finally rolled out around 9am.

We had three vehicles: one 2007 Toyota Sienna carrying my wife, two kids, my mother-in-law, and the luggage/boxes of Amusing Goods for the kids, one cat and one frog, one 2006 Lexus carrying my father-in-law, one child, and several musical instruments, and a twenty-six foot Penske diesel trunk, which I was piloting.

There is a silent agreement, perhaps even a vow which is taken by any group of people who travels together.  It’s the only way to make it across country in a decent amount of time. Usually, it stands at the marker to switch drivers, stretch legs, etc. This is the Vow of Holding It.  If you can synchronize the pee schedule, you can actually make decent time.

We didn’t and it cost us. 
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