From CA to UT in nine hours...

So this ends day one of my adventure into the somewhat known. It has been a long day, but not so long that I dread plopping down into the driver's seat tomorrow morning. I have seen the Mojave Desert, Las Vegas (and surrounding casinos, including the ones at the very border of CA and NV), the Arizona Canyons and what turned out to be the Wasatch Mountain Range, apparently. We've seen quite a bit these past eight, nine, ten hours. So far everything has been quite fun. We talked, listened to music, let Sawyer hide under the passenger seat for a while... It's been great. Until a certain song came on, or I saw a particular sight and the sadness of leaving washed over my all over again.

Not crying this morning was so incredibly tough. I managed not to do it, but I have a feeling that, after all this adrenaline has subsided, I have a bed to sleep on and Sawyer is curled up beside me that I will bawl like the day I was born. I already miss my rat, Jasper, I miss my dog, Kurdt, I really miss my boyfriend. The missing of family and close friends will hit in a week or so. It takes a lot for me to miss someone, actually. I have a feeling that may have changed.

But the spectacular views have made up for some of it. I can lose myself in the snow-covered mountains, or the impossibly red sheer cliffs of the Arizona Canyons, and listen to happy music and funny stories Crysta tells. I think it's best I keep myself occupied and my mind off everything I left behind in California. I've moved before, and the knowledge from that is helping a great deal. Also, Crysta being the one to drive through the snowstorm was a blessing. We saw the storm approach from the left, and it washed over us in a flurry of white. I have driven in snow before, but not while it was getting dark, and not in the kind of slush we ended up in. Nothing serious, I just learned that now I actually need snow tires come winter. Damn.

But now we're in a Holiday Inn Express, and I can finally use that joke and have it mean... well, still nothing, but at least now I can use that joke. It's a very nice room, and I paid good money for it (more, since I have a kitty with me), and now I'm a member of their priority.. thing, so we can check out late without penalty. Go us!

For now, however, I think it is bedtime. I am exhausted, and have three more days of this. Goodnight, world!