Notes
fourth trip back home to ohio. no funerals this time...
drove back with louie to surprise mom for the memorial concert denny's music friends put together sunday afternoon up in peninsula, oh.
mostly uneventful drive back. left reading on friday night around 4pm and holyoke around 7:00. made it to louie's friend, baxter's, in clarks summit around 11:00. crashed on a couch in their party basement; black lights on the ceiling, large bookshelf full of hard liquors w/ various degrees of emptiness, beer fridge full of blue lites (fortunately, they were not baxter's and he was exited for the lord hobo "boom-sauce" i brought as a thank you) and a VERY large black dog, apparently named odin. woke up briefly when the housemates returned from their friday night out around 2:30 or 3:00... not sure. woke up for good at 6:02 and was back on the road by 6:15. quick stop at krispy kreme... mmm... donuts... then long haul across PA via I-80. good conversation and good music. there was a veritable SHIT-TON of po-lice out on the roads. kept my shit tight... no excessive speeding, and was rewarded with a ticket in lisbon, oh (20ish miles from home...) for failure to come to a complete stop when exiting the highway. i shit you not. FECKING FECKERS!!!!! still don't know what the ticket will cost me... the po-lice told me i was spotted "rolling onto" route 154 by aircraft, but they didn't take a picture or video... no proof. so... you know... i can always challenge the violation by driving back to lisbon-fecking-ohio in another two weeks if i want... louie suggested i drop off a satchel of pennies on monday's drive back...
whatever, it was worth it. mom was super excited and i had a great weekend. got a little emotional at the concert, but it was awesome to see so many people come out to remember denny and play some of his music. saw a bunch of relatives and family friends i haven't seen in ages, had some good beers, and capped off the night with an incredible meal with the family at MELT just a few miles away in independence.
drove back with louie AND dorri on monday. rather uneventful, save a splendid dinner at the chief martindale diner (off the taconic pkwy in ny-state) and one of the most gorgeous sunsets i have ever seen... made it back to reading around 11:30pm. almost 30 total hours of driving/riding-in-a-car in just over 72 hours... i'm still exhausted and it's wednesday evening now...