Weekend #3, 1300 miles

This is the third in my series of travel posts and probably the ONLY time you'll see pictures on this blog.

After I got back from Colorado, I had three days to rest.

Rest, do laundry and pack for the next trip.

My cousin was getting married the following weekend.

520 miles away from here. And about 20 miles from our hotel.

This amounted to LOTS more driving.

But there were cool things to look at.

We made dad turn around and go back to take pictures of these metal dudes.

And the bridge just happened to be on the detour we took due to an accident on the freeway.

The wedding was beautiful - those pictures will come on the photo blog soon-ish, probably.

The 27hrs driving time in three days? Not so awesome. 

Especially not with my parents in the car.

Memories

Today we had training.

It was held in the high school gym.
My high school.
Years of memories came flooding back.
Memories of good times, yes.

But memories of bad times as well.
Memories of the classmates who tormented.
Memories of the boys who harassed.
Memories of the girls who bullied.

Memories I had finally, really moved on from.
Until I stepped into that gym.
When they came back.
And hit hard.

If I never walk back into that room, it'll be just fine with me.

Struggle

I think it's fair to say that I'm struggling.

I'm sad.
I'm lonely.
I'm stressed.

And there is nothing I can do about it right now.
I want nothing more than to run away for a day, a night, a weekend.
I can't even pay my bills, so that's not an option.

I'm going to miss Breast Cancer Awareness Day in Oakland.
And that hurts the worst.
If only I could figure out a way to make it for very little money.
Doesn't seem likely.

This is not the post I planned to write.
But it's what came.
So it's what is being posted.

Another weekend, another drive. 1200 miles.

I had no desire to leave this behind.

None.

It made for a long, very sad drive home.

I know that I'll be back, unfortunately not with the job I was sure I would have by now.

See the blue skies?

See the beauty?

The minute I crossed into my home state it did three things.

1. Started pouring.

2. My car decided the hill was too steep and wouldn't maintain it's cruise control.

3. My cellphone lost service.

I almost turned around and went back.

I wasn't happy to be there and apparently it was happy I was there either.

My next planned trip is October.

I miss my kids.

I miss their mom, aunts, uncles and grandma.

I miss my friends.

I would give ANYTHING to be with them now.

Trip #1. 1250 miles.

A month ago, my friend Katie and I drove 600 miles.

To watch baseball.

In Kansas City.

In July.

It was about 11 million degrees. Plus humidity.

We may be a bit crazy.

Maybe.

Mark Ellis is one of her favorites and when we got there

on Friday, he just happened to be sitting at the dugout.

Talk about perfect timing!

Slugerrrr, the Royals mascot.

Jason Kendall, who I wrote about here four years ago,

is the Royals catcher now. I snapped several random pictures

of him.

The Royals ballpark is beautiful. There are fountains

and a massive scoreboard. 

It was a great trip. Really.

Despite the miserable heat.

I would love to go back. 

But not in July. 

May or October would be lovely and ideal.

I'm hoping that after this weekend, I'll be back to blogging a bit more regularly. On Monday, I will have driven 6000 miles in less than a month. This takes up a lot of time I would otherwise have been here.

But before I hit the road AGAIN, I need to draw a winner. There were nine entrants on my giveaway.

According to random.org the winner is number 8! (How awesome is that? 8 is my number. And it's my birthday this weekend - 8/8.)

Therefore? @kristeneileen is the winner!

Congrats - all I need is your email address and I'll have your gift certificate sent to you!

And now, I'm off to bed. Because I have a million and two things to do this weekend. The least of which is the eight hour drive to Vegas in the morning.