like a ribbon
Nov. 29th, 2018 08:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lifeonthepike900 miles isn't the furthest I have driven in a day. About 1050 miles is actually the furthest I have driven - from Key West to home. It took me from 7a.m. to 2:30a.m. with a couple of hour long meal stops. But that was 2002, and this was 2018. Things have changed a bit.
Now, there are 70 mile an hour speed limits for most of the 900 miles from my sister's house to my house. But there is also considerably more traffic. South Carolina is generally a variation between stopped and fairly quick - it's a state that one should reasonably be able to cross in about 2 1/2 hours on the ribbon of concrete that is known as Interstate 95, but with holiday traffic it becomes 4 1/2 hours and a couple of stops. Either way, it's a weird concept. The idea of traveling via the ground such a large distance in a day, and I do it with me driving in my little silver Chevy.
My passenger falls asleep at my side around 8:30 in the evening clutching a large hot tea, and then the miles peel off as I inexplicably become wide awake. Certain repetitive tasks I can continue indefinitely, and often driving is one of them. When I was younger, I could check groceries, gather eggs, mow the lawn, walk in the woods, and perform numerous other tasks ad nauseam. From the time I was 41 to about 45 I could run forever - like Run Forrest Run. I finished five marathons in five years. For about two years I reliably clocked 40 to 50 miles a week running, sometimes reaching as much as 55 or once or twice 60 miles in a week.
The idea of running 26 miles at once... Or even 15 or 20 or 22 or 24 on Sundays in the weeks leading up to a marathon... Picture the city where you live, or the county where you live if it is more appropriate, and then consider running to the other side and back. Imagine what you pass on the way here. For me, it is like running from my place in Virginia, into the District of Columbia, straight up the spine of the District on 16th Street as far as Silver Spring, Maryland, and maybe up Georgia Avenue to Wheaton - the far reaches of the metro rail system. When running, that's about 18 miles, maybe 20 (it's actually about 16 in a direct line as a car).
Then you get tired and take the metro home.
But the problem with driving to Florida, is you have to drive home.
And now my car is tired, back in the cold northeastern winter. It isn't snowy here. DC doesn't get snow unless there's a nor'easter generally, but after being in the warmth for a week I wear every piece of clothing I own to go outside.
The car isn't as fortunate, but it sleeps in a warm underground garage. For some reason, the transmission is balking a bit. It shifts hard and whines a little in high gear. I suspect there's a fluid leak which shouldn't happen - it's sealed - but you never know what happens when you cover 400 of those 900 miles somewhere above 70 mph.
Now, there are 70 mile an hour speed limits for most of the 900 miles from my sister's house to my house. But there is also considerably more traffic. South Carolina is generally a variation between stopped and fairly quick - it's a state that one should reasonably be able to cross in about 2 1/2 hours on the ribbon of concrete that is known as Interstate 95, but with holiday traffic it becomes 4 1/2 hours and a couple of stops. Either way, it's a weird concept. The idea of traveling via the ground such a large distance in a day, and I do it with me driving in my little silver Chevy.
My passenger falls asleep at my side around 8:30 in the evening clutching a large hot tea, and then the miles peel off as I inexplicably become wide awake. Certain repetitive tasks I can continue indefinitely, and often driving is one of them. When I was younger, I could check groceries, gather eggs, mow the lawn, walk in the woods, and perform numerous other tasks ad nauseam. From the time I was 41 to about 45 I could run forever - like Run Forrest Run. I finished five marathons in five years. For about two years I reliably clocked 40 to 50 miles a week running, sometimes reaching as much as 55 or once or twice 60 miles in a week.
The idea of running 26 miles at once... Or even 15 or 20 or 22 or 24 on Sundays in the weeks leading up to a marathon... Picture the city where you live, or the county where you live if it is more appropriate, and then consider running to the other side and back. Imagine what you pass on the way here. For me, it is like running from my place in Virginia, into the District of Columbia, straight up the spine of the District on 16th Street as far as Silver Spring, Maryland, and maybe up Georgia Avenue to Wheaton - the far reaches of the metro rail system. When running, that's about 18 miles, maybe 20 (it's actually about 16 in a direct line as a car).
Then you get tired and take the metro home.
But the problem with driving to Florida, is you have to drive home.
And now my car is tired, back in the cold northeastern winter. It isn't snowy here. DC doesn't get snow unless there's a nor'easter generally, but after being in the warmth for a week I wear every piece of clothing I own to go outside.
The car isn't as fortunate, but it sleeps in a warm underground garage. For some reason, the transmission is balking a bit. It shifts hard and whines a little in high gear. I suspect there's a fluid leak which shouldn't happen - it's sealed - but you never know what happens when you cover 400 of those 900 miles somewhere above 70 mph.
no subject
Date: 2018-12-02 03:31 am (UTC)The plan is for my husband & me to make the dreaded trek back to a state we used to reside in where my oldest daughter still lives for a visit next summer since we haven't seen her in a couple years & she'll have a newborn. However, I'm totally dreading the constant 2 days of driving. The husband will most likely be doing it all [his choice], which will probably make my life much easier. You'd never know constantly nodding off to sleep was so exhausting though lol. We'll spend the majority of his vacation driving though but he won't even consider flying, as this would be more expensive.
My opinions on running are similar, I suppose. I have bad, arthritic knees & am prone to foot injuries. Yay me. I want to like running but I can't. I guess two glaring signs early in life should've been my clues. In like 6th grade, I lost my footing & somehow skidded in gravel on my knees, removing layers of skin. In Winter in the Plains. That was fun. Then in high school during required phys-ed, I was on the track & lo & behold, it played out again, re-opening my scars.
The husband is a former cross country star & still enjoys running, but doesn't have much time for it nowadays.