Homeward Bound

I had quite the adventure driving to Menifee.

After I finished packing all of my stuff in my car and my friend's truck, they asked me, "Where are you going to sleep tonight?" Well, I was going to sleep on my couch. Apparently, that was a silly idea so they invited me to stay at their place. Then, the next morning we could caravan down to Menifee.

They wanted to beat the traffic, which is always a good idea, so we planned on getting up at 4am. Despite that motivation, we still stayed up kinda late chatting with friends that stopped by for one last goodbye. At around 11pm I laid down to go to sleep.

First I was cold, then I was hot, then I was REALLY hot. I had to kick off some of my covers. After that I was fine. However, their place was right next to the freeway, and the noise of the cars was enough to keep me up.

2:30, still awake.

3:30, still awake.

3:45, awake and waiting for my alarm to go off at 3:50.

I got bored and got up before it rang.

Once everyone was dressed and ready to go it was 4:30. Two things were on my mind: a) I hadn't slept, and b) My car was so packed that I could only really see out my front and left windows. I couldn't see out the back, or to the right. Changing lanes was going to be difficult.

We get on the road, and luckily part of my right window is uncovered enough so that I can still see my mirror on that side. That saved my life twice on our trip.

We were heading south on a three lane freeway. I was in the middle lane stuck behind someone. The person next to me in the fast lane was also stuck behind someone. I was going slightly faster than the person in the slow lane, so I was just waiting to merge over so I could pass the person in front of me. Unfortunately the giant Yukon behind me was also waiting for the same opening.

I hit my blinker and started to move over. He hit his gas and gunned into the opening. My stuff is piled high in my car, so I can't really tell if he's going to let me move over or not. When it becomes clear that he isn't going to let me in, I have to swerve back into my lane and let him pass. Yikes.

Then the same thing happened about an hour later with another giant SUV. Sheesh, I was doing 75 at 5am. You can't tell me that you were late to something. Who hosts Christmas Eve parties at 5am? Well, I suppose if there were people out there hosting 5am Christmas Eve parties, they would be the same sort of people that were sticklers for being on time.

Anyways, I finally get home, unload my friend's truck so they can get on their way, and go inside. My mom walks out and meets me in the kitchen. "Do you want pancakes?" Yes, mom. The answer is always yes. :)