Dec. First, Travel Day

Traveling like this is a lot of fun for me, but, of course, it can sometimes be lonely, too.  That's why I try to see as many friends as I can along the way, if there is time. So Saturday, Dec. 1, found me headed for Anaheim, CA, to meet up with Jamie Shaheen, a friend from The Children's Music Network.  I've only actually met Jamie in person one other time-- at the children's music nominee showcase during Grammy weekend in 2011, but we really hit it off and have stayed in touch.

Jamie is a talented singer, pianist and songwriter, and you may have seen her on TV if you are a "Modern Family" fan. She was the pianist on the episode where Cam directed Manny's school musical!

Anyhow, we'd been planning for months to try to meet up on this trip, and so I headed for Downtown Disney, which was near my route, and Jamie showed me around and treated me to a delicious and delightful lunch.  Our visit was too short!  Jamie plays piano in the Grand California Hotel, so look for her if you are visiting Disney!

I had 7 more hours to drive to my stopover in Carson City, NV, and I stayed with Jamie longer than I should have because we were having so much fun.  I didn't hit the road again til 3pm.  

The first part of the drive was okay; driving through the desert is easy.  Here's a little burg where I stopped for a potty break

 But just after sunset the first bad thing happened. In an instant there was a jackrabbit in my headlights. It froze, looking at me and there was nothing I could do.  It sprang off and I heard and felt something hit and my heart shattered. I called Philip, bawling. I felt so awful.  As usual, he knew just what to say to calm me down. 

So on I went.  The flatlands turned into hills and the bad weather appeared before too long, and I hit signs like "last gas for 110 miles".  I was in Nowheresville.  

About two hours short of Carson City, my destination where I had a pre-paid motel room waiting for me, the tiredness set in.   I broke into a bag of popcorn I'd purchased at Disney and munched on that to stay awake. When that was gone I began opening the window and blasting myself with cold air, while singing at the top of my lungs and periodically whacking myself in the face.  There were a few small, one- horse towns that popped up now and then and I paused in the parking lots of two separate motels and considered stopping, but in the end decided they were too sketchy -looking.  

I was within ten miles of Carson City  I came upon one of those little towns.  I dutifully slowed down, but before I slowed down enough I saw blue lights behind me.  Yep , I got a speeding ticket. The officer was actually very nice but not nice enough to just give me a warning!  Ah well, I deserved it, took my lumps and crawled on to Carson City, and a very cute local motel with a comfortable bed where I instantly collapsed after brushing my teeth, with the dulcet sound of Wakko Warner singing , "Nevada, Carson City.  That's all the capitols there are!" swimming around in my head.