A Highly Erudite and Philosophical Discussion of Gender Differences in Long-Distance Travellers

We're in Moab tonight, and the rest of the trip tomorrow should be a breeze.

Why is it, I wonder, that so many men and women, particularly older women, are able to travel long distances in the same vehicle? Women are delicate creatures, with tiny, sensitive bladders and finicky appetites, and are prone to want to stop and get out of the car at least once every 5 or 6 hours. Men tend to have gallon-capacity sized bladders and iron control, and while they normally have rather hearty appetites, when they are faced with driving more than 500 miles (let alone 1250) just want to drive and drive and drive and drive. Stopping the car, except for gas, takes some major negotiating. Women find that 2 meals, spaced 12 hours apart with just a big bag of trail mix for sustenance in between, will tend to make them a tiny bit cranky; men will just pull their baseball caps down further on their foreheads and hunker over the steering wheel, and every once in a while will shout encouragingly "Isn't this great?!" I'm not in any way implying that this is US, it's simply a question that popped unbidden into my head about 17 times today. Besides, it can't be Us -- I make a very good trail mix.

Heck and High Water

We had quite a send-off this morning. For most of the morning our only concern was getting a U-Haul Trailer's worth of stuff into our little Kia Optima. There are so many of those sucker bags in our trunk that if any of them ever get the slightest puncture and start filling up with air, our car will rise 4 feet off the ground, spewing garments out of every opening. It was quite warm and muggy, which made everything a tad more irritating. Then, as we were lamenting being more than 2 1/2 hours behind schedule, the weather suddenly became cooler, the breeze freshened, the skies darkened, and rain began to fall. As we started over to Amy's for a final good-bye it was raining fairly hard, and it was so hard as we approached Christi's house that we phoned ahead and asked her to push the button so we could drive into her garage. It didn't stop raining until we were almost to Wichita Falls. So the breakfast at Le Peep's, which we had been planning for several weeks to have on our way out of town (by way of celebration) became a Sonic breakfast burrito in Denton, eaten in the car in the middle of so much rain that I felt very guilty about the poor car hop who had to bring it to us. We haven't yet broken into the Mwa-ha-haaa state of mind (see Amy's post), and probably never will, because the rest of the day has gone very smoothly and we're now safely tucked away, full of a lovely dinner, in Tucumcari.

We've come to a breathing place right at the moment, and I can ruminate a bit about the wonderful blessings we received yesterday: a fabulous day -- hectic as all get-out, but so wonderful. It was a day as well of many different emotions; sadness at having my last gig with the ward choir, a choice group of friends who make lovely music every Sunday; terror at having to deliver talks in sacrament meeting; regret at having to say goodbye for a whole year to some people we have come to cherish; deep gratitude and humility as a servant of the Lord, a man we love, enjoy, and admire, laid hands on our head and pronounced marvellous blessings upon us, which will give us confidence and excitement about everything we do this next year; and deep happiness and joy as we shared time with our beloved families.

Amy did such a good job describing the day that I will just link her latest, right here.

We have a pretty good handle on the packing and will be able to leave on time tomorrow. I doubt there will be much that's blogworthy before we arrive in Salt Lake City, but you never know!

I couldn't used to spell "techie" -- now I ARE one!

Amazing! Our daughter Amy gave us a gift this morning -- she has set up a blog for us, something I've always kinda wished I could do but never had the courage to investigate, nor did I think that I had anything of any particular value to share. But now, NOW folks, we are leaving the day after Memorial Day to begin our full time mission in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the Family and Church History Mission. Packing has begun, organization has fled, lists are everywhere . . . you all know the drill! We speak in sacrament meeting this Sunday, and at 5 o'clock a member of our stake presidency will arrive here to set us apart. After which we will have a big family bash with the Kovaches, Burrs, Zorneses, and our sister missionaries. Then Monday we pack up the car (I wish it had expandable sides) and on Tuesday we begin our journey.

We have 2 delightful sister missionaries living in our house and they will remain here while we're gone (for as long as they're allowed). We feel we are leaving our precious home in good hands.

We have lots of friends and family in the area, and plenty of people who have promised to visit and/or look us up when they visit SLC. We're looking forward to that!