20 minutes until we board our flight!

I drove up to New England from OBX yesterday, my second such road trip in a week.  Last week I drove up for the internment of my grandmother, who donated her body to the medical school when she died two years ago.  It was finally time to get closure with a ceremony, the best part of which is always spending time with my far-flung but lovely Nason-side family.  I also caught Bill Nighy’s broadway show, Skylight, on the way back with some of the NYC Nason contingent.  Awesome.  Gran, thanks for bringing us all together again.

The 12 hour drive yesterday passed by in a blink just like the previous two, thanks to audiobooks.  My friend Allie got me hooked on these, and while my eyes and reflexes are still on the road, my mind is off someplace else, and I arrive at my destination wishing I had another half hour of road to finish the book!  In this instance, it was Kicking and Dreaming: A Memoir by Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart fame.  Also awesome.

My family in Massachusetts had dinner and a pre-birthday cake waiting for me, and a comfy bed, and I slept hard for a full 8 hours before waking up at 6am.  This, I predict, will happen every night of the hike.  But not tonight, which will be interrupted by a stop in sunny Iceland.  My driving on the wrong side of the road tomorrow can only be enhanced by a sleepless red-eye night.  Ma has no idea what adventure she’s really in for tomorrow!

Speaking of Ma, who’s about to board the flight with me, she described our activity today as “trying to squeeze 15lb. of s**t into a 5lb. bag.”  That basically sums it up, except scale it up to 100lb. of shit.  (Notice I’m only beeping out my mother’s swears.  I think it’s best to keep her saintly as long as possible on this trip!)  I brought way too much stuff, so I may be feasting on several pounds of fish jerky before Saturday morning just to get my pack liftable.  This should surprise no one who’s hiked with me before.

Tomorrow we’ll get as far as Laura’s house near Bath, and hopefully our fellow Pebbles are making similar progress toward St. Bees as we speak!  See you soon!!