I woke again to a sticky hotel room. I'm not sure why since the air conditioner was running all night, but everything felt damp. No matter - it was time to leave.
We got ready and were out the door by 6:10AM. We wanted to take advantage of the cooler weather; mornings are always the best. I was prepared for it to still be a bit dark but it was also foggy. The fog persisted, but decreased, throughout the morning. I decided to skip any interesting roads and just make tracks for home, taking the interstate up to US50 before heading west. Much like two days previous, traffic was negligible, but there was a bit more truck traffic.
It was a pretty morning.
And I let my mind wander. Not that I don't have opportunities to do this during my normal routine - walking the dog, riding the bicycle, even commuting. But it isn't the same.
I really did need a road trip. And golly did the mind wander, maybe making up for lost time.
It usually takes at least a day on the road to mentally get rid of the normal troubles of work and home. That coupled with the late start and heat made the trip to West Virginia a bit more of a struggle.
The trip home started early morning (as it should), temperatures were very pleasant (even with the dampness) and even the scenery looked better. Time passed quickly. The dull headache I've had for at least a week subsided. I was where I needed to be. Compared to the last few months, it was a perfect morning.
What I realized is this was the first time since March when things felt normal. No coronavirus, no crazy work schedules; I was on the road where I belong. I didn't want to go home. I wanted to turn and go another direction, any direction. But this was all BS too. As much as I might want to head to some distant arbitrary location, an extended road trip right now would not be the same as it was last summer. All those little things that make road trips are either missing or unrecognizably altered. I'd miss finding some local restaurant and not even question whether it was the right place to eat a greasy cheeseburger for lunch. I'd miss walking too far in the early evening to eat a steak somewhere. I'd miss finding some local novelty to look at, simply because I'm there. I'd miss free hotel waffles saturated in cheap syrup. I could end up a slave to hotel rooms. As much as I felt normal on the road, I knew it wasn't.
We crossed the Ohio River into Ohio. The day was starting to warm slightly and dry out.
My mind continued to wander. I found it too coincidental that after touring a defunct asylum, I questioned my sanity for what the present pandemic might be doing. And I wondered how many other people are going about the day-to-day routine in a similar state - thinking everything is fine but knowing normal is still a long way off.
It started to get dramatically warmer as we got closer to home. We made our way to SO's work and I dropped her off at her car to get the beagles. I continued on familiar roads toward home, resisting the urge - for now - to turn the handlebars in another direction.
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