2021 Hog Hunt Day 0 - Driving

Back in December Rick asked me to come in a day later than originally planned for hog hunting since he had people who wanted to be there on my original drive day.  I often get to his place with enough time to hunt on the day of, but it is never guaranteed.  And since the only real cost was a hotel room during a year when almost nothing was spent on travel, I opted to leave on my drive day anyway and get most of the way there.  This did make it somewhat awkward as I couldn't get to the hotel too early, meaning my normal crazy early leave time had to be pushed back.  Since I can't sleep, this meant an early morning at home while a headache throbbed behind my left eye.

The coronavirus is like a loose tooth.  As the hog hunting trip approached, I said I wasn't going to worry - just take an appropriate level of caution and enjoy it.  But every few minutes ... there is that loose tooth again.

So after an early morning with hot cocoa instead of coffee I pointed the Ridgeline south.  I took a wrong turn getting on the interstate very near home.  Holy crap I need to start traveling again.  I was embarrassed at the rookie mistake.  

"Every now and then, you realize, with perfect clarity, that you are just not where you want to be."-Killraven

Never has that been more both metaphorically and actually true...

There was minimal snow at home; I expected it to disappear quickly as I went south.  But the snow increased, at times significantly as I drove.  And in the cold early morning there were a few spots where it had refrozen into slick ice.  There was one stretch were as I slowly decreased my speed, I could feel the tires very briefly lose traction several times.  It wasn't terrible, but a little nerve-wracking.  Surprisingly I only saw one vehicle (a tractor-trailer) off the road.

My headache subsided, but was there most of the day.  I found it easy to just lose myself in the drive.  Wow do I miss this.  I was listening to My Lobotomy by Howard Dully.  I heard about this book while touring the Trans Allegheny Insane Asylum.  The book was good, but it was as much about the screwed-upness of a dysfunctional family - and other assorted characters - as it was about the effects of a lobotomy.  But I still enjoyed it - as much as one can "enjoy" a book like that.

Once out of the mountains the weather started to break.  Temperatures increased but so did the wind.  I've always loved the aura of I-26 where it descends from the Appalachian plateau down to the lower elevation.  Maybe it is just a reminder that adventure is ahead.

I got near Columbia and stopped at the hotel.  The place was empty but it was early.  As I was unpacking my stuff from my truck I noticed a cleaning lady sanitizing one of the rooms.  This gave me a little bit of comfort that spending a few bucks more on a hotel room during a pandemic might have been the right choice.

Thankfully the hotel does have a small breakfast since I was able to steal a plastic spoon to eat a noodle bowl for dinner.  This was made even better once I realized that I could watch Roku on my computer, allowing me to watch Magnum PI (the original one of course) until turning in for the night.