On the Road Again

Reading material for the trip.

Boy#2 and I are in Memphis tonight, two states closer to his new university. We're driving out and I will fly back, which made my packing process more complicated than usual. I am way too cheap to pay the checked-bag fee for the flight, but heaven forbid I should run out of things to keep me occupied during the car trip.

Seriously, I think I must have been traumatized by a boring trip when I was a kid--the thought of simply looking out the window and thinking deep thoughts makes me shudder. Not that I don't do just that much of the time, but deep down I'm probably afraid I don't really have much to think about.

In my car bag today were two books (one paperback from the library and one enormous book I own and can leave behind if it doesn't get read) plus my Nook loaded with at least a dozen more books I haven't read, plus knitting (a pair of socks I'm finishing) plus more knitting (a sweater I'm starting) plus my phone that lets me check my e-mail every four seconds. Oh, and my laptop so I could...I don't know what, maybe set up a spreadsheet?

Fortunately, Two is a wonderful travel companion. He doesn't count on me to navigate and he doesn't roll his eyes when I drop into contra-bass and do my best Paul Robeson impression as we cross the Mississippi. ("Ol' man ribber, dat ol' man ribber, he don' know nothin, but somethin', somethin', that ol' man ribber, he keeps on rollin'.... along!" I may have made up some words.) Two doesn't roll his eyes, and I don't give him a hard time because he had never heard of either Wichita Lineman or Moon Over Memphis.

It was such a nice day that the only surprise came after we checked in at the hotel and decided to get something to eat at this strip mall diner:

Yummy! We do heart lasagna. Unfortunately, when we walked into the restaurant we were greeted by this:

which, if you look closely enough, does not look exactly like lasagna. We had stumbled into New China; I {Heart} Lasagna was one door to the east.

Fortunately we also love Chinese.