Let the Mood Swings Begin!

LA/XC-4 DAY TWO:  POSTING FROM WAYNESBORO, VA

Today’s mileage:  139

Total LA/XC-4 mileage:  498

Road Music:  Shhh . . . quiet.  One with nature today

Weather leaving Stephens City:  a very cold, crisp 32, bright sunshine

Weather arriving Waynesboro:  30 degrees, still sunny

Today’s state tally: 1 (Virginia)

Gas money to date:  $40.79

You’re at the end of Day 2 of a cross-country road trip to L.A. . . . and you’re still in Virginia?   Yeah, I know, that’s what you’re thinking.  Hey, ease up.  I’ve always wanted to see Shenandoah National Park and do the Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway.  And I’m doing it.  Nice and easy.

Yesterday Kemba was the one with the health problem.  Today, my turn.  Woke up to take

Kemba out to do his thing(s), and couldn’t open my right eye.  Thought it was just sleep gunk — but it was pink eye.  Courtesy of Robby, who was home last week, got conjuncitivitis, and was nice enough to share it with me.  Thanks, Roberto!   And Kemba was going turbo in the cramped Comfort Inn motel room, which was small, dark, and ugly.  I had to banish him to the car in order to have any prayer of packing.  I started thinking that maybe a month-long cross-country road trip wasn’t the greatest idea for a 7-month-old puppy.  (Remember, Ricky was 8 years old on our first trek, 10 on his last one.)  Don’t think the thought of turning back didn’t cross my mind. And then, quick as that, things turned.  I’ve mentioned this on past road trips, the monumental mood swings.  From dismally depressed to ridiculously euphoric.

Here’s what happened:  1.  I called my college buddy, who’s an ophthalmologist (Carol’s idea, of course), and he was able to phone in an Rx for eye drops at my next stop;  2.  I drove to the cutesy town of Front Royal — northernmost point of Shenandoah National Park and Virginia’s Skyline Drive (also “Canoe capital of Virginia”) — and the nice people at the Visitors Center there told me about a dog park in town; 3.  I took Kemba to said park, which was huge, beautiful, and had fenced-in fields for fetch.  And Kemba met Cuzco, a very handsome one-year-old border collie, belonging to Cara, who was there with her mom, Deanna, and her sister, Emily.  Cara’s in publishing in NYC, so I already started pitching “Beagle Man: The Book” to her.  (You listening, Cara?); 4.  Since I needed to stop driving early today to pick up my meds, I targeted Waynesboro as my overnight — just  a leisurely 109 miles down the Skyline Drive.  Peaceful, beautiful, quiet — no tunes for me in

National Parks; that’s my rule.  Gotta admit, it was kind of nice.  (Earmuffs, Carol.); 5.  Got to use my “lifetime” National Parks pass, which I bought for $25, I think, at the Grand Canyon in 2011.  Have been getting my money’s worth ever since:  Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, Bryce Canyon, Grand Tetons . . . and probably more I’m forgetting.  Plus Glacier National Park later on this road trip; 6. The nice pharmacy people in the Walmart in Waynesboro got me out with my eyedrops lickety-split (I had heretofore been to a Walmart a grand total of once, and its size gave me the willies: I had to flee without buying anything.) 7. Tonight’s Best Western Plus is the Taj Mahal of budget motels, and the front desk already hooked me up with a dog park for tomorrow morning; 8.  And finally, right across the road is an Applebee’s:  Eating good in the neighborhood.  Got a great seat at the bar for the Wisconsin-‘Zona game.

It’s the little things.

So the good news about the Skyline Drive in April is that there’s no traffic.  The bad news is that there’s no foliage.  (Correlation?)  But that’s

okay.  Kemba and I passed a very pleasant day nonetheless.  No barfing for him, even though he nabbed my apple core.  But what’s with the weather down here?  Fifteen degrees at the Drive’s highest point!  I left New England for this?  I gotta get me out to that western heat wave! And speaking of west, I’m finally gonna start heading that way tomorrow.  Will do a bit of the Blue Ridge Parkway, but def not the whole thing.  You’ve seen one southeastern mountain range, you’ve seen ’em all.  Plan to end up in Knoxville TN tomorrow night, then Memphis on Tuesday.

Getting there . . .

I PLAN TO POST AS CLOSE TO DAILY AS POSSIBLE WHILE KEMBA AND I ARE ON THE ROAD.  BUT YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY:  MAN PLANS, GOD LAUGHS.   OH, AND BTW, YOU CAN ALSO FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM.