[DeTomaso] Pandora's Perils part X: flying solo

[Christopher Kimball]

Today is the first day of May, and I should be home tomorrow.  I'm writing this entry much earlier in the day than usual since I got here sooner than I expected.  Despite the fact I was driving like one who has recently been chastised, the trip from Twin Falls, Idaho to here (Hermiston, Oregon) took only 6 hours, including an hour lunch stop.  Google maps indicated 6 1/2 hours of pure drive-time.

I called Clarke when I reached the hotel this afternoon, but he and Wilma traveled to Moses Lake today and will be taking a different route home tomorrow.  That means the only lifeline I have for the rest of the trip is AAA.  I guess that's better than having my only lifeline be A.A.  I think Clarke and Wilma must have figured to be efficient they could spend time driving instead of watching me eat dinner (I eat rather slowly).

My wise, English mother has a saying, "Misery loves company."  In the last 24 hours I've seen the truth of that sentiment.  I received more responses from my fellow Panterians about yesterday's diatribe than any other entry, so far.  It seems there is a lot of empathy for those who receive moving violations.  There are also a lot of people who have had close calls with the State Patrol, and lived to tell about it.  It's kind of funny what goes through one's mind after getting a large ticket.  It's not dissimilar to the five stages of loss.  First, shock and denial (I can't believe that stupid SUV is a cop!), then anger (you saw that in yesterday's entry), then bargaining (I knew I should have taken Mike Drew up on his offer and joined his contingent.  Then at least I wouldn't be the only one with a ticket).

I haven't gotten to the last two stages; acceptance and healing.  I think I may be in a little-known 6th stage--the "I hope a good attorney can reduce the fine" stage.

I'll let you know how it works out.

This will be a (mercifully) short entry.  Surprisingly, I woke up prior to the wake-up call this morning and enjoyed the "AmericInn" complimentary breakfast.  Being in a nutritious state of mind, I decided to have apple juice (with that "magic powder" added, of course) and oatmeal...before the Froot Loops.  I became full more quickly than usual, probably due to the oatmeal (it's interesting how real food tends to provide more substance than the equivalent cubic foot of, say, Honeycomb cereal.  Funny story about that--not to get on a tangent or anything, but--when I was a kid, I loved Quisp cereal.  I thought if some was good, a lot would be better.  I realized it was pretty fluffed-up cereal, so I used my wise, English mother's grinder and transformed an entire box of the stuff to a pile of dust small enough to fit in a cereal bowl.  With eager anticipation I added milk, preparing myself for a sweet, sensory overload of Quisp-ness.  What it had become, however, was a facsimile of cement and wet, volcanic ash.  Fail!)  Since I had hoped to supplement my Froot Loops and oatmeal with other breakfast delicacies, I asked the nice attendant if I could take a little food with me.  She said of course I could, and seemed a bit bemused I would even bother to ask.  Now I had lunch taken care of, too!

I drove continuously until the tank was almost empty, and then stopped at a small town called Baker City, Oregon.  At the gas station, the attendant told me something I didn't know:  Even though one is not allowed to pump one's own gas in Oregon, there is an exception made for motorcycles and collector cars (I'll bet officer blowhard in Idaho doesn't know that!)  I also had to add another quart of oil.  That makes three quarts for about 3000 miles.  That seems a bit much, although I'm not aware of the car burning or leaking oil.

The gas station attendant was a nice guy, and a self-admitted Mopar nut.  When I told him my daily driver was a Magnum SRT-8 I could almost feel the bonding...

I went to the city's park for lunch.  It was very nice, and the weather, although cool, was sunny.  It was so cool in fact, I had to put on a jacket.  If only I had my leather coat with me...

I enjoyed the apple, yogurt  blueberry muffin and raisin toast (complete with two containers of grape jelly) donated by the "AmericInn" along with chocolate milk, chocolate-covered malted Easter eggs and regular milk (did I mention the malted Easter eggs were covered in chocolate?)

Following that, I drove another 90 minutes, and now I'm here.

Tonight I will begin working on my class for Thursday night.  I had grandiose plans for preparing the lesson a little bit each night of this trip, but instead I read issues of Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding, Road and Track, and World magazine.  But now, playtime is over.  

I think in class this week I'll discuss the fact that even though Christians may be forgiven in the Heavenly sense, while here on earth, we must still pay the consequences for our actions.  After all, as my wise, English mother always says, "Your sins will find you out!"  Or art least the police might.

Sincerely,

Chris