FOROORM

Road Trip Ruminations

Yesterday I spent the morning packing and getting ready for my trip. I had hoped to leave at about 11:00, but it ended up being almost noon by the time I had the car loaded and pulled out of the driveway.

I have made this trip so many times over the last several years that some parts of it are kind of automatic now. I always stop at the same gas station in Linden (at the one-hour mark) to top off the tank because they have cheaper gas prices than Longview.

I stopped again just over the border into Arkansas to set up a phone call with my friend Carol in Oregon. We talked for over two hours on speaker, which was such a blessing because it got me past Little Rock and well into my least-favorite leg of the trip—that ghastly stretch between Little Rock and Memphis. Yesterday it really wasn’t too bad.

I pulled into my cousin Mark’s driveway right at 7:00 while his wife Teresa was still at church. Unfortunately Mark was unable to socialize due to his difficulties with MS, which means that most evenings he is unable to speak. When Teresa came home we had a nice visit until she went to bed. (She is a dyed-in-the-wool early-to-bed and early-to-rise type.)

I retired to my room and read until I felt sleepy. I always sleep so well at their house because they keep the house cool and supply plenty of bedding so that I can be as warm or cool as I like to be. And just in case, there were two fans in the room!

This morning I got to see Mark for all of five minutes before he had to leave for work. One of these days I need to plan this trip for a weekend so I will have some hope of having a real conversation with him again.

I wasn’t in a huge hurry, so after Teresa took Mark to work, I made tea in my travel mug and then started on my way to my dad’s town of Crossville. I stopped and had breakfast after about an hour—beef crackers and egg salad that I brought from home.

I let my dad know that I’d be there fairly early in the afternoon, and he said he wouldn’t be ready for me that early, so I had to figure out how to kill some time. I stopped at a Love’s gas station to top off the tank and use the facilities, and to my surprise and amusement I realized there was a book signing going on. In a gas station?

It was so deliciously odd I had to go check it out. The writer rather aggressively engaged me in conversation. Turns out the book sale is a fundraiser that Love’s does for some children’s hospital charity. A portion of every sale goes toward the charity. However, the prices were a little eye-watering: $35 for each paperback book! He showed me which ones were novels and which were historical books. He asked me what kind of books I was interested in, and I admitted that I’m a writer myself and that I write speculative fiction. Then I had to explain what that is.

He had just the thing! One (and only one) of the books on the table had been written by a friend of his who died before he could edit and proofread it. So this guy did it for him and self-published it.

Now I was really tempted to buy a book because of my FOROORM. You’ve heard of FOMO, right? (Fear of missing out.) We talked about that in class on Tuesday, and it has certainly led to many foolish decisions over the past few centuries. I more commonly experience FOROORM: Fear of running out of reading material. On this trip I have two Kindles, both loaded with many books. But what if I run out? What if I somehow manage to read them all in the random moments of downtime I’ll have during my time here? It is a tragedy not to be contemplated.

So, I really wanted to buy a book, even though I’m quite certain it’s probably rubbish. I told the guy the truth—I am not willing to spend $35 on a smallish paperback book. This didn’t phase him a bit. How much, he wondered, would I be willing to spend? I said $20 was my limit. Deal. He signed the book, I forked over $20, and then got back onto I-40.

That little encounter, though entertaining, didn’t take up much time, so after my stressful drive through Nashville, I stopped at a Cracker Barrel and read in my car in the parking lot for an hour. Then I went in and browsed the greeting cards and bought a few.

I arrived at my dad’s at about 3:45. He had a friend here who was helping him clean and organize the house for my visit. He did a great job!

I got the car unloaded and then asked Dad if we could go out for an early supper, as it was already past my usual “lupper” time. He suggested going to a barbeque place that specializes in pork. Being a Texan, I am more of a beef girl, but I’ve gotta say, the pork ribs we had tonight were absolutely sublime. So so good.

After that Dad had some things to get at both Walmart and Kroger. He only needed one thing at Walmart, so I had him stay in the car while I went in to get it, as I move a lot faster than him these days. Then we got the rest of the things at Kroger before coming back to the house.

I’m hoping Dad will feel up to doing the things he wants to do tomorrow.

Parting Shot:

This is the book I bought at the gas station. I promise I will read it and report back to you. Eventually.