Quilting and the Zoo

This weekend my sister and I have been quilting.  For a bit early on Saturday I was helping her with her quilt, but then I finally went and dug out the box of unfinished projects that I brought with me (the rule was any unfinished project that I don't work on before getting home, will have to find a new home.) And started working on my quilt project.  It is one of those Joann's quilt block projects that I bought on super clearance when one of the Joann's near me was going out of business; It has twelve wonderfully spring filled blocks that are full of applique and embroidery, but not a lot of piecing.  Yesterday I got all of my applique bits traced and cut out and placed and ironed down.  Today I did all of my piecing.  This week embroidery, I might even take it to the math conference.  We did take some time out of our quilting to do something else; we went to the zoo.  Unfortunately I think I'm going to have to go back because the Panda exhibit was members only today.  But look a bear (and me):

First day actually in DC.

Smithsonian Castle

So yesterday was scheduled to be a nice crisp sunny winter day, and thus I planned my first excursion into the city.  I got my brother-in-law to drop me at the nearest metro station and took the metro into town.  Coming up out of the metro tunnel, I only knew basically where I was.  I was somewhere near the national mall and a couple blocks south.  My directional sense can get messed up down in those tunnels on the train, so I follow the crowd to the outside world.  I head in what I think is a northernly direction, only to discover that it was actual east when I caught a quick glimpse of the top of the capitol building.  Woohoo now I was oriented.  And I made my way to the national mall and the Smithsonian Castle.  It had a small sampling of a little bit from all the different museums which was somewhat nice, also since it was a bit before ten yet the other places weren't open.  Then I started down the mall, the first museum was the Hirshhorn Museum.  It had an interesting display about The Art of Destruction.  I was slightly disappointed in that a lot of it was more Destruction as art.  I find that there is a large difference here, the first is the looking at an accidentally destroyed piano and seeing the art to how it fell and the second is going out and destroying a piano with a sledge hammer and calling it art.  I like the first much better than the second.  It did have an interesting display about Hiroshima.  Unfortunately half of the museum was closed for renovation.

So on down the mall I want.  I spent the rest of the day here (close to six hours):

Air and Space Museum

They have some interesting things from the Wright brothers original flyer to an entire exhibit on the history of navigation; The parts I enjoy the most are of course are space related.  Just outside there was a group of volunteers looking at sunspots.  Unfortunately the clouds were not cooperating, although I did catch a quick glimpse of some nice spots.   I was reminded of why museums on weekdays are not necessarily a good thing; all those children running around.  I very much giggled at all the little changes that they made to their exhibit on the planets after Pluto got demoted to a Dwarf planet.  Only some parts of the exhibit have been completely reworked, and it is much less noticeable, whereas others have just had a sentence added or the spot at the front of the exhibit where there are pictures of all the planets plus an empty space for Pluto.  One spot it looked like they decided to add all the other dwarf planets and remake Pluto's tag, as these parts appeared much newer. I really tried not to giggle out loud.  Also the scale model outside still includes Pluto, now as a dwarf planet; I hope they add more about the Oort cloud.  Overall a great day was had.  Also we need to make it more socially acceptable to wear layers on our legs, as my legs were cold from where my sweatshirt ended, all the way down to the tops of my socks when I was outside, but if I had long underwear on I probably would have been too warm while inside.
 
After I was finished I appreciated the pretty sunset from the mall, realized I had had enough standing and walking for one day (plus the other museums I want to go to are closing soon) and took the metro back to my sisters.

Capitol Building at sunset

Washington Monument at Sunset

Clearly I like sunsets, but the temperature was dropping fast, and my nose was cold.

Today has been spent as a quite day at my sister's letting my feet recover and curling up under the covers with a kitty and a book.  There is just enough rain to make me not want to go out in it.

Visiting my little sister

I am now at my little sister's place.  Friday night I helped her finish putting together the futon for her library/guest room.  Saturday and Sunday I spent moving furniture and books, and finally unpacking some of the books, only about two thirds had been unpacked.  Now the library feels much more like a library.  I'm still working to get all the boxes that ought to be up in the office up in the office, my knees do not like the stairs; going up them with a box of books is hard, there is also the bringing different boxes down, not everything got put in the right place when moved.  One flight no problem, it's that second flight.  Plus trying to be nice to the brother in law and not bother him too much.

I do not like this cold thing.  It's fine if it is just around freezing and I only need to go out for a few minutes, but I want to go and see things in DC, and to do that I need to drive to the nearest metro station (15 miles) and take the metro into town.  Then I'll be walking all over town.  I would like it to be above freezing, as that I can handle, cold but not as dangerously cold.  So today I have spent making friends with my sisters cats.  Ginger is a vary friendly cat and will love all the humans that come visit.  Heidi is an appropriately named cat who hides from anything and everything; she is a scared little cat.  Heidi has come and sniffed my hand and I even got half a scratch behind her ear before she ran away.

Ginger, Why aren't you petting me?

Heidi, Maybe you are ok, but reach to pet me and I will bolt.

Must head south after the Math conference.  This east coast weather does not act like I expect; the weather is not coming off the ocean like it does out in California.  Need to plan a southwards meander.

I have also solved the why is this room so cold problem.  Someone closed all the vents in the basement (which is where the library is, more the bottom level of a three level town house, which means no warm air was getting here.  I have opened them and now I can try to read a book while not being huddled down in an warm cozy blanket and hoodie and having cold fingers.  Am still going to huddle up but my fingers are not so cold now.

Travel quite quickly across the US

Done.  Wow, that was a long 3 days of driving.  My route and approximate overnight spots:


View Larger Map

The journey was basically uneventful.

The short version of the trip:
Day 1 gets the question: So what state are you in now?  For breakfast: California, for lunch: Arizona, for dinner: New Mexico, for sleep: Texas.
Day 2 gets the question: So what interstate are you on now? For breakfast: I-10, for lunch: I-20, for dinner: I-30, for sleep: I-40.
Day 3 gets the question: So what is all that white stuff? For breakfast: Just a little frost on everything, for lunch: Salt on the roads, for dinner: bright white lights are traffic so much traffic, for sleep: Lots of ice and snow.
I almost had to give day three the what is the theme of the billboards, it only lost out because there weren't any clear differences and was more of a just which stands out more.  It was an interesting day for them Starting out with the Adult stores in western Tennessee, adding guns to it by eastern Tennessee, and then Jesus got thrown in, but there aren't any billboards in my sister's place.  When there are two billboards one above the other, sometimes you get some interesting slogans for God.  Texas does win the "really?" contest when reading billboards as they had a message from God, preaching at me in txt spk.

The slightly longer version:
Day 1, January 1, the start of a new year and the start of a new adventure.
I started out at a bright and early 8:30am, out at my friends house in Redlands, CA and put everything where it needed to be and my new blanket on the bed.  I then got in to the drivers seat to find that there was a dead bee on my center elbow rest.  Removed him from the car and got going just a bit before 9am.  My directions for day 1 were very easy, stay on Interstate 10.  My first bathroom break was only an hour down the road (coffee in the morning will do that) and I had forgotten to pull out my road snacks, so I dug about to find the delicious dried apples and of course broke the arm off my sunglasses. But the winter sunlight isn't all that bright when you don't have snow, so I wasn't worried about them.  And I was back on the road again  At 11:30am I had made it to the end of California, and entered Arizona exactly one hour later (first time zone line there at the border).  Stopped for gas and bathroom not far into Arizona, because I know that there isn't a lot between Quartzsite and Phoenix.  The going was going good and I was munching my apples, and had the radio going and was in the zone.  And forgot to stop, until my bladder was making itself known and my gas tank was less then I would like at the other end of Tucson around 4:30 and with me not knowing the area and knowing that there isn't much after this; I decided to get gas again before continuing on.

Arizona Sunset

Around 5:30pm, I stopped again to enjoy the sunset in the rocks of southern Arizona.  Another hour down the road and I was in New Mexico; another hour and just after the continental divide had me stopping for dinner.  It was a quick dinner from my cooler at a rest area, I still had a long way to go tonight.  9:30pm Texas, El paso, wait New Mexico was much shorter than Arizona, Well duh just look at the map but still it had me a little surprised.  I actually did make it to Texas, The just over 10 hours drive time of google took me just over 11 because I kept my stops short.  I was also still on California time and decided to keep going at least another hour before stopping.  Although to do that first I need gas.  Which is where I learned that it really doesn't matter if you put a travel alert on your credit card, using it in Arizona and Texas on the same day makes them decline it anyway.  Thank you gift card.  Use that instead and on the road again.  Maybe by morning the credit card will have it all cleared up.  Aproximately 100 miles into Texas around 11pm I had to go through a US border patrol station, all they asked was if I'm a US citizen and my yup got me off and driving again.  At 11:30pm the time suddenly became 12:30am (another time zone line) and I realized that if sunrise is going to wake me up, I had better get some sleep, and shortly there after I spied a rest area with lots of others doing exactly what I should be doing and found myself a parking spot, changed into pjs and curled up under all the blankets and went to sleep.

Day 2, January 2:
The sunlight and truckers and other traffic woke me up a little before sunrise.  After using the restroom again, changing out of the pjs, I was off again.  I had slept very warmly, and woke up a bit over heated, which was quickly not true when I got out of bed to the actual just below freezing temperatures (the frost on my hood tells me and then the internet tells me it was 29 degrees.)  As the sun rise was well under way, and I was driving again I appreciated it and was very grateful that in winter the sunrise is fairly south of east and my easternly journey was starting to curve a bit north.  There was very little traffic on the road and for the most part not a lot other than flat land.

Texas sunrise

Around 9am I stopped for gas, tried my credit card hoping it would be cleared up, it wasn't.  Shortly there after I stopped at a rest area that my rest area map said had free wifi, and it didn't so I used my own and tried calling the CC people, spent a lot of time on hold and finally got to talk to a person and almost immediately my phone cut out.  I decided I really didn't want to sit on hold again and started driving again.  I was watching for a free wifi place and there was very little, so I finally gave up and at the next rest area, used my wifi to turn the cell phone back on.  Pushed all the buttons until I was on hold again and then since the area is flat, figured I might as well start driving.  The human that finally answered hung up on me when I asked him to write down my cell number and call me back if we got cut off.  I then spent a very long time on hold and with the stupid machine hanging up on me for not pushing buttons. (Safety when driving, I don't mind sitting on hold on the phone, or even talking to a person, but I will not push buttons if there is anyone near me on the road.)  When I finally got a person, that actually didn't get cut off, she was nice enough to take down my cell number and said she could have a manager call me back if we were cut off.  She then actually dealt with the problem, apologized for the inconvenience, updated the travel note on my account to show that I wasn't just going to be in the DC area but all points in between and some points that are not in between.  And after over an hour of hold time the problem was finally fixed.  And when I stopped for gas again, just after 1pm, my credit card worked.  I couple hours later just before the Dallas/Fort Worth area I stopped to stretch and of course bathroom.  I happily made it through DFW area before rush hour so the traffic wasn't that bad.  Around 6pm, I got gas again.  And just after 7pm I left Texas behind me for Arkansas.  Around 8 I stopped and got some quick dinner at subway because I ran out of apples to munch on.  The kid behind the counter couldn't have been over the age of 13, but he was polite and did his job better than most of the minimum wage workers out there.  Just before the leaving Arkansas, I had another gas stop and then crossed the Mississippi River into Tennessee around 11pm.  I was thinking it was sleep time unfortunately it was 12:30am before I found a rest area.  Found it I did, changed into pjs and curled up to sleep.

Day 3, January 3
Started out cold (the low appears to have been 14 degrees that morning, near where I was), I woke with cold feet.  Took my clothing to the nicely heated rest area and changed, appreciated the sunrise and the light layer of snow, plugged in my keep warm cup full of icy water and started driving again about 7:30am.

Tennessee Sunrise

Look snow on the plants

Around 9:30am, my keep warm cup finally made it up to warm tea temperature, and shortly there after I had to stop for gas again, Nashville was cold and there was ice instead of water in the depressions at the gas station.  At 11:42am it suddenly became 12:42am when I passed another time zone line.  I was finally in the right time zone and am slightly entertained by the timing of these time zone changes.  Another cold rest area stop for bathroom and stretching around 2pm, and I actually wanted some warm ramen for lunch so I started the water. And then I was leaving Tenn, for Virgina just after 3pm.  Another Gas, bathroom and put ramen in the warm water stop, and I was off again now with ramen to eat.  Now I was heading much more North and with the hills I couldn't see much of the sunset.  Traffic was steadily became heavier, and the up and down hills were actually not much fun with all the traffic and trucks on the road.  Another gas stop at 8pm because the cold was not making me want to get out and stretch, plus the end was near.  A little before 9 had me in what can only be considered the DC area and lots of snow on the side of the road.  Then into Maryland, finally the destination state.  And I got to my little sisters house at 10pm.

After much driving I am here, at least for a little bit.    I do prefer being able to see the country side as I drive through it.  Although I don't mind night driving, I prefer appreciating the nature that I drive through.  I also learned that I don't like extreme cold.  Meaning if it is below freezing for a high, it is just too cold.  I have safely made it to my sister's house, and am going to be here for a couple weeks.

Last of the preparations...

I am prepared to go.  I think; I hope.  I spent the last few weeks finally going through everything I own.  I started with the garage.  Every box was opened, most were then sorted and I got rid of books and stuff I'll never use.  I took many things to the thrift store and have much less stuff.  And I know that after the six months of a more minimal existence I will have with this trip, I'll probably be getting rid of more stuff.  I'm just not yet ready to part with some of it.  After the garage I worked on my bedroom.  It is so nice and organized now.  It even works as a guest room for my mom (still the narrow bed, so only sleeps one) and she doesn't even have to apologize for the space.

I finally have everything into the truck.  I am probably going to get rid of some of the stuff along the way.  I've already started throwing away the socks that are more hole than sock.  I feel I still have more clothing than I need so I will probably be getting rid of it as I realize I don't like it and/or don't think I will ever wear it again.

All that is left to do to prepare is making curtains, and putting in more tie points, as things are moving around as I drive and I need to I figure out what is needed to make stuff stay put.

I think it has finally sunk in that I am planning to leave the state of California for the next 6 months (I have to come back this summer for weddings).  I am saying goodbye to friends, but I know I'll see them again.  Today I did my last drive by of the pacific ocean for the next six months as from here I going inland.  That one is odd.  Off to see if I can figure out better was to tie stuff down.

Not much plan but I have something like a plan if that counts

Day 1: January 1, Texas border.  This may sound a little far until you realize I plan to take the southern route (the definitely below freezing temperatures of Albuquerque scare me).  This means that the Texas welcome center just this side of El Paso is my goal and with just barely over 10 hours of drive time from my start point I don't think it will be hard.

Day 2: Make it to the other side of Texas.  This is a little harder (close to 12 hours of drive time depending on route), I do plan to veer up through the Dallas/Ft worth area and after that I haven't decided, go northish through Arkansas and Tennessee or continue east to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.  Oh no the indecision has me clutched tight in its thralls.  A part of me plans to consider weather but going to far south means rain instead of no precipitation but freezing (and below) weather.  Which then brings me to the if I don't know which route I'm taking how can I have a goal for where I'm making it to, much less plan the next day.

Day 3: AAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhh so much indecision and I don't know how I'll be doing on that New Years resolution of remembering to eat, and if on day Texas I forgot to eat then day 3 will really suck cause that means my energy is fading and I'll need more caffeine/naps along the way, and I am more likely to forget to actually eat and not subside on coffee but I can do amazing things on coffee, 12 hours barely stopping no problem.

Day 4: Will there even be a day 4, I mean if I stay caffeinated and push through, I could do 13 or 14 hour days and thus get to my little sisters by the end of day 3, I mean it is only a 40 drive time by Google maps, and who knows what kind of traffic I'll get, I don't expect much. I look forward to seeing my sister and staying there for a little while, and my bed in the truck is very comfortable so I know I should sleep good once I have curtains, and if I'm not sleeping well then really the reason will be noise and I can get up and drive another hour and find a quieter spot, although if the noise is a constant it doesn't bother me, it is a change in sound that will wake me up, a difference that my mind wasn't expecting.  As a camp counselor this was amazing, because no I didn't wake up at every bathroom trip but I did wake up if someone needed me or if there was naughty camper hijinks in the works; they hated it.  This means road noise, not an issue.  Air planes flying over, after the first no problem.  As long as my brain doesn't notice I'm fine, as soon as my brain goes into panic mode then no more sleep for me. I guess after the long days this semester teaching, I feel a long day driving can't be nearly as exhausting but then ask me again in a week and I might have found that I am wrong.

So that is the current plan, it probably won't happen like that which is why I hate making plans.  The only thing I know for sure is that I need to get to little sister's before the math conference which isn't until much later.

Look Dance Costumes.

This weekend, to take a break from all the packing and getting ready to go, I helped make dance costumes in stretch fabric.  Stretch fabric has its good points (so much easier to fit) and bad points (so much harder to fit).  But there are now three pretty dresses!

Green stretch velvet with glittery sequined gold sleeves. Exactly what the costume designer/director/producer/choreographer/senior project doer (the one on the right) wanted.  And they can move and dance.  And the show will be awesome, Costumes had to get done really early since I said I would help pattern (last year) and the show isn't until spring, but I get to run away soon.