A little road trip.

I've mentioned before, I believe, that I'm working a temp job right now, as a proofreader for the New Mexico State Legislature. This year's session started January 18th and will wrap up March 20th, and I'm scheduled to work every day while the legislature is in session. So the hours are pretty crazy. In that respect, it's kind of like being back in radio.

On the other hand, thanks to the pandemic I'm spending all day, every day, in my apartment -- and for the majority of my waking hours, I'm sitting at the same spot at my dinette table. I have a desk, but I like to keeping my writing space separate from my work-from-home space. In Virginia, that meant rolling my desk chair out of my bedroom to a TV tray table next to the balcony doors. Here in Santa Fe, it means swapping out my desk chair for the dinette chair I sit in to eat my meals. The view doesn't change much, to be honest. So I've begun feeling a little stir crazy.

Still, I was all set to power through -- Sixty! Days! Straight! Booyah! -- but then our supervisor said she would give us three random days off. We don't get to pick which days, and if it looks like things will be too busy we might have to work anyway. On the other hand, we can opt not to take the day and get paid overtime instead.

My first opportunity was this past Friday, and I seized it. I knew I had to get out and look at something new and different. So I hit the road for Los Alamos, about 45 minutes away. There's a writing-related reason for my destination that I'll explain eventually. But for now, let's talk about the drive. 

On the way up, I noticed an overlook that appeared to have a killer view, so on the way back, I stopped. I wasn't wrong. 

All photos in this post copyright Lynne Cantwell | 2021

We've had some snow, as you can see, and it helps to pick out the features on the horizon. There's a break in the mountains in the middle of the photo -- see it? To the right is the Santa Fe Ski Area, and to the left (merging wth the cloud cover) is Santa Fe Baldy. Both are over 12,000 high.

Looking in the opposite direction from the stunning view above, the road to Los Alamos seems to disappear. 

Later in the afternoon, as I headed back home, I had just enough time to stop at Camel Rock. It's a distinctive formation just off U.S. 84/285 on Tesuque Pueblo land. 

I walked up the short path to get a better shot of the camel's head. Plus the light was better up there.

So that was my big day out. It will be three weeks before I get another one. I expect I'll be ready to hit the road then, too, if only for a few hours.

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These moments of stunningly scenic blogginess have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell. The vaccine's coming! Keep staying home and keep wearing a mask when you go out!

Road tripping.

DeeDee51 | CC0 | Pixabay

My topic last week, lake effect snow, was not by random chance. Nope, I was on the road. I drove across the frozen plain from DC to the Midwest, a trip that was supposed to be for business and pleasure, and ended up being mostly pleasure, except for the snow.

I know people who avoid long-distance driving at all costs. They're the type of person who would rather take a two-hour flight than spend four or so hours sitting behind the wheel. Of course, today there's no time savings in a two-hour flight -- not when you have to be at the airport two hours ahead of departure. Plus, at the airport, you can't come and go as you please -- not unless you're willing to go through security again -- and once on the plane, you can't change seats or stop for a bite whenever you want. But hey, if you'd rather hang in a metal tube in the sky than control your own destiny behind the wheel of a car, you do you.

Besides, I tend to get airsick.

I actually find long-distance driving relaxing. Which is not to say soporific, although that can be a problem. But seriously, there's an open road ahead of you and hours before you're expected anywhere. It's a great opportunity to turn off your brain and just be for a while.

I don't, of course, fully turn off my brain. Someone this week asked me what I do to occupy my mind while driving -- do I listen to audio books? Well, no. I'm actually not a big fan of audio books. Either I get lost in the story and miss my exit, or my thoughts drift away from the story and it's too hard to both drive and go back to the place in the story where I checked out.

No, I tend to talk to myself. Or I have conversations with people who aren't there. Or I put in a CD and sing at the top of my lungs; as a bonus, the extra oxygen from singing wakes me up when my eyelids have begun to droop.

The older I've gotten, though, the less fun long-distance driving has become. I have a touch of sciatica, which gets worse when I hold my gas-pedal foot in the same position for a period of time. (Note to self: The next car will have cruise control.)

And on this trip, the roads looked like this for too much of the drive:

yapennington | CC0 | Pixabay

I don't mind driving in snow, but it's been years since I've had to do the unplowed-highway-in-traffic dance. I did consider myself lucky in one respect, though -- I managed to dodge a lake-effect snowstorm that dumped ten inches on the area.

But I'm home now, where the high today was 56 degrees, and I don't intend to make any other road trips for at least a few months.

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These moments of on-the-road blogginess have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell.