It was one of those sunny days you just ache to have all the time and when it finally happens- when the weather seems to hit that perfect point of warm, but not too warm, sunny, but not too sunny and you have the most amazing friends to share it with on a perfect Thursday. You just have to be outside! Unfortunately I had class and had to work that night at 6. I easily woke up on such a beautiful day and got ready for my last day of class before a 4 day weekend.
I got up early that day- the sun must have woken me up. I had plenty of time before my 7:45 am class- let me tell you- that never happened! I checked my e-mail and on it there was one from a band list I got on in high school. They usually just listed the shows in Chicago since that's where I registered for it, but this one had B.U.C.K.'s full tour schedule for the summer. I looked just to see if there was by chance anything happening in Spokane- to no avail. The closest one: Boise, Idaho- an eight hour smelly (had to go through a factory town- to this day when ever I think of Boise, I think of rotting eggs), but beautiful drive- rolling rivers and beautiful cliffs. The concert was also on Good Friday- the very next day. No go- too soon, too far- I guess seeing Seth ( a band member from BUCK I knew pretty well when he was in a local band called Nifty Fifty) and hearing BUCK would have to wait. Seth & I had actually gone to Sadie Hawkins at a Chicago Fire (soccer) game in Chicago the May before. We weren't super close or anything, but it was pretty cool to be a close enough groupie to ask him to do that. And to have him say yes shot my pride up about 30 points (does anyone know how high the pride scale goes?) even though I wasn't interested in him like that. Oh well, I'll catch them back in Chicago later, I thought.
I got to school..." 7:43- two minutes to spare" I said to myself as I sat down. The sun was streaming in the classroom windows so powerfully that it warmed the entire place. The class was to go till 10- we would then break for chapel until 11 and then have 1 more hour of class from 11-12. The professor started in but everyone seemed to want to be outside- it was obvious to see that when even the professor couldn't concentrate.He said,
“I’ll make you a deal. Chapel is canceled today anyway since it’s the day before Good Friday. I will only take an hour of your time today if you all promise to spend the other 2 hours outside at some point enjoying the weather."
Instant smiles spread across the room in tsunami sized waves. "Deal?"
"DEAL!" the class exploded.
At 8:45 he let us go. I wanted to be with people- you can't just spend a day like this one alone. It was nearly Easter so any temperature that started with a 6 had people out in shorts rollerblading/biking, walking the dogs in the park instead of in a coat around the back yard, pushing strollers (you have to wonder where those babies disappear to all winter), and of course lots of pedestrians.I mentioned Spokane Park in a previous post and here I was again aching to be with friends outside in the park.
I called to Kenny in the hall- my dearest friend who usually worked and unsurprisingly he was getting ready again for another double shift at Perkins.
"Kenny its beautiful outside!""I know, and I have to spend 9 hours inside today wearing a black apron and bringing people their blue plate specials- but I get off at midnight and then I leave for home for Easter. Do you want to come with? Do you have a place to go for Easter?"
" Yeah, I am going to my cousins and aunt & uncle's place."
"Again?"
"Yeah, I don't get to see them too much."
"Well, when do you leave?"
"Ahh- probably tomorrow morning"
"Well, call me tonight, maybe you can come over and while I pack we could hang out."
"Okay, I will."
Chrissy had no class on Thursdays so I went home to try to contact her hoping she hadn't left to enjoy the day already.I called Chrissy and she didn't answer so I drove over to her place to see if she was still sleeping (after all it was only 9am).
Dorcas opened the door for me and said Chrissy was sleeping still so I went inside to see Chrissy lying in bed asleep. I climbed in her massive bed, sheets overcoming me and I was in heaven lying on Chrissy's big cloud-like duvet. She woke up from her half-stupor and said "Hi Haime!"
I stood on her bed, reached for the string on her blinds and pulled her blinds and the sun streamed in. I put on my sun glasses because it was so bright and to make my point.
"Go shower...Lets go to the park! It’s way to nice out to stay in here."
"Haime- I have homework."
"It’s Thursday and we have a 4 day weekend - do it tomorrow."
" Oh, Okay! You convinced me."
"It didn't take too much to do it!"
"Well, to be honest I woke up a little bit ago and really wanted to go to the park, so I'm glad you came over."
When she got ready we drove to the park and we met up with some of her other roommates and we saw some of the people from school there too just playing Frisbee and enjoying the day.Chrissy and I laid on blankets in the grass and read and talked. I started thinking about seeing BUCK again and told Chrissy.
" They are really going to be in Boise?" She asked.
"Yeah, tomorrow night."
" You want to go huh?"
" Yeah, it would be fun, but it's so far and it's too soon to change up plans."
" Do you still want to go to Seattle together so I can drop you off at your cousins?" (Chrissy's family was from the greater Seattle area as were my cousins so we drove together often when I went out there).
"Yeah that would be great." I responded.
"Well, what if we went to Boise and saw BUCK tomorrow and then drove back after?"
" You would go with me all the way there? It’s like an 7 hour drive one way!"
" Haime, we're in school, we will never again get a chance to do this together- let's just go for it."
" REALLY? Then, YES, let's go for it!"I
Simultaneously, "ROAD TRIP!"
I started planning out loud in one long run on sentence in one breath, "I get off work tonight at 9 and could be ready to go by 10- we'll get to Boise at 5am-then We could take my car and drive to Boise tonight and get a hotel room in Boise at 5 to sleep and then get ready for the concert Friday night.After the concert we could drive straight back to Spokane by 5 am again if the concert is over by 10 and then sleep a little- an hour or so- in Spokane, switch my car for your car and then drive to Seattle- getting us there by noon or 1. Then we could really sleep at your parents place and then you could drive me to my relatives for Easter morning. Pick me back up that evening at 10ish, I'll come back to your place to sleep that night and then mid afternoon on Monday we can head back to Spokane."
"What ever you said," Chrissy said. We ran to our car, got a map and planned our route. Then we went to Perkins to say hi to Kenny, tell him our plan so he knew that I couldn't hang out after he got off and then we helped each other pack. I went to work with a smile on my face and time could not pass fast enough. It was really slow so I asked to go home early and they let me off. I called Chrissy, she zoomed over and we were gone by 9!Then it hit us- the lengthy drive. About 2am every ounce of energy and adrenaline rushed right out of my body. Chrissy felt it too. About 2:30 we decide it was neither safe nor good for us try to drive the rest of the way. So we found the next small town and a totally new/re-modeled Super 8. I think it was like 60 bucks- $ 30 a piece. I asked the desk guy half joking, “Can we get a discount since we are only using the room half as long as everyone else. It’s already 2:30am and we have to be out by..." I looked around the check in area and found a sign that said check out time was 11am. I grabbed it and pointed at the 11am time and said, “Out by 11am." He smiled and laughed.
He said, "Tell ya what- I'll give it to you for $50 and give a check out time of 1pm."
" Great!" we said. We made our way to our room down the hall and he said, “Oh the pool & hot tub are open 24 hours a day."
"Thanks." We ran to the room- it was really nice and we crashed on the beds. We set the alarm for 10am- enough time to really sleep and get in the hot tub in the morning and then shower and get ready to drive the rest of the way- just in time to get to the concert venue by 6pm.We did exactly that and even got to Boise by 4pm- 2 hours to kill. We had dinner somewhere and then walked all over Boise- for it begin the capitol city and Friday night, not too much was happening. The streets were pretty empty- all in all Boise is not too exciting even the shopping area was minimal and closed by 5.
I said to Chrissy, "We should probably go drive to the venue so we actually know where it is- that way we don't get lost and miss the whole thing and come down here for nothing.We did- we drove and did get turned around- we got there about 5:30 and I said, well I'm sure BUCK is here by now, we can probably go in and find Seth and surprise him. We spotted the "BUCK-mobile" and went to the front door where a large bouncer that really belonged at a Metallica concert and not a Christian ska concert waited.
I approached him and said, “Hi. I know the singer in BUCK and I was wondering..."
He cut me off and laughed, “Yeah, sure you do...So does everybody."
I laughed, "I really do- you can ask him...His name is Seth and..."
" Are you on the guest list?"
" Well, no, but I'm from Chicago- I know him from home- it’s kind of a surprise I'm here"
Mr. Big Bouncer said, "Well I guess the surprise will just have to wait."
I was frustrated, but I understood- I wouldn't have let me in either. I asked the bouncer if we could stand at the door at least. He responded positively, so there we stood.
Just then Seth walked by the door way but didn't look our direction, so I took a chance, “Seth!" I said loudly. He turned around and looked at me. Pause.
“Jamie! Hey, what the heck are you doing here?!" as he ran over by the door and gave me a big hug. The bouncer looked stunned- absolutely stunned.
I looked at Seth pointing at the bouncer who was standing so close I could tell what he had for breakfast, “He thought I was making it up." Seth turned to the bouncer, kept his arm around me and to Mr.Big Bouncer, " If you could let them in now, that would be great- they are with me."
The bouncer lowered his tree trunk sized arm and let us through, still speechless.The evening went better than planned. Seth sat with us until the sound check and then even during he first band. He dedicated a song to Chrissy and me and introduced us to members of the band. They wanted to all go out afterward. Sadly, Chrissy & I were really on a tight schedule so we had to turn them down, but we did have a little time to talk after the show. So we did. It was already 11 and we had to get going. We hugged and headed back out onto the open road.About 12:30 am tiredness set in again. We stopped to get coffee and it helped as we sang at the top of our lungs- for about an hour. Then the windows came down and blew cold air in our faces and that helped too...For about 30 minutes. We were fading but we could not stop- we had to get back- but we wanted to do so alive.
The next town had a very well lit gas station that was like a Super gas station- the ones families love to stop at on trips. It was really well lit, clean sparkly bathrooms, isles of snack foods and tons of coffee bar amenities. We went in and got more coffee and "no doze". Neither of us had ever taken it before but other people did at school for all-nighters. We bought enough for 4 pills each. The guy wouldn't have given them to us unless we were 18. I had just had my birthday, so I showed of my ID with a smile. I guess it was sort of drug like and we were buy 8 pills. So there we went- ladies of the night.
It was about 3 and we took a pill- waiting like frogs to turn into princesses of night vision automatically. No such luck. It was so slow in working it seemed to be working backwards. We took another at 3:30. The pouch said no more than 1 in an 8 hour period. At that point Chrissy seemed good to go. I, on the other hand, was still struggling 2 hours later at 5am. I took a 3rd and then felt very high on life. We were giddy and you think the whole car was filled with the gas at the dentist's office. It wore off again really fast- 6am is approaching and Chrissy asked for another (her 3rd) and I had just taken my 4th pill in 4 hours. We were finally approaching the Spokane city limits and I started freaking out b/c I couldn't feel my legs or my arms, I felt like I was about to faint or my heart explode and I could almost feel convulsions coming on. It was quite comical! I yelled “PULL over, PULL OVER!" Chrissy pulled over and was scared but still slap happy that she was laughing. I tore off my seat belt and opened the door and fell out of the car. I tried to walk around to allow my body to realize that it was more than a floating head. I leaned over and took huge deep breaths and then stood up and tried to soak in all the sunrise air I could. I couldn't see straight, I couldn't walk straight... and I'm sure the people passing on the highway thought, " Oh! Look at that funny drunk girl."
Twenty minutes later we were on the road again. I laid the seat back and tried to breathe deep as Chrissy & I got into Spokane. We stopped at Jack in the Box (open 24 hours a day and even served burgers at 7am!) and we ate in the car- huge burgers and big fries and lots of water b/c my body couldn't handle any more caffeine in pill or liquid form.
We went to her apartment in Spokane and switch vehicles. By 8 we were headed to Seattle- just 5 hours to go. Begin there by noon telling each other we could sleep in just 5 hours helped us to talk a little and keep each other awake. But I have this rare talent I discovered on this trip: I can fall asleep not only when others are talking, but while I'm talking! So I'm telling Chrissy this story and I fell asleep in the middle of it! Chrissy woke me up and we laughed really hard about that one. So she said she was good and she could probably drive a while if I did fall asleep. She reassured me she felt like she had energy. I fell asleep again and I woke up about an hour outside of Seattle- I had slept for about 2-3 hours. I told her I felt okay to drive so we traded and she slept until we got into Seattle limits. I woke her up and then she stayed awake as I drove and she told me directions to her house.
We finally arrived at her parents safe and sound and we came in and left all our stuff in the car. She said hi to her parents and we collapsed on her living room floor in a hard & fast sleep. We slept until 9pm and then we were completely awake. I called my relatives and told them I would go to church on Easter with Chrissy and then go to their place for Easter lunch/dinner. Around 10 we put in a movie and Chrissy could not fall asleep, but putting a movie in is like giving me sleeping pills if it’s after 10pm- even if I had just slept for 9 hours. I was out for the count and her parents were kind enough to let us sleep in and skip church- my first and only Easter Sunday I missed church.
She drove me to my cousin's place and then they drove me back to Chrissy's. We were finally getting back to normality. Sunday night we played games with her family & were having such a good time, leaving the next morning seemed to hard to accept, so Chrissy & I stayed all day Monday, spent the night and left Tuesday late afternoon for Spokane. Our classes that we skipped on Tuesday were worth the time to just rest and be in one place for more than 5 hours.
When we got to class Wednesday Morning people asked, "Where were you guys?"
" Oh, just on your average road trip." We winked at each other and sat in the back of class. Chrissy tried handing me something that appeared like a note. I reached under the table to grab it from her hand and when I brought it into my vision it was a solitary No Doze pill in its tiny white 1 inch by 1 inch wrapper. I mouthed to her, "Never again. Just say no."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment