Flying Visit to Sutter

When I lived in Chico, back in the 1980s, I thought nothing of rising before dawn, driving to San Jose for a BayCon or SiliCon committee meeting, going for a meal with other staff members, and driving home after dark only to have to rise early the next morning to have to get to class (or later, work). That's a round trip on the order of 450-plus miles in addition to the hours at the destination. But then again, I was in my twenties and even then there were times when I was having to slap myself to stay awake on those lonesome Butte County back roads. So the somewhat shorter (about 150 miles each way) trip to Sutter is something I've been less willing to do in a single day of late. Usually I've been going up one day, spending the night in a hotel, and coming back the next day. But I'm having to conserve money if I want to attend Worldcon this year (not to mention prosaic things like pay the rent and eat), so a hotel night was a luxury on this trip to visit my mother and grandfather.

( A boringly domestic family sort of day, really. )

The drive home was pretty uneventful, with intermittent rain, sometimes heavy. This was the first test of whether the car-wax plug I put in the leaking door seal would hold. (It seems to have done so, although I'll have to replace it periodically as the wax wears off.) I had the World Baseball Classic semi-final between South Korea and Venezuela on the radio. Ah, baseball on the radio! Spring is here again!

It was with great relief that I got home and stopped driving. I wasn't quite as tired as I remember being on some of those Chico-San Jose marathons, but it wasn't too far removed. And I am so happy that I do not have to set an alarm for Sunday morning. Soon I shall go to bed and sleep very well, I think.