After my going away party I had one more day in Austin. I went to work and said bye to all of my coworkers, picked up the U-haul trailer I’d be towing all my things in, moved everything and packed it all once again, and took in my last night in Austin sitting on the porch with my dad and Katie. It was nice to have the last night be sort of quiet and reflective. It was perfect.

The next morning I threw the last few items in the car and said a quick goodbye to Katie so I wouldn’t get too sad and my dad and I were off, on our way back to Michigan. It took us 3 days driving about 8-9 hours per day. I say us but I should be saying my dad since I didn’t do any of the driving. When I wasn’t sleeping though I provided some company. We listened to books on tape, ate really awful road food, and I worked on some knitting projects. All of the motels we stayed at were dog friendly which was good since my dad’s German Shepard Mago was along for the ride. Surprisingly, despite being right off the freeway, they weren’t so bad. The first one had a little lake behind it with a trail. It’s called Mammoth lake since apparently they found a Mammoth there while building the freeway. The second, in Cloverdale, IN, looked out onto some sort of farming field. It was pleasant.

Despite the fairly smooth drive and not so seedy motels after 3 days we were more than ready to be at our destination. We celebrated by having some Michigan wine out on the porch and listing to the whippoorwill do it’s thing.