On the road again

I retract what I previously said about missing my calling as a long-haul truck driver. Road tripping is one thing. You can set the cruise control, relax, eat while driving, whatever. Driving a truck requires a level of hypervigilance that's exhausting. Especially when you have two cats in the truck with you. The truck is big, it handles poorly, it's almost impossible to multitask, and most damning, it has no cruise control. So I'm constantly driving, constantly evaluating my space needs relative to the cars around me, and constantly dealing with the cats. They're beginning to settle a little, now that the novelty of being in a truck is wearing off. But I had to fashion a leash for Sarah--she kept trying to crawl in my lap, I kept having to toss her back in the passenger seat, and she kept coming for my lap. If there were an Olympic medal in cat-tossing, I would be the world champion. Finally I leashed her and tied the leash to the passenger side door, so that she could only come halfway across the truck cab. So yesterday she went exactly to the very end of the leash--which turned out to be on top of my cooler--and stayed there.

My right knee is killing me, and it will only get worse. I'm already on an ibuprofen regimen, and I'm thinking of cadging some muscle relaxants and 800-mg Motrin from my sister. When I got to Gulfport yesterday, after close to 14 hours of driving, I went to bed at 6 pm and slept for 12 hours. When I finally hit El Paso Friday morning, after 16 hours of driving, I don't doubt I'll sleep for another 10 or 12 hours. Plus, for the amount of money I'll spend on gas to get this gas-guzzler across the country, I could almost have hired professional movers. It's getting 10, maybe 12, mpg, which means I'm spending $150-200 a day in gas.

But all this bitching aside, it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. My stuff is packed very tightly in the back (apparently I own exactly one 12-foot truck's worth of stuff), so I'm not worried about it sliding around. There's air conditioning, an iPod hookup, chargers for my iPod and GPS, and enough room (just) in the cab for the cats and my stuff. I have to stop often enough to get gas to get me out of the truck on a regular basis, and I won't have to worry about traffic between here and San Diego, since I'll be driving at night. And pretty soon, I'll be in SD with my man, happily unpacking and rearranging furniture and nesting to my heart's content. I had a moment of panic when I left NY--"oh no! I just gave up my cheap apartment! In BROOKLYN! WTF was I thinking??"--but then I remembered palm trees and love and getting free reign in a new kitchen and I was okay again.

Speaking of love and kitchens, my sister has just gotten the 11-piece Shun Ken Onion knife set. For those of you that don't automatically know what I'm talking about, this is the Holy Grail of knife sets. It retails for about $1500 (though my sister didn't pay anywhere near that, being my sister). I used to dream about new Jimmy Choo shoes. Now I dream about top-of-the-line knife sets and copper pans. I immediately fantasized about having my own $1500 knife set, in my own kitchen, in my own house, with my own loving husband hovering behind me complaining about when dinner was going to be ready. If driving my tired ass cross-country for two more days gets me any closer to that fantasy, I'll consider it a fair trade.