How did it become October? The family trip to the TKGA meeting in San Francisco was a success. We packed the car with 5 people and luggage for 8. My husband, AKA, Mr. Griswold or Mr. G for short, did all the driving. I must set the scene. Last Wednesday evening following Knitwits, I picked up my son's girlfriend and headed home to do laundry, pack and clean.(I am abnormally compelled to leave a clean house when I travel.) It adds to the to-do list, yet somehow makes me more peaceful. We arrived at the house at 10 pm and I set to work. I handed out the lists to each member of the road trip with their contributions outlined.They got to work and to bed. The alarm was set for 4 am with an estimated time of departure of 5 am. The only proven way to get through LA in decent time. Everyone was bedded down by 11 pm and I finished up loading the car and my preparations by 2:30. I decided to shower and do my hair and get dressed and lay on the couch until the alarm went off. Perfect so far!
We actually departed at 5 am, drove through McDonalds for breakfast and the road trip officially began. Feeling smug and accomplished, I fell into a deep sleep. I awoke more than an hour later as we stopped at a toll booth to pay the toll. Toll??!! There are no tolls on the I-5. My dear hubby exclaimed that he thought we were taking the scenic route to San Francisco through Monterey and he had been heading to Santa Barbara. Mr G turned the car east and north and managed to lose about 45 mins to the rush hour as we made our way to the 5. Safely heading north and no longer sleepy(yelling is so invigorating), I decided to work on a tricky sock pattern that required all of my attention. The kids behind me were sleeping and Mr. G was driving while our handicapped son was playing the radio and calling out any recognizable landmarks. We were making great time and I never looked up. Just kept knitting until I began to get a call from nature. I glanced up to ask Mr. G to consider a rest stop when I noticed we weren't in Kansas anymore, Toto. This sure did not look like I-5 to me. Sure enough we had been zooming along the 99 making incredible progress towards Fresno! We had to stop, bathrooms and food and disbelief were all in order. We checked the map and found a road to take us 58 miles back west to the I-5 and resumed our j0urney. Mr. G is so mellow you would think he had planned this entire field trip. Evan was happy to have more time in the backseat with his lovely girlfriend and Ryan was oblivious to the time or the mileage. Me? I sure was getting some knitting done!
We arrived safe and sound, checked into our adjoining rooms on the 20th floor of the Marriott Hotel and unpacked. I went down to register for the 4 day meeting and scope things out. When I came back to the room everyone was sleeping. Nothing for me to do but knit. We freshened up and had a great dinner at Le Cheval. Brynn called to ask us to bring a list of things with us when we came up tomorrow and it fell to me to inform her we were already "up". She had our arrival date mixed up and when she realized she was supposed to be there in the morning, hung up to rearrange her schedule? Seems like people just did not get the memo. I read my book club selection- Water for Elephants, while the boys retired to their room and we ladies tucked in for the night. Exhausting...
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