Long story

I know a lot of you don't like World of Warcraft, but this picture was just too darn cute to pass up.

So yesterday, I had planned to drive Rye up to Anchorage to visit his mother and grandmother. They live up in Eagle, which is something like a 19-hour drive away on the Highway from Hell. Rye tells horror stories about this two-lane road that's about as wide as a parking space, with cliffs on both sides, one going straight up, the other going straight down. That's not the point. Anyway!

So we heard that the road conditions were... less than ideal. When we checked 511-Alaska, it said there was two inches of snow on the road to Anchorage and they were expecting four more inches by evening. Rye told me repeatedly that if I didn't feel comfortable driving in the snow, we could forgo the trip, but I decided to go anyway. I have reasons. 1) I'm young, and therefore am going to live forever. 2) I wanted to see what my car could do and how it would handle on ice and snow. 3) I didn't want to pass up a chance to meet Rye's family. Especially given what I've heard about them. 4) I didn't have much else to do, and I thought it'd be a nice break from playing WoW, reading books, playing the piano, and putting off the few things I probably really should do.

So we left around nine thirty or so. The trip up there wasn't as bad as I had expected. It either rained or snowed the whole way up, but I went slowly and carefully and we arrived without incident.

Rye's family was a lot like I expected. His mom has 12 sled dogs, including one named Dammit and one called Horny Thing (though that nickname was given to her by Rye after she broke her chain to go a-whoring). Rye's mom, like any mother in the world, pulled out her wallet and showed me pictures of baby Rye and teenage Rye and every-age-in-between Rye. And of course, like any mother, she told him he didn't visit often enough, insisted he come in March, and insisted that I go too. I'm not sure why she invited me, but both Jan and Helen made sure to remind me no less than a half dozen times that I was more than welcome to go. I don't know if both Rye and I will be able to take that much time off in March... maybe if the Garcias are back... I really hope so, though, because dang I want to see Northern Alaska. In the winter. And fly up there in a little rickety plane held together by duct tape. Hahaha, that'd be so cool!

We went to a late lunch and an early dinner, and I stuffed myself full of so much food I thought I'd blow up, and still had enough left over that I could barely close the leftovers box. Spinach quiche for lunch and halibut sandwich for dinner. Mmmm, so good. Especially the tartar sauce on that sandwich. I don't know what they did to it, but that was undoubtedly the best tartar sauce I've ever tasted.

We left at about seven in the evening. It was already pitch-dark outside, of course (the sun sets before five), and still raining. Heavily. I really hate driving in the dark because I can't stand the headlights shining in my eyes. Especially when some idiot decides to ride my tail. And I can't see far ahead of me, and when there's oncoming traffic, I can't see at all for a few seconds and worry that a sudden curve may sneak up on me. I'm not a great driver, but at least I'm aware of that, and I'm cautious. Overly cautious, according to most people.

We didn't have too much trouble until we got partway up the mountain and it started snowing. I've driven in snow before, but nothing like that. With my brights on, the light reflected off the snow and I couldn't see anything. Without my brights on, I could see what seemed like twenty feet in front of my car and little else. Furthermore, the snow blew straight at us, gleaming in the light. You know the Windows screensaver, Flying Through Space? It looked just like that. Except I was driving. It was enormously disorienting trying to look through that to see the road, and not only did it make me enormously dizzy, but it felt like we weren't moving at all, even though we were going 35 mph. Then the road disappeared as the snow got deeper. And then the snow started tugging at the tires, and I had to fight to stay on the road, even though I wasn't entirely sure where the road was. At least there were tire tracks. Sort of.

So for about half the trip home, we went between 25 and 45 mph. If I had been driving by myself, I probably would have freaked out. But Rye talked calmly to me the whole trip, asking if I was okay, repeating over and over that if I felt at any time that it was too much, we could go back, saying "you're doing fine," keeping a watch on the side of the road in case I lost it, telling me stories... He seems used to calming people down. Maybe it's from helping with the sled dogs?

Anyway, we got all the way back safely. It took us a solid three hours, though considering the road conditions, that's pretty good time. My arms were a little sore from being so tense gripping the steering wheel... not that I was nervous, of course. I was proud of my wonderful car, though. It didn't slip or skid or anything once. And Rye said I did a good job driving in the snow. I drifted more than normal (that doesn't surprise me, though--I have problems drifting even on a sunny day on a clear road), but everything I did--turning, speeding up, slowing down, etc--was gradual and steady. According to Rye, I probably won't have any problems driving this winter. From him, that's a high compliment. Guess I passed the test. Strut strut strut.

:D

Only one other thing to note: a historical moment happened while we were in Anchorage. I bought my first music CD. I've never actually bought a CD before, I don't think--all of mine were given to me. Or burned mixes, from music I had on the computer. I bought three of them for the trip back largely because Rye didn't seem to like any of my music. That and the music was relaxing and sort of puts me to sleep. So I got Mortal Kombat, God Shuffled His Feet (by the Crash Test Dummies), and some Chumbawumba CD. I enjoyed Crash Test Dummies, but the Chumbawumba CD disappointed me. I'd heard my brother's Chumbawumba CD--the one with Tubthumping on it--and had enjoyed just about every song on it. So I figured I would enjoy another of their CDs since it's all the same style music, right? Only... not. The CD I got was an entirely different style... the songs were slow and we found maybe one on the whole CD that had any semblance of a beat to it. Of course, I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention, because we had that one in during the worst part of the road, but still...

I had a really weird headache for most of today. Well, it was like a headache, only without the pain. I mean, I felt the pressure, and I heard the roaring kind of sound in my ears I usually hear when I get a bad headache, but it didn't hurt. Enormously distracting and uncomfortable, but it didn't hurt. I don't know what to do about something like that. Suggestions?

That's all. Toodles!