The sky here is a deep blue when you look up, and rather hazy-pinkish to the far west. Having a blue sky in Houston during our winter trip seems to be an anomaly. It is gorgeous, though, and it’s convincing enough to make me wear a sleeveless shirt, even though it’s 57 in the sun. It doesn’t feel at all like 57, though! I think the near-zero temps at home before we left conditioned us nicely. It actually would feel very warm for it to be 70, and 80 would probably feel like a sauna. It feels a little like summer, though! I can imagine that it’s a cool July day with green everywhere (though it’s fairly brown here). It feels springy. If it was this temperature at home there would be the warm sun with water and mud everywhere, with a cool breeze from across the places with snow.

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Last night there was an unusual noise in the engine of the bus and Vincent said we probably ought to stop when we could. So we did, and found that the transmission fluid was a few gallons low (remember, it takes 9 gallons of that stuff) and we headed to the next Walmart by the highway to get some. But I’m not sure what the result of that was, I think we still have the noise intermittently. It would certainly be “interesting” to get stuck on the west coast. There are probably other more fitting words to describe that, but I don’t know. I guess we’ll break down where and when we’re supposed to. And pray that only that happens, and nothing else!
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Yesterday I drove a little in the afternoon. I drove from the edge of Mississippi to the middle or so of Louisiana. The highway driving can be super boring, and my eyes kept getting tired of seeing the same view for a long time. The sky seemed really bright, so I was frowning/squinting a lot, and by the time I was done I had a headache. But, in the meantime, the fun part was mostly *driving* driving, and not just staying in one lane mile after mile. We went from Interstate 10 to 12, and then went back to 10, and it was fun to drive through the city and have to change lanes and things. It made me way more alert and my eyes didn’t feel half as tired.
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On the GED test, which I am studying for, is a requirement to write a 250 word essay on a topic they prescribe. I see here in my word count that up to the end of this paragraph, I have typed 372 words. That would be easy, provided I had a computer to type it on, with easy editing and such. Also, it seems like it will be so hard to make an essay that is actually good in that amount of time (45 minutes), and also to pack it all in about 250 words. I would much rather have to write a longer one, I think, and have a day or two in which to finish it. But I guess they aren’t going to be that picky, and there are only 4 grades for them anyway. I just want to make one that’s really good, and I don’t think I can do that under those circumstances. Or maybe I can’t do it even not under those circumstances, come to think of it :P
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We are headed to California after this and it will be so exciting to be going west from Houston, rather than east towards home. We haven’t been out that way in years and we are going to be meeting new friends and also seeing old ones. (If we don’t get broken down before then :P ) I’ve never been to PST, either. Or California, for that matter. Last trip out west took us as far as the Grand Canyon, which would be so fun to hike in again, but we’re not going that way this time :( But never mind that! California, yee haw. (Is that what they say out west?) Whatever. :)

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Posted by Bonnie under Uncategorized