My First Time

Its my first time to be on location for a job. Well, not really, I once stayed a weekend in Lake Charles for a commercial shoot and I've traveled to Dallas for modeling jobs in the past, but this is the first time I'm away from HQ for a long period of time. Packing up and getting here was such an ordeal. I'm here for four months: I had absolutely no idea how to pack for four months! I felt like I shouldn't try to bring my whole house with me but there are so many things I use every day that I couldn't decide about bringing with me. For example, I didn't bring too many pairs of shoes mostly for space reasons but now that I'm here I wish I had brought a few more pairs. Toiletries were an entirely different dilemma as I used many of the things I needed to take on the morning I left. Even with all my diligence I forgot to bring my hairbrush and comb.

I left my house at 7:38am on Monday the 10th. Got no sleep the night before because the neighbors were throwing me their own kind of going away party, another all nighter. I'll fight that battle when I get back. I got to the freeway and had to turn around because I had forgotten to take out the trash. I tried my best to leave my apartment in such a state that it would be ok if unattended for a long time. I turned off or unplugged everything, even my refridgerator, which I spent the last week emptying of even the last beer can and mustard bottle.
7:40 I make it to the gas station and fill up. Then I realize I've forgotten my cd player. I need this to listen to all of the books on cd my loving boyfriend has sent with me for my long journey.
By 9:00am I'm in Dripping Springs. I'm about an hour behind schedule at this point but I'm also starving so I stop to get some breakfast tacos. I'm feeling really sleepy but there's nowhere to stop and take a nap. The scenery begins to change once I hit I-10 going west and my car starts to dance on the road a little. I find out why when I stop in Sonora at 11:45am to get gas. The wind is blowing so hard I have a very hard time opening my door. I'm definitely in the desert now. Everything is dusty and brown, it doesn't look like spring rains have made their way here yet if they do come at all. On the tops of the sheer rock cliffs that flank the freeway are wind mills.

Actually, I don't think they're called wind mills, but I can't think of what they're called right now. Maybe turbines. There's hundreds of them, and they accompany me all the way to Ft. Stockton, my final fuel up before I leave the safety of the interstate and head south. I'm a little nervous at this point because my transmission has been skipping intermittently as it downshifts from 3rd to 2nd gear. I'm hoping this is because of the windy conditions. At last I reach sunny, parched Alpine TX and my luxurious accomodations at the Sunday House Inn. Thank God there's wifi here. But now, a much needed nap.