And I'm in the Bleachers

Part 1 - Journey + Arrival

It's open land mixed with small towns again until we reach the Saint Louis metro area three hours later. My mom says we should probably stop for the night soon and my dad agrees, so he gets off the next exit and we check into a run-down old Hampton Inn for the night. Pilar and I have to share a double bed, and she complains about it for half an hour. No one sleeps well, other than my dad. He snores too loud for any of the rest of us to get much sleep. I usually don't mind, since I've grown up with it, but when he's in the same room it's too much and it seems Pilar agrees.

We eat Breakfast in the hotel lobby and then get back into the car. There's a Starbucks visible from the parking lot and Pilar begs until my dad agrees to go through the drive thru for her. I get an iced coffee too, because honestly with how little sleep I got, I'm going to need something to get me through this day.

We're back on the highway just before ten. It takes a little over twenty minutes to get through Saint Louis, and as we're crossing into Illinois, you can actually see the Gateway Arch out the left-hand windows which is pretty cool, I guess. Interstate forty-four runs into interstate fifty-five which runs into interstate seventy and then we're heading east again through rural Illinois. Two and a half hours later, we cross into Indiana and a few exits after that, we stop at a Popeye's for lunch.

My mom points out that we changed time zones while we're eating, and I look at my phone. It's already one-forty-five. I ask if we're going to make it today and my dad says he'd like to. My mom says we should get going, so we're not too late. My parents had paid for someone to drive a huge truck with all of our furniture to the new place a couple days ago and they'd video chatted with them while they placed it where it belonged in the new apartment. We have a little U-Haul trailer behind the car with our clothing and small items, but almost everything else is just waiting for us in the new apartment.

After lunch, it's about an hour until we're passing through Indianapolis and an hour and a half after that until we're crossing into Ohio. It's almost six when we're entering the city of Columbus. My mom says we should stop for dinner and no one's really that hungry yet because of the time change, but my dad gets off the highway and pulls into the parking lot of an Arby's anyway. I think Pilar is even more angry than she was when we were leaving Graham at this point, and I'm really hoping we can make it tonight, because I do not want to share a bed with her again.

We only stop for fifteen minutes before we're back on the road. My mom's looking at the GPS. "Mando, it's still more than six hours," she says.

"I know, Isa."

"Do you think maybe we should go a little further and then stop. We can do the last couple hours in the morning?"

"You have that appointment at the school tomorrow morning."

"No. It's on Tuesday," she corrects.

"Oh," he says. "Yeah, alright. Let's go a few more hours tonight though. Then we can get there by lunchtime tomorrow and have the afternoon to unpack."

My mom agrees and then we're pulling out of Arby's and merging back onto the highway as I start my music again. Two hours later at almost eight-thirty, we cross briefly into West Virginia, but only twenty minutes after that we're finally in Pennsylvania. "Thank fuck," Pilar grumbles when we pass the welcome sign.

"PILAR!" my mom shouts and my sister groans.

"Sorry. We've just been in this car forever."

Twenty minutes later we're in a town called Washington and my mom points when there's a sign for yet another Hampton Inn. My dad agrees and pulls off the highway. Pilar doesn't complain about the bed this time. I think we're all just exhausted and ready to be there. The next morning, we eat breakfast in the lobby and then get back into the car. Pilar doesn't even beg for coffee today, so we're on the road just after eight-thirty.