Home Again.

In an abundance of Internets caution, I didn't talk up my Christmas plans this year. I drove to Asheville last Wednesday, and spent the holidays with Boy, Future DIL and the Bump, and her family. It was an exhausting and fun extravaganza of meeting new people and great beer and great food.

And yes, my little sidekick went along on this trip.



Murphy in the car as we approached Asheville. You may notice the white stuff whizzing by behind him.

He was not sure what to make of it. It did melt off as we were there, but the night we arrived, there was nearly a foot of it on the ground outside their apartment complex. Murphy was curious and brave, and plunged into it to explore, sank in to his ears, backed out, and thereafter sought out melting patches for safer exploration.



He did very well in the cold, and lived up to my brag that if you put a sweater on this dog, he'd run the Iditarod. He tried to be impervious to the cold and wanted to walk forever, but when he started shivering I made him go in and warm up. He was fine; I, OTOH, was out of practice/don't own enough warm stuff for a foot of snow in the mountains.

But it was a lot of fun. I like DiL2B's family a lot; we hit it off very well. They even welcomed Murphy to the Christmas Eve party, where he wore himself out and passed out on my lap. That night at 3 a.m. I woke up to get a drink of water and Murphy was very, very still on the foot of the bed. He didn't even twitch when I got out of bed and came back, and he looked...limp. Flattened. I didn't see him breathing. For a horrible moment I was afraid to touch him. I put a hand on his chest and felt a strong, steady heartbeat and slow, deep breathing, and after I prodded him a bit he licked my hand. Then he passed out again.

The next morning he was just fine. He really did party himself into exhaustion, and he didn't go along on any other visits. He was grumpy about being left behind, but it was for his own good - and mine. My nerves didn't need that 3 a.m. terror moment.

We came home today, and the 8 hour drive took 12 endless hours - the traffic started at Columbia, SC and extended down through the entire state of Georgia. This would have been awful enough, but at the end of a holiday weekend, the State of Georgia Welcome Center/rest area's restrooms were CLOSED. Closed. I-95 through GA is under the best of circumstances two hours of monotony with few exits to civilization - after Savannah it's a long, dark nothing until Brunswick. Then there was huge wreck, and for about 2 hours we crawled along at 15 mph. Got past the wreck and hit the construction zone. More brake lights.

I have never been so glad to reach the Florida Welcome Center. Murphy and I both relieved ourselves and were nearly giddy with joy. The remainder of the drive was uneventful, and I staggered in, starved and shaking with exhaustion, at 10 tonight, to be greeted by two cats, who yawned, "O hai. Wuz U gon?" and let me know that Girl hadn't come by to feed them, because she thought I'd be home.

We all ate a really late dinner, and I'm so glad I don't have to go to the office until my cameo appearance on Wednesday.