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Terry McQuilkin
Laura Damiani
Jen Lindsey
Jennifer Rowan
Harriett Smith
Masthead Photo:
Eugene
by Laura Damiani
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LSA News
No. 87, February 2008
Annie Zeidman-Karpinksi
(continued)
My friends at UCLA had warned me about driving from LA on Saturday and
starting work on Monday. So, at their suggestion, I had a small bag
packed with my clothes for my first day of work. The bag was in the car
I was driving, my bike rack and bike were on top of that. Getting
dressed and riding to work had never been easier. Day 2 was a little
more challenging, as my work clothes were somewhere and I didn't really
manage to work and unpack everything that evening. But, that's another
story.
I think the more interesting story was how we got Seth's car to Eugene.
His car was a late model cherry red BMW convertible. I hated that car,
but he loved it. We have a theory that each city has its car. LA is
BMWer country. Houston is all about the Effers, Ford F-series trucks.
D.C. is for small fuel efficient imports. Portland and Eugene
practically mandate a Subaru in every driveway. You get the picture.
So, although he loved that car, he conceded that he'd have to sell it at
some point. For the time being, we couldn't afford the car trailer, so
we left it with one of his dearest friends, Rudy. Seth planned to pick
it up from Yosemite about a month later. Rudy and his fiancée Wendy
were getting married at the park in October, we were going to the
wedding, Rudy would drive the car up to Yosemite, Seth would drive it
back to Eugene. I would return to work by Monday. Seth would enjoy the
view and being unemployed in the fall. Simple, really. We got to
Oakland by plane, picked up a rental car and then headed for Yosemite.
By the time we ran out of steam it was 1 or 2 in the morning and we
started knocking on the doors of hotels in the small towns we passed on
the way to the park. Nothing was open, or they wanted to charge us
$150. We were determined to join our friends for a hike at 8am the next
morning, so we just couldn't see paying that much money. At 2 or 3 or 4
am we gave up and caught a few winks in the car, parked somewhere
outside of the park, hoping we didn't become a bear snack. We woke up a
bit late, but still hiked to the top of Half Dome and met our friends
there. We visited and read poems on the way down. It was a glorious
setting. All too soon, I had to leave to fly back to work. Seth and
the car made it back, without incident and without having to sleep on
the side of the road a few days later. What more could we ask for?
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