I was not meant for long hauling

Yesterday was another day on the road, this time for a West Virginia Federation of Democratic Women board meeting. The board meets quarterly, and I missed the previous meeting because I was … get ready … on the road! This month I've been on an all-day trip an average of once a week.

Pocatalico is my favorite place name 

in all of West Virginia. Just say it and  

you'll see what I mean.

Driving seems like a non-tiring activity, but it wears. me. OUT. Especially when I have to drive for three or four hours, spend three or four hours doing something and then drive three or four more hours to get home. Which is what each of the May trips have looked like.

I have 10 days to rest up and then I'm off to Nashville. Which is a seven-hour drive and I'll be there long enough to recover before I head back home again.

Does driving make you tired? I could never be an over-the-road driver, and I give them all kinds of courtesy when I travel. I'm never in such a big hurry that I can't let one in front of me. Those drivers are working and probably way more tired than I am.

So the meeting was at a locally owned restaurant in Parkersburg, WV. When I got the notice in the mail, I thought Don Emilio's would most likely be Italian, and I was prepared to order some kind of meat and red sauce with no pasta. I was pretty sure I could figure out an appropriate paleo lunch at an Italian joint.

Turns out this Don was Mexican. Or Tex-Mexican. Or Mexican-American. It was, shall we say, not especially authentic Mexican cuisine, and there was not a single entrée that I could work into the plan. So I had a mug of gazpacho (which was DELICIOUS, if you like gazpacho, which I most definitely DO) and was glad I had brought a homemade Larabar with me. No one even asked what I was nibbling on.

I'd considered stopping for dinner to break up the drive home, but I really just wanted to get out of the car and stay out, so I ate a banana and some cashews on the fly, and kept on driving. I'm pretty sure Ruby Tuesdays wouldn't have set up a cot for me had I stopped there for salmon and spaghetti squash.

The meeting itself was a little discouraging. Membership is going down at all levels. The National Federation of Democratic Women annual convention is next month, here in West Virginia (another road trip!), and only 170 women have registered to date. (It's not too late to register! If you have any interest in Democratic politics and women's issues, this is the convention for you!) Attendance at county meetings is down throughout the state.

I think we're all taking it easy until 2016. In the meantime, Republicans are taking over state legislatures. No rest for the weary.

Also. It's Monday, which means I hop on the scale for the official weekly weigh-in. I've lost another 1.5 pounds, for a total of 23 since December 26 – 16 in the last six weeks (since April 6). With any luck I'll be halfway toward my goal by my birthday. But the official weigh-in won't be recorded until two days later.

I had some time to kill before the meeting yesterday and bought a pair of capris that are a size smaller than the ones I've been wearing this spring. They fit fine, but really? I hope they shrink a little.

That's a nice problem to have for the long haul.