I was taking a yoga class on Friday during lunch and they might as well have been speaking Czech because I was not connected to the words. At all. I was constantly two moves behind, the instructor's usual warmth wasn't there, and worst yet, I didn't feel welcome. I mentally sabotaged myself and started thinking of ways to sneak out, five minutes into the class. 

I stayed, but kept thinking, and thinking about sneaking off on the weekend. I had responsibilities until midnight - Queen Anne advertises 24/7 online support, and we come pretty close - but after that, I could drive all night. I thought of one destination, 6.5 hours away, and so if driving straight through, I could beat the AM tourists. I love to drive, but a completely all night drive would be ambitious.

And so, 9:00 pm, three hours before I wanted to leave, I switched it up. I'd go east, new parts of an area that I'd seen before. It'd be culturally different, so much that it would feel like two countries away. I put together a quick mix of nature, history, and culture spots to see, and at midnight, grabbed a backpack and three dogs - my two + one that I was watching - and skipped town.

I pushed the diesel engine up to 100 mph, and some Dawson's Creek "I don't want to wait, for our lives to be over," spilled from my playlist out the open windows into the summer night. I mentally thanked the other midnight drivers for appropriately using the highway passing lane on this full moon night, and 3.5 hours later, pulled over for some shuteye. In some places that's called "homeless" - I'm looking at you Longmont, Colorado - but car camping was ok here. 

I woke up two hours later at sunrise, a blessing to see the beauty that I was earlier driving through in the dark, and made it to the first stop with a gas station latte in hand soon thereafter. I kept this up all morning, and kept my energy and mood high, but by early afternoon, I was fading and not even a third gas station coffee could bring me back. My eyes stung from lack of sleep. I leashed the dogs to a park bench and I napped again, this time alongside an iconic river that seemed to hold all of the city's energy. 

A few hours later I waffled a bit, but promised myself I'd come back, and pointed the now bug-covered windshield out of the city and back through the fields and past a truly middle-of-nowhere Amazon distribution center. I didn't want to sleep in my car a second night.

And you know what I did the next day when back home? Laundry. Because clean sheets - and clean pillows, pillow cases, and a clean comforter - rocks. It feels soooo good, I love it. 

Everyone - I hope - regularly washes their sheets, but Queen Anne has a line of machine washable and dryer friendly pillows too, and the same with a comforter. Try washing it all, you'll sleep better.

Especially the night after sleeping two hours in the car with three dogs. 

I was taking a yoga class on Friday during lunch and they might as well have been speaking Czech because I was not connected to the words. At all. I was constantly two moves behind, the instructor's usual warmth wasn't there, and worst yet, I didn't feel welcome. I mentally sabotaged myself and started thinking of ways to sneak out, five minutes into the class. 

I stayed, but kept thinking, and thinking about sneaking off on the weekend. I had responsibilities until midnight - Queen Anne advertises 24/7 online support, and we come pretty close - but after that, I could drive all night. I thought of one destination, 6.5 hours away, and so if driving straight through, I could beat the AM tourists. I love to drive, but a completely all night drive would be ambitious.

And so, 9:00 pm, three hours before I wanted to leave, I switched it up. I'd go east, new parts of an area that I'd seen before. It'd be culturally different, so much that it would feel like two countries away. I put together a quick mix of nature, history, and culture spots to see, and at midnight, grabbed a backpack and three dogs - my two + one that I was watching - and skipped town.

I pushed the diesel engine up to 100 mph, and some Dawson's Creek "I don't want to wait, for our lives to be over," spilled from my playlist out the open windows into the summer night. I mentally thanked the other midnight drivers for appropriately using the highway passing lane on this full moon night, and 3.5 hours later, pulled over for some shuteye. In some places that's called "homeless" - I'm looking at you Longmont, Colorado - but car camping was ok here. 

I woke up two hours later at sunrise, a blessing to see the beauty that I was earlier driving through in the dark, and made it to the first stop with a gas station latte in hand soon thereafter. I kept this up all morning, and kept my energy and mood high, but by early afternoon, I was fading and not even a third gas station coffee could bring me back. My eyes stung from lack of sleep. I leashed the dogs to a park bench and I napped again, this time alongside an iconic river that seemed to hold all of the city's energy. 

A few hours later I waffled a bit, but promised myself I'd come back, and pointed the now bug-covered windshield out of the city and back through the fields and past a truly middle-of-nowhere Amazon distribution center. I didn't want to sleep in my car a second night.

And you know what I did the next day when back home? Laundry. Because clean sheets - and clean pillows, pillow cases, and a clean comforter - rocks. It feels soooo good, I love it. 

Everyone - I hope - regularly washes their sheets, but Queen Anne has a line of machine washable and dryer friendly pillows too, and the same with a comforter. Try washing it all, you'll sleep better.

Especially the night after sleeping two hours in the car with three dogs.