9:37 pm

My sense of time has really changed. What used to be measured in minutes and hours is now miles. It’s all about the miles. We traveled X miles to here and there. How many miles to the next stop? That is the new measurement of time. It doesn't matter how many hours to lunch, just the miles we need to go.

Yesterday, we traveled over 546 miles and today 561 miles. This is the longest I have been in the “saddle” each day. We are losing an hour in each time zone and we are now down two hours (almost back to eastern standard time). But it really doesn't matter...it's not about the hours, it's about the miles. And we made it through New Mexico, Texas and at the very end of Oklahoma. Tomorrow, Arkansas then Tennessee.

So what's up with 9:37 pm? It seems Rich bought a watch a number of years ago (he was on a special trip and splurged). The watch is meaningful to him and now it's meaningful to both Mike and me. Ever since Rich bought the watch, the alarm rings every night at 9:37 pm EST. He has no idea how to stop it. And truthfully, I don't want to stop it. Each night we hear it, it makes us laugh and every so often, Rich shares the story of how he bought the watch.

9:37 pm will always be a special time.