Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig

“To market, to market to buy a fat pig. Home again, home again, jiggity jig.”



I remember this nursery rhyme from my childhood, but haven’t thought about it in a long while. But now that I think of it, is it saying that people used to buy whole pigs from the market? And then what? Take them home and kill them and cut them into steaks and chops? Wow. 
That same rhyme today would be more like “To market to market to buy some slabs of meat that I don’t associate as coming from a cute animal, placed on a Styrofoam tray and wrapped in plastic wrap.  Home again, home again, sitting in my SUV, grumbling about traffic.”

Anyway, yes, today was the last day of our epic journey.

We woke up in Centralia and were prepared to head to Olympia for our last gig and last night in a motel. But when I entered the address of the motel into my navigation, it told me I’d be there in 20 minutes!  Even though we slept in late and got a late start today, I wouldn’t be able to check into the motel in Olympia until 3 o’clock. I noticed that I’d have enough time to drive all the way back to Seattle and return to Olympia in that time. 

So, that’s what I decided to do. 

After stopping in Centralia for some local coffee at a shop recommended by a friend, we hit the road for Seattle. (Yes, the coffee was good, by the way. And VERY caffeinated. I think it was a lighter roast than I would normally choose, so after drinking 8 ounces, I was bouncing off the walls.)

River really took notice when we were in Seattle. He went into high alert sniffing mode. Of course I could project what he was feeling, but let’s just keep it at my observations. When we got back to the house, he quickly ran all over the place, sniffing and wagging his tail. 

I unpacked and went through a huge stack of mail. I then sat down and put together my playlist for tonight’s class in Olympia. 

I showered and got back in the car, which River was hesitant to do, but ultimately he complied. I allowed myself over two hours to drive the 60 miles from Seattle to Olympia, as I knew from experience that traffic along that route was particularly bad, especially in the late afternoon. 

I opted not to stop for food, even though I was hungry, because I didn’t want to use up the time. I figured, if I could make it to Olympia with time to spare then I could grab something before class. However, as it turned out, the traffic nearly doubled the time it should take to go those 60 miles, and I pulled into town and parked the car in just about enough time to arrive at the studio for the start of class.

River started whining in the car when we got near the big park near the studio. If you have been following my saga, you may remember that this is the same park in which I learned that grabbing onto that nylon leash was a bad idea. River had no bad associations with the park, obviously. I interpret his whining as a longing and an anticipation. He makes the sound when he sees a big grassy field and usually when I’ve stopped the car and am undoing his seatbelt. Too bad there was no time for enjoying the big lawn.

The trip was in vain, however, as no one showed up. Julia and I chatted and played with River for about an hour in the studio before we packed up and left. We’ll keep trying to make something happen for us in Olympia. We’ve had successful events there in the past, so there’s no reason it won’t happen again. It just wasn’t in the cards this time.

So that wraps up the 2013 Great Lakes and Texas Road Tour. I had a great time, and I trust River did, too. He never gave an indication that he wasn’t enjoying himself. We met lots of lovely people and visited many beautiful and interesting places.  I will go ahead and speak for both of us when I say, ‘We’re looking forward to doing this again.” But for now, it’s nice to be home.

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