Time changes

I was glad for that extra hour last night. After two nights of little sleep, I used the time wisely in a deep slumber. I doubt the horses were happy, though. Nobody tells them about falling back and having to wait an extra hour for their morning goodies, but they don't seem too upset when we spring forward and show up at the barn an hour earlier than expected.

Even the extra slumber hasn't quite replenished my energy. The tank feels pretty empty this morning, but, tired as I am, my spirits are soaring. I spent Friday afternoon and Saturday in Moscow for the annual Northwest Inland Writing Project's (NIWP) Young Authors Conference. And, yes, for those who may have checked in on the blog, I suffered some mild withdrawal all day yesterday, knowing I had not been able to post on my blog.

Normally, when I'm out of town, the laptop goes along and Slight Detour appears, as usual. I'm usually staying in a hotel with high speed Internet. Well, the Moscow-Pullman area had two college home football games yesterday. When that happens, there's not a motel room to be found. So, Elinor, who runs the NIWP, arranged for me to stay at the graduate student residence facility.

Elinor had a full schedule for me once I arrived in town Friday afternoon. We planned to meet at the SUB. Then, she wanted to make sure I did have Internet availability, so she brought along her own wireless card, and we took my computer to some university techies who installed the card. Then, we enjoyed dinner with other English professors at Sangria's. We hurried on to the University of Idaho dance recital at the Hartung Theater.

By the time the recital ended, it was after 10, so we signed a bunch of papers for the housing folks and then went to the graduate center room. Elinor wanted to make sure my wireless card worked and that I had Internet. It didn't. We still don't know why except that the young South Korean graduate student I saw in the graduate center computer lab early yesterday morning told me they shut down the system every Friday night from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. Saturday.

So, no Internet and an interesting night spent sleeping in a spartan room with temperatures varying from freezing to 100 plus---no in between. There was no toilet paper, a fact I discovered about 11:15 p.m., necessitating a trip to the Stinker Station down the highway for a couple of packets of kleenexes.

Returning with the kleenex supply and two bottles of water, I sat down and autographed more than 80 books. With no Internet and no TV, I then climbed into the bunk, located right next to the fluctuating heating system.

One of the many times when I awakened during the night of hot-and-cold motel flashes, I looked at my watch upside down and read it to be 6 a.m. Figuring I didn't have to be at Moscow High School until 8, I decided to lounge in that bed with its plastic mattress cover and its unfitted ever-sliding sheets for a few more minutes.

Before allowing myself to doze off too deeply, I checked the watch again, this time right side up. This time it read 3:10 a.m. The initial feeling of stupidity was soon followed by relief that I still had almost three hours trying to sleep through those hot-and-cold flashes and well-timed little screams emitting from the heating system.

The next time 6 a.m. came, my watch was still right side up, so I got up. While standing in the tub, I discovered no towels. This was definitely a North Idaho drip-dry moment, and watching oneself standing in the tub jumping up and down naked while deciding just how to step out onto the floor with wet feet cuts quite a picture. "If they could see me now," made me really glad "they" couldn't. I ended up using my T-shirt to dry my feet and my hair.

Later, I discovered a thin, little white towel sitting next to the bunk. Silly me, I thought. My vision has really suffered during this night. All the little surprises, however, made me laugh and got me revved up for a day of speaking about humor. After all, years of writing humor has taught me to cue in on such situations-----always good material.

The conference was wonderful---right from the moment that Eleanor and Susan summoned some kids from Craigmont to help me carry my boxes of books. One young man announced that his dad knew me. Yes, I also knew David Remsburg and his dad Lee, who worked for the Forest Service. His grandson told me Lee died recently.

My keynote speech went well, my nerves and stomach behaved, and I spent the rest of the day personalizing more books to energetic and nice kids from Colfax, St. Maries, Sandpoint, Lewiston, Moscow and lots of other places. I also had some fun gab sessions with teachers and parents. The whole experience was positive from start to finish, so I drove home last night chuckling about the motel accommodations and smiling about a great day spent with kids and adults who truly love anything dealing with writing.

I'll be doing the same thing next week in St. Anthony, so I think today's going to be spent enjoying some much needed rest and relaxation. I can truly enjoy my down time today, knowing that St. Anthony probably will not have two college football games, taking up all the motels in town.