Chapter 204

Distance covered: 292 km (total 6138 km)

I woke up around 10, and lazed in bed a bit more watching some YouTube. Then we packed up, and went to rearrange some of our luggage in the car. The in-laws were already on the way from Hefei, and their ETA was 4 o’clock. I left the stuff I wouldn’t need in our car and packed a smaller bag.

It was pissing rain, so we didn’t feel like wandering around in the admittedly attractive town of Shangluo. We ran across the parking lot to get a dumpling lunch, then sat around for a bit, reading and writing. Then just before 4 we went looking for a long-term parking spot, and settled on a large mostly empty lot by an apartment complex. The in-laws’ Subaru soon pulled over, and we transfered our stuff in on top of what they’d already packed. It’s a sizable SUV and it has a luggage box strapped on its roof, still, with four passengers and a month-long trip ahead, it got stuffed to the brim.

Baba-in-law had been hauling ass since 6 in the morning (mama-in-law doesn’t drive) so he was more than happy to let me drive. It’s a car from 2021, so for me who drove mid-90s cars in my youth and then took a decade-long hiatus from driving, the whole thing looked like a spacecraft’s cockpit, with screens and futuristic shit and dials I had no idea what they were for, but I managed. It was an automatic, which was easy mode and a bit boring after driving stick all this time.

We got to Taibaishan (“Too White Mountain”, sounds like a Huffington Post or The Guardian article title), checked in a homestay, ate a big oily tasty dinner washed down with beers, and went to bed. A long day of driving ahead.