Only the young...

Sarah went to a concert in Chicago on Friday night with some friends. She got home at 6 am, and I didn't see her until about 3:30 or so Saturday when I got home from grocery shopping. She was cleaning out her truck. It must have been bad because I saw several trash bags leaving the cab of her truck.
After we put away groceries and she finished cleaning out her truck, we sat down together on the couch, and she informed me that she was "going to California". She said she met two kids her age at a party, who have been hitching from Michigan, down the East coast, and over to Bloomington. They apparently stayed with people along the way and cooked and cleaned for R&B. Sarah told them she'd drive them out to California, since they wanted to go out West. So, I asked her when she was leaving. "Today." "No." "Yes." "Nooooo." "Yes." She cried and told me she needs to do SOMETHING with her life and she will never get this opportunity again.
So, off she went with these two people. Andy found out she was going at the last minute and begged to come as well. She left with a loaf of bread, some turkey & cheese, chips and Gatorade with $100.00 and a 1/4 tank of gas. (The 'travelers' are allegedly paying for gas.) She took a skirt, the jeans she was wearing, 5 pairs of underwear and several t-shirts with her. She said when she is done in California she'll go to Colorado to work in a ski resort. She left to go say goodbye to friends and I cried like a baby for an hour.

Enter: Jon. Eliz called Jon and told him Sarah's plans (she asked Sarah if it was o.k. first). Jon calls Sarah, and for whatever reason, Sarah answered. First words out of Jon's mouth is "F-you!!" Imagine him yelling at her for 20 minutes with every other word the f-bomb and telling her what a loser she is, and that he's going to send a body bag out that way because she'll need it to come back in once they find her dead/raped/mutilated body by the side of the road. He told her if she left Indiana that night he'd never speak to her again. She challenged him on that and asked if he really wanted to make that ultimatum. He said "F-yes" and then hung up on her.

Sarah calls me, hysterical. Now, Jon is an A*s-hole we can all agree. But if nothing else, his call shook her up enough that I was able to ask her to please call my brother Don and see if she can come out there and live and if he would find a job for her. She did (thank God) and he told her he could get her a job at any ski resort in northern Nevada, and would find something for her to do before the season starts. He told her she'd have to sign a contract that she would stay through April. So, I feel better, she feels better, she has a plan.

She left at 12:30 early Sunday morning. I talked to her once and she was in Kansas. She said she'd call me today and let me know where they are. She did. She called me at 2:30 am, told me that they blew a tire, and were in Mesa Colorado (which is close to the Utah border). Andy was insisting they get a hotel room. She has $70.00. He has $150.00. I told her just to sleep as long as she possibly could so they would be rested and start out again today. She'll need to buy a tire. Apparently, Andy has a buddy that owes him $$ and they were going to call him and have him bring it to me today so I can deposit it into her account.

Ah, adventure.

Honestly, I think it would be fun to do what she is doing, but not with $100, no clothes, no food, no idea where I'm going and certainly not with 4 people in an S-10. A little planning would have been good.