The Mountains, The Pillows and The Holidays

Since I can't reasonably go see my family this year, I went to see The Pillows in Okayama yesterday for Thanksgiving.

From where I live, it's about a 2.5 hr drive using the nice toll roads, and while it was sunny and clear, it was absolutely beautiful. As a Texan, seeing all these mountains covered in trees that actually change colors was pretty new. Visited the castle, had a nice time in Okayama, the concert was fantastic, and the drive home was hell. Mountains in the dark in the fog in the rain. One thing that is awful about Japan is that all opiates are illegal or very heavily controlled. This means no pseudophedrine, and no strong pain killers. I'm very sensitive to changes in pressure, and as the only legal driver in the car, that meant all five hours of the drive had me at the wheel. It was fin at first because the pressure wasn't so bad, and I could see what I was doing, even when we went through the foggy parts south of Mt. Daisen. There were even some really cool views of clouds sitting around mountains with the tops breaking through like piercing a layer.

Driving back, however...
I'd been getting a headache since the concert started. on top of being sensitive to pressure, I have sensitive ears. For instance, when I go see a movie, I usually wear earbuds and can hear just fine. This time, however, I left my headphones in my jacket, and it was unsually warm for the day. A nice day, but that meant I left my jacket in the car. I adjusted a little, but half the time, I was covering my ears during the concert. I had a great time, and they even played my favorite song, Funny Bunny, but I wasn't doing so hot when we got done.

We ate at a mongolian place not far from the venue and had some delicious lamb stuff and a strange horsemilk alcohol. It tasted like bread dough, and I'm not sure how nice it would've been to drink. Didn't order it though, and my friend didn't finish it either. My head isn't doing better, I cut my thumb pretty deep the night before, and we all needed to visit a bathroom before the long ride home, so we hit the conveni. Bandaids in hand, everybody ready to go, we set off. Only, we forgot to get gas.

An hour and a half into the trip, the warning light comes on and we see a pitstop along the road. For some godforsaken reason, only on this side of the road, is the gas station closed. The only ope gas station for miles is on the other side of the road, so we have to exit, pay the toll, go around, get gas which was more expensive than it would normally be on the highway, pay and exit again, and then re enter to finish the drive. That took about an hour on its own, and I was starting to feel my eyes drifting.

It only gets better though, because then it starts raining. The elevation here is already high, so the pressure change makes my head worse, and now the road is slick. My little rental kei car can only do about 60MPH at max and it struggled with the hills on the way here, but now we were on the decline, and my foot was on the break the whole time. the wheel base is small, the car is tall, and the wind is strong. It is a legit miracle I'm even here to write this. Somehow, through everything, we made it back after adding an hour to the trip and spending all the cash we had on us in the process.

For as fun as it all was, I don't think I'll ever be doing a one day trip like this again, at least as the only driver.

I post my adventures in Japan on my instagram if you want to see the pictures. I couldn't take them myself while driving, so I'm still waiting on my friends to send in their pictures to make my post from this trip.

Anyways, next story here will be coming in the next month, and Star Overhead Volume 6 should be done early next year.
Until Next Time~
-KCZ