Miles

After depositing Offspring the First at college, Herself had 550 miles -- approximately 8 hours -- of solitude along the highway on the way home.  It was the first time she had so much time alone in ages.  Even during the school year, because of the varying school schedules, there are no more than 6 consecutive hours in which both Offspring the Second and Offspring the Third are out of the house at the same time. 

The drive itself was uneventful. The only noteworthy sights were the occasional pancaked roadkill, a bloated deer corpse, and a particularly pungent skunk carcass. The road was quite abundant with unusually juicy, large, and sticky insects, though; the windshield was quite colorful and streaked despite the best efforts of the wipers. Ew.

There was surprisingly little time for complex thought: highway driving, particularly when traveling west at sunset as well as at night, requires significant concentration.  Nevertheless, it was quite peaceful.  She stopped only when she felt like doing so.  She did not have to look after anyone else's needs. (That was odd - she's always a bit at a loss when there isn't another creature, human or pet, who requires her care.)  She had included all of her somewhat questionable music selections into the repertoire on the iPod, and enjoyed singing along loudly without anyone complaining about her inability to carry a tune or her habit of listening to the same song repeatedly.

One of the best (and non-questionable) pieces of music for driving was Diablo Rojo (Rodrigo Y Gabriela). Excellent.