After school today, at 7 pm, we had our welcome and goodbye enkai in Takasaki at the Georgian House. It’s a fancy place, designed in a British style, that serves French food. Everyone was having parties there including S’s school so I swung by the station to pick him up. I got to see Ichigo-sensei again! Wah! She’s so lively, it’s fantastic. She had been back to cook for the handball girls and they were concerned for me. Guess they felt the rockiness with the JTE now teaching them. Whoops, but it’s quite sweet. It’s been an adjustment. It was a night of good food and I got to chat with another teacher N-sensei. With a mix of English and Japanese, it was nice to get to know her better.

I was planning to leave directly for Nagano on my trip after the enkai when I realized I had forgotten my mini spikes for my shoes at home. I’d definitely need them for the snow on the Alpine Route. As I had to drive back towards Tomioka anyway, it wasn’t a big detour. Our enkai ended late at about 9:45 pm. I changed at home into my sleeping/hiking clothes before starting the drive. I decided to pay the 3000 yen for the tolls so I could get there an hour faster. I left my place at about 10:35 pm and arrived at Ogizawa station at 12:40 am. I managed to shave off 25 min from Google’s ETA thanks to empty roads. The last bit of toll roads wasn’t even in operation. The last stretch was pretty cool thanks to the full moon reflecting off the snow capped mountain peaks. Luckily I only saw a tanuki on the road, and didn’t run into any other animals.

It was chilly out, but refreshing. There were several other cars in the parking lot and more pulled in while I was getting my futon ready. The bathrooms were open and so clean. Ah, one thing I absolutely love about Japan. With the back seat down and the two front seats pushed forward all the way, my futon fit perfectly. It was really comfortable actually with my comforter and two blankets keeping me warm. The moon shone down directly overhead.