Road Trip IV: On the Road AgainNow that Alice in Wonderland has decided to stay behind with her sister Lily Pad, GC Black Toes and I are free to return to the Land of Lincoln. I start our journey back with a question: What the hell kind of tree is this? We saw a whole bunch of these, all pruned the same way. They scare me.

Lily Pad's surgery time had yet to be announced, so we had no idea of what would transpire for Lily and AIW's day. Leaving without AIW was kind of weird--after all, the trip was to make sure she got there and back to see her 84 year old twin. (There is SO much more to this story but I have decided such stories to be inappropriate for public record. I'll talk about the whole Opus Dei thing later but other than that, mum's the word. I have SOME scruples.)

All I know is that someone better get her a seatbelt for that wheelchair once she is able to use it again and that someone best get AIW home sometime sooner or later.

We started out bright & shiny early on this beautiful Sunday morning. I didn't sleep much the night before but I was still good to go. We thought we'd stop at a Mc Donald's for a quick bite to eat....Mc D's is usually a very quick endeavor, so we went to the McDonald's in Muskogee, Oklahoma, as illustrated here:
Here are my words of wisdom for the day: NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER stop at the McDonalds in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Why? Because getting food took TWENTY minutes. TWENTY minutes for a breakfast sandwich! It was a most painful event. Here is the evil Mc Donalds: The drive through line was off into the road, so we went inside, only to find the lobby filled with people waiting in line to order their food. I'm guessing it was an after church going crowd, from the looks of the attire. There were tons of workers, so it really didn't make sense why getting breakfast was taking everyone so long. It took me & ol' Black Toes quite awhile to figure out why things were moving so slowly--the cashier person would take your order, saunter slo-o-o-o-o-owly toward the food products, literally wait for the order to be cooked, then bag the food, slowly saunter back to the register, drawl out what you owed and then hand you the bag. Now, at most fast food restaurants, one person takes your order and your money--that's their job--do cashier and ordering. The cashier takes order after order....while a co-worker fills the actual orders. Much faster, efficient & not really brain surgery. Since the next order was only taken by the cashier AFTER the food was made and bagged and paid for, that meant a lot of standing around.....and twenty minutes to get an Egg McMuffin.

Where was my father when we needed him? He's a fast food manager--he would never have allowed this travesty to happen.

And, of course, they got my order wrong (there's a surprise) but I did get this delicious, calorie laden beverage to calm my senses:God, I love those things. It made the world whole again.

And, in true recycling fashion, I re-used the cup to later drink my Gatorade:
I do not suggest doing this, as coffee flavored fruit punch Gatorade isn't exactly the nectar of the Gods, but I did feel like I was doing my part to save the Earth.We traveled along without much excitement, which is a good thing. We stopped to see Blackburn College (photo above to prove we actually, eventually found it), as GC Black Toes almost went there. I am all about see college campuses--it's a nerdy thing the wife and I do while traveling the universe. I was all about seeing a college.

Um, Blackburn College is really small and in the middle of nowhere. Really. The school I went to is really small and this place made my Alma Mater look like UCLA or something. I'm sure it's a delightful school but I'm glad Black Toes went elsewhere. I'm thinking he's probably pretty glad, too.
Of course, now that we had crossed back into Illinois, the weather went bad, as illustrated by these scary, dark, looming clouds. It was time to pull over and stop the trip. Home would have to wait until tomorrow.....