Road Trip

ROAD TRIP!Surprise! I am on a road trip, traveling across the globe with my cousin (GC Black Toes) and his mama AIW (Alice in Wonderland). One van, three people, like $1000 for gas (brutal!) and a bunch of maps and a bunch of snacks. Heaven! 

I love road trips. The wife, on the other hand, who would prefer to have her eyes gouged out with hot pokers than ride in a van for 12 hours a day, has stayed home with the dogs. Chicken!
The word for Day One: Rain.Above: View from windshield--Illinois. Pouring rain.
Next: View from windshield--Iowa. Pouring rain.
Next: View from windshield--Missouri. Rain.
View from windshield--Kansas. Rain.

I must say, that GC Black Toes made a good call when he decided to divert us to the west before going south, as we later learned that his prowess for the Weather Channel came in very handy... the route he had originally planned went straight thru tornado/winds/storm alley hell. We were able to miss the storms (including the storms that hit Texas with 75 mph winds) because of his good thinking. We may have been through a lot of rain but we weren't blown off the road, no lightning crashed around us, no rivers swept us off the road. And, bonus: it got sunny when we hit the Oklahoma state line! Bonus bonus: It was 74 degrees in Oklahoma at 6 PM. Ya gotta love that when you've come from 35 degrees and freezy precipitating just 12 hours earlier.

I only got to drive for three hours as GC Black Toes was a driver hog, but that's okay. I'll get him back on our journey back to the Land of Lincoln.....I am also having trouble in the won't-let-me-pay-for-anything department. I am keeping written track and will be sending payment to GC Black Toe's wife, as she'll take the money....she's smart. (If she's smarter, she'll hang on to the money and make a profit!)

To sum up day one: No potholes on the way (unlike in the hometown, which is one big pothole); NO--NOT ONE--NO Starbucks seen between Iowa and Texas (I am VERY serious about this--it scared me); I finally got to see a Sonic (see commercials on TV but don't have a Sonic anywhere near us) and there are a lot of stockyards in Oklahoma. Yuck! I got to eat at an IHOP (which the wife hates and I adore), so it was a good ending to a good day. It really was a simple and delightful ride. The time went incredibly fast. 

Watch out, Texas-- here we come!
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