Archives September 2015

Yesterday was a pretty tough day in the car.  We have front loaded the first two days of the trip with the two longest driving days.  Between Sunday and Monday we have logged over 1650 miles, the first time I have ever gone that far in that short of a time.  The Missouri portion of the drive was the worst, it seemed like we were stuck in the state the majority of the day.

The day was filled almost exclusively with endless road lines.  The highlights were the few times we got to get out of the car. We stopped at a very pretty rest stop in Kentucky that was housed on an old historic site.

Our final destination yesterday was Omaha.  We did not get in until about 8PM local time.  It was so late we just stopped at a Paneras on the way in and got a to go order which we ate in our room.

Both Cindy and I were beat from two days of marathon driving.  Your body does not enjoy being in the seated position for double digit hours at a time.  Each time I get out of the car I walk like an 80 year old as my tight IT band refuses to release.

The place we stayed at last night was a renovated and rebranded Hampton Inn.  The place was clean, nice and priced very reasonably. The only negative was water pressure that felt like light rain. Since hotel accommodations are going to by far be the biggest expense of the trip, we are looking to score bargains wherever possible without having to dip into the bottom tier of hotel providers (Econolodge, America Best Value, Microtel, etc…)

Today our destination is Rapid City in South Dakota, our staging point for our visit to Mt Rushmore tomorrow.  On the way there we will be stopping at Wall Drug, one of the biggest tourist traps in the midwest.  Now that we have the two worst driving days out of the way we are looking forward to getting more opportunity to enjoy the new surroundings.

The roughly 875 mile drive yesterday went smoothly aside from the usual madness that starts to creep in after being in a vehicle for so long.  We found a Sleep Inn to stay at that was half decent both in accommodations and price point.

After unloading the car we headed back out for downtown Nashville.  You may recall last year we got raped in parking fees, paying around 50 bucks.  This year I took 30 seconds to do a Google search of affordable Nashville parking and was directed to a nearby garage that only cost 10 bucks.  It was about 3-4 blocks away from the main street but after 14 hours in a car we needed to walk.

Since it is Labor Day weekend the downtown area was quite busy.  Seeing the never ending river of people instantly soured my mood.  I was already tired from the two consecutive days of early alarms.  The first few places we looked at to eat were either packed, allowed smoking, or had deafening live music going on.  I wasn’t in the mood for any of the three.

We finally found a brewery/restaurant combo deal.  We were originally told there was a half hour wait but we instead found two empty chairs at the bar and ate there.  Just like the rest of downtown, the restaurant was very, busy.  I looked at how hard the bartenders were working and was glad it was not my vocation.  You have to be absolutely exhausted after a shift like this.

Cindy and I both enjoyed our dinners.  I opted for fish and chips while Cindy got a blackened mahi sandwich.  We both bypassed the ketchup for our fries and instead tried some vinegar which actually was pretty good. Once we were done eating I had no desire to walk the strip since we had done it last year.  We did revisit the same ice cream shoppe as last year and split a very good almond joy cone on the walk back to the car.

Once we showered back at the room we crashed pretty quickly in bed.  We were both really, really beat.

During the day we were checking in on the chickens pretty regularly thanks to the surveillance tech we have in and around the coop.  During one of those check ins we saw that a storm had actually blown the door to the chicken run closed, trapping one of the chickens inside and cutting the others off from their food and water.  We normally put a small piece of 4×4 wood in front of the door to prevent it from closing in such a situation, something our chicken sitters might not have known about.  I got ahold  of our next door neighbor and asked her to go open the door and block it.  Crisis averted.

This morning we did not set an alarm and woke up around 6AM central time.  I felt more rested than I have the past few days.  We enjoyed a nice spread at the free continental breakfast and got on the road before 7:30.  At the gas station I saw the low tire pressure sensor was on.  The air pump at the gas station was out of order.  I then remembered I packed my little portable compressor that runs off the cigarette lighter.  It took awhile but I put a few pounds of pressure in three of the four tires which cleared the warning light.

Our destination today after another long 750 miles is Omaha Nebraska.  The forecast highs there are only in the upper 70’s so I am looking forward to more pleasant temps.  We have already cleared Kentucky and are going through the small portion of Illinois before we cut straight through Missouri.

Happy Labor Day!

Yesterday Cindy and I arose to the 4AM alarm for the race we were timing.  With the new timing set up we need to get on site a little earlier so we have an opportunity to get the start line mats assembled ahead of time.  This race had a good amount of participants with over 500 signed up although that was around 100 less than last year.

Timing for the event went smoothly for me overall.  Although I dislike the extra mat set up time required with MyLaps, the timing seems rock solid.  I haven’t had one dead timing chip that I am aware of so far.  The only timing errors have been the human kind.  I did have one glitch where my backup timing box at the finish line lost it’s configuration when I powered it on.  Luckily since it was the backup it didn’t really matter.

After the race Cindy and I wasted little time before packing up and getting out of there.  Obviously we had a ton to get done at home to prepare for the trip.  Before trip prep could begin post-race work had to be completed which took a couple hours.  Unfortunately this time table meant I was outside mowing and weed whacking grass during the absolutely most brutal portion of the day heat-wise.  I was melting.

Cindy and I had a to do list to keep us on track with prep.  Slowly we crossed off each item.  By late afternoon I actually was at point where I could fck around in WoW for a little bit.

Last night I was getting Tuki’s stuff for the night done.  One of the things he likes to do is “guard” his food dish.  When I pull out his crock he lunges out at me like he is going to attack.  Usually it is just a show and he never touches me.  Well this time he latched firmly into my left index finger and bit hard, it hurt.

Well that instantly flipped my anger switch.  I am normally pretty passive about things and have a live and let live attitude, until you attack me.  It’s a part of my personality that can be a bit scary as for brief periods of time I can literally go into Hulk Smash mode.  Last night was one of those moments as I smashed the side of Tuki’s cage several times.  My intention was not to really hurt him but to scare the shit out of him so he realized in his bird brain that he crossed the line.  Tuki jumped back and started saying Tuki Tuk Tuki Tuk, something he does if he is scared.  My green skin started to fade when he did that and I felt bad for getting that mad at him, especially since we were going away.

We tried to get into bed by 9PM since we had our second consecutive 4AM alarm this morning.  We were up and on the road by 5AM after quickly checking on the chickens and saying goodbye to them.  So far we are 350 miles into the roughly 850 miles we plan on covering today.  I drove the first few hours and we will be switching back again shortly.

These first couple days will be more about gobbling down miles than sight seeing. The majority of what we are focusing on this time around happens after we cross the Mississippi River.  Adventure awaits.

So we are now entering the teeth of the next few days where race prep, race execution, and trip prep all needs to take place both in succession and simultaneously.  Last night I hopped on the mower to knock down some of the semi-soggy portions of the lawn.  I need to find time to walk around with the weed whacker as well before we leave.

It seems sort of impossible but after 47 years I was unsure of what my blood type was.  I am sure at some point I was told what type I was but I never cared to take note of it.  Well Cindy ordered an at home blood type kit which she administered to me this morning.  It looks like I am O+

The test involved piercing a finger with a lancet and then getting 4 test swabs of blood that are placed on a test strip. I like to consider myself pretty tough in most aspects but one area where I am an absolute lightweight is anything involving blood draw, even a silly pin prick scenario like this.  I didn’t look when Cindy was getting the samples.  When she was finished I got a small glance of my finger and felt an instant wave of cold sweats sweep over my body as well as feeling light headed, bad enough that I was looking for a chair.  It’s an annoying trait that only seems to get worse the more I think about not reacting that way.

Just like last year, I plan to have a laptop riding shotgun during the road trip to allow me to blog as I go which will allow for much better recollection and detail.  I am harboring equal parts anxiety and excitement about the trip.  On the anxiety side I worry about the logistics of the trip, the costs, and the care of the chickens.  On the flip side I look forward to a whole new collection of experiences.  Although I have visited some of these destinations before, it was done with the dogs in tow which was very limiting in regards to what we could do.  None of those restrictions will apply this time around.

See you from the road.

Although I don’t think Trump is a viable political candidate, I do find his campaign extremely entertaining.  Yesterday he decided to lash out at Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who evidently dared to say something negative about Donald.  It doesn’t really matter what your background is, if you say something bad about Trump he will find the time to throw a few “idiots” and “losers” your way.

I thought Chris Christie put the Trump hoopla into perspective during an interview I saw on Fox News at the gym.  He reminded the host that 4 years ago at this time Michelle Bachman was leading the polls for the GOP.  Although I still think it is unlikely, I actually hope Donald manages to somehow win the nomination and further hope Bernie Sanders is his opponent.  It would be absolutely hilarious to see Trump throwing endless personal attacks at Bernie and have them bounce off  like teflon.  Bernie absolutely will not participate in smear tactics.  It would be one hell of a show.

Prep continued last night for the race and departure that are both coming up this weekend. I have many fragments floating around in my head of things to get done before now and then.  I need to make sure it all gets pulled together.

Hey it’s Throwback  Thursday.  When I was a kid I was really into riding toys.  I had a number of them.  The farm I grew up on was a good place for them with many hills as well as a long, gradually sloped driveway, perfect for gravity powered vehicles.

Before a bicycle became my primary transportation I had four different “vehicles”.  Two of them were purely gravity powered.  One was a soapbox style car that my dad built for me from a kit.  It had a conventional steering system, complete with steering wheel that cleverly used a dowel and rope to control direction.  Unfortunately as the rope stretched the steering got progressively more sloppy.  It had a hand brake that consisted of a piece of wood that applied friction to one of the back wheels.  Despite my dad putting a lot of work into the project it never got an equivalent amount of riding time.

The other gravity only vehicle got even less use, an old riding mower with the engine removed.  Driving this was cool as it almost felt like a real car.  The coolness quickly faded when it came time to push the thing back up the hill.  It weighed a ton.  As a result the old mower spent most of it’s time in the barn.

The two pedal powered toys I had where the Big Wheel and the Green Machine.  The Big Wheel was the status quo of riding toys, everyone had one.  It’s light weight and reliable steering made it a solid choice for most riding conditions.  I do recall thinking that I always felt cramped in the riding position.

My favorite riding toy of all time was the Green Machine. I remember when I opened it on Christmas feeling like I hit the jackpot.  It’s aggressive styling and unheard of rear wheel, lever based steering made the toy unique and difficult for the average kid to master.   The steering on the toy wwas both a good and bad thing.  It was bad for conventional steering and became very twitchy at speed. It however was awesome for doing power slides.  I loved pedaling my ass off and then throwing the steering levers in opposite directions, sending the Green Machine into and instant tail spin.   It’s extended riding position was also unmatched in comfort.

I miss the days when the major decision I had to make for the day was which toy I was going to ride.

Last night was the annual fantasy football draft party.  I got home a little before 4PM and got to work rearranging the house.  Cindy had picked up various items for the party during the day and had started getting stuff ready.  There is a pretty extensive furniture shuffle that goes on for the event.  The sofa and love seat go against the wall and the big dining room table gets moved in front of the tv along with some other smaller stuff getting relocated.  I also had to get the computer set up for the remote owners to connect in via Skype.

The draft was supposed to start at 7.  Of course it didn’t start on time, it rarely does.  Most of the guys showed up around 6:45 but Taylor, the guy that was bringing the draft board didn’t get there until 7:15 or so. A lot of the guys commented on the new faux wood ceramic tile floor, complimenting the way it looked.  It certainly holds up better to 15 sets of feet than the old carpet did.

Cindy did a great job of having a nice food spread out.  We had three coolers with ice in them available to keep beer cold and all three went completely unused.  All the people that brought beer did so in their own personal coolers so there was no need for our auxiliary storage.  My personal stash of Miller Lites was in the fridge.

Every year, the draft party seems to be my most gluttonous eating experience and once again that was the case.  The combination of alcohol and a room full of fantasy football owners seems to bring out my inner pig.  I was eating almost non-stop the entire 3 hours the party was going on, it was like I was a tractor trailer going down a steep appetite hill with no brakes.  I dined on the veggie platter, spanikopita, pizza bites, chips, brownies, cookies, and more in a steady rotation.   The six or seven Miller Lites I drank made me just not care.

I was not very happy with the team I drafted.  I made some mistakes and drafted a number of players whose name I never heard of before, putting them on my roster just based on their placement on my player rankings list.  I was quite surprised when at the end of the night the draft rating tool said I had the 4th or 5th best draft of 12 teams.  It sure didn’t feel that way.

The draft didn’t finish up until almost 11, about a half hour later than normal.  Cindy and I still did our best to get 90% of the house back in order before retiring to bed.  I was utterly exhausted from drinking combined with the food coma. That feeling persisted through till today.  I awoke feeling pretty miserable and wishing I could just blow off work.  I just feel toxic.  My body is not accustomed to taking in that much fat, sugar, salt and alcohol in such a short period of time.  I am hoping to beat it out of me with a good cardio session at lunch.

Cindy said this morning the hawk, presumably the same one that we have chased away before multiple times was back.  It was on the ground near the pond literally a couple feet away from Katie, one of the barred rock chickens.  Katie was actually curious about the hawk and not scared.  The hawk seemed equally curious and not aggressive.  This hawk also is not very concerned with human beings, not flying off until Cindy got pretty close to it.

We really don’t know what to make of this bird.  Of course hawks are natural predators of chickens however they don’t attack chickens by chasing them around on the ground.  Typically a hawk will dive bomb it’s prey at high speed with the resulting impact either stunning or killing the animal it is attacking.  Cindy and I don’t want to lose a chicken to any predator so we will keep chasing this bird away although I have a distant hope that maybe this is one of those weird things in nature where natural enemies become friends.

The yard around the chicken coop has at least a half dozen different spots the chickens can use for cover if need be.  Hopefully they are smart enough to utilize them.

If you are curious what my FF draft looked like here it is:

So we have started working on the long list of items to be handled prior to hitting the road on Sunday.  There is a daunting amount of things to take care of between now and then so we are utilizing lists to try to make sure nothing slips through the cracks.  With Cindy being home during the week it definitely gives us an advantage over prior years.

I will be skipping out of work a little early today to get to work on draft party prep which involves a lot of furniture moving, food/drink prep and AV configuration.  As usual I will do the bare minimum for my team (The Green Machine) draft prep besides having a ranked list of players in front of me.  It has served me well in the past so why change?

Once the party is out of the way the race on Saturday comes into the foreground however trip prep needs to be going on simultaneously.  I am crossing my fingers we have a few hot, bright, sunny days with no rain so we get an opportunity to give the grounds a thorough haircut before we head out.

Cindy pointed out the other day that we just rolled through another full moon cycle which is probably why I have been feeling generally lousy with my disposition recently.  There have been some external situations that didn’t help matters much.  I am crossing my fingers that the road trip will be a good way to clear my mental plate and come back with a suitcase full of fresh memories to cherish forever.  I just hope the chickens are ok.