Florida, colorado and beyond

You'd think this would be a piece of cake, just sit down a write. Simple right.
I began this just for fun and thought that I'd keep it up every few days. That was three weeks ago and the only two posts are the two I wrote when I set the Fucking thing up. I have been super busy and without power for some of the time but I will try harder in the future to be more current. I now going to sum-up the last three weeks( the hell with the last year, it would take way to long and I would get nothing done) and try to get us back on track.


On the last Tuesday in July I got a early evening phone call from Julie asking if I could fly out to Colorado springs. Her mom Nancy was moving to Florida and she needed a driver to help. ROAD TRIP!!!! I was on it. Catching few zzz's that night I was on a 12:55pm from OIA with one stop and a change in Dallas.
I arrived in Colorado around 4:30pm and was driven to the u-haul terminal by some of Nancy's friends. Man, I'll tell you something, there are great things in the high places of the world, the air in Colorado springs was wonderful. Invigorating.

I met up with Nancy and we rolled out in this total frightening,197...? P.O.S. International with the loudest fucking diesel engine I've ever heard. When we began I didn't think that truck would make it to the edge of town. That first night of driving was the best. I love driving through places I've never been to and are even less likely to see again. We left Colorado heading south into Texas and through many fuel stops( both us and the truck)and getting slightly lost in downtown Amarillo, we made it to Conway on I-40 at about 7:00am, where we decided to hole up for the night.

Eight hours later after sleep and a shower, I wandered into the motel parking lot. If you've never been to Texas, Go, because until you do you will not have a concept of the word "BIG" as I mean it when I say Texas has a fucking BIG sky. I mean it's huge. I goes from your complete left horizontal axis to your complete right horizontal axis without anything getting in the fucking way. No trees,and if your not in a city no buildings.

Anyway, I walk under this big fucking sky to the dinner in the motel parking lot and find some breakfast. The owner is this kind goofy guy about thirty, missing his front left or right tooth I can't remember. Sort what you except to find working right here. Conway was a grouping of farms till someone got drunk and decided to call it a town, perhaps 60 people in as many square miles. He was nice and the place was too. He took my order, made it , and came back to chat about nothing in particular. He had moved there from Arkansas two years back and he and his wife also clean the rooms at the hotel. I chatted him up awhile and gave him an nine dollar tip, I never do that, but his wife was away at bingo and he admitted that she does all the serving and he really didn't know what he was doing. I thought it might boast his ego. It did.


Moving on, we set high goals that afternoon to make it to Sheaveport, Louisiana
by the next morning. Nancy was aching to drive today since I hogged it last night.
Packed up and ready we left Conway about six that evening, not to stop for four hours when the idea of buffalo burgers was voiced by Nancy. I, not having had buffalo anything before quickly agreed and we stopped at road side dinner with gift shop in the same building. Mostly cowboy and native American rip-off stuff found in truck stops. The kind they bill as being made by the hard-working indigenous people of wherever. But I would bet most of it didn't cost five bucks to make and the poor shmuck of an Indian didn't get ten of the ninety dollar asking price. I meandered in and out and went and had a buffalo steak. It was great.

Nancy was taken ill just west of Oklahoma city so I took over driving. It was a long haul but after more wind and signs and city lights than I had prepared myself for, dawn found us past Dallas and rolling steady on I-20 into Shreveport at 7:30am. Unbelievable!
It was this morning in Shreveport that we hit our first incident. While passing through Dallas/Fort worth I had picked up a head cold and it just began to make it's
self known with a raging sore throat. The kind that make you want to cry if you cough, and of course your going to cough. So sleep for me that day way short at best. Waking up at one o'clock, I stayed in bed trying not to think about the phrase "dry as a bone" till about five that night. Well, things are always better after a shower, and so was I, ready for the final leg of our trip.Cough drops in hand, we loaded the truck and did all things needful and were, after a short time back on the road.


South on I-49, We were hyped, stoked and all manner of excited, Florida was now within our grasp! Stopping only for fuel and a quick supper we pressed on to I-10
and then came the final gallop. Egging every horse of power from that diesel engine
beyond music beyond sleep we crossed in to Florida and arrived in Pensacola at 3:55am
Saturday morning. Yet we did not stop there, our destination being so close.
Fumes poured from our truck as we race across the sunshine state, dawns first light come and gone, leaving a brightly lit day before us. It began slowly, the dropping of my eyelids, one at a time, so as not to startle me. I realized that I could not continue this crusade and must rest awhile. So trading with my partner, though she must been exhausted also, willingly and eagerly took the wheel and spelled me for several hours which I well needed. Returning to the wheel I brought us into
St. Augustine close to one o'clock.

Now we reached the dreaded part of this trip, the unloading. Yet with the work of Aeneas and Ryan ( I mainly supervised) the work was done in less than two hours and we all retired to Ryan's house for drinks. After a brief hop to the beach, the bon-I-fide surf Nazi's loaded their jeep and joined us for the drive into New Smyrna beach.
upon arrival we unloaded her suv and returned the trailer to the u-haul place (funny story that, ask me sometime) and got a few beers and proceeded to pound them till I got a lift home.

That is the last week in July and a good place to stop for the night in my sum-up
I will be continuing with the motorcycle trip to Georgia that left the following Thursday. Till then.....Good Times...sungod :-)