On the Road Again . . . Day 2

Day 2.
My apologies for the number of errors yesterday, I’ll do better today.

Destination: Denver, CO. We were up and pulling away from the hotel at 7:05 am. The Starbucks that little Tommy (our portable GPS) directed us to was just a figment of his imagination. So we departed Des Moines Starbucksless but happy to be on our way. Poor Alex is still sick and her nose is running like Usain Bolt. We quickly made it to the Nebraska border and the city of Omaha. One of the low points of the trip so far is entering Nebraska and knowing you have to drive 455 miles before you hit Colorado . . . actually that’s the mileage to Wyoming. However, Colorado feels just as far.

I found a way to shorten the trip through Nebraska: sleep. Since neither Alex nor I sleep very well the night before, the combination of tiredness and boredom is a good pacifier to lull you to sleep. At least it worked for me. Seems like I was out for more than an hour and a half. Once we crossed into Colorado, the weather was gorgeous and the traffic was light. We zoomed the 672 miles from Des Moines in nine hours forty minutes.

We met my brother Jerry and my sister-in-law Cheryl in Westminster, Co for dinner. It was fantastic to see them. They are two of my favorite people in the world. We went through the entire family starting with Great Grandma B through our siblings and my kids and their cousins. Unfortunately it was a short visit but Alex and I were glad we saw them. We’ll meet again (unfortunately without Alex) in October in Hilton Head.


We did have an “incident” on the ride through Nebraska. Contrary to popular lore, they do stop speeders out west. My lead-footed daughter can attest to it. Getting stopped going 85 in a 65 was just the beginning. Since we were passing through a rural county, which is apparently in the dark ages, we were escorted to the local Justice of the Peace for determination of the fine. Regrettably we did not have $195 in cash between us and Andy of Mayberry did not accept credit cards. So the fat-assed JP with the nicotine stained fingers suggested the Alex should sit in Jail until I bailed her out. Fortunately the state trooper pleaded our case and asked the stupid JP to let us go to an ATM for cash. We did so, and got the fuck outta Dodge.

Deep Thoughts: When we were leaving the hotel in the morning, I noticed a copy of USA Today lying on the floor outside our door. On the front page was the story of Jim Tressel’s “resignation” as Ohio State football coach. This again raises the question “Why to powerful men think they can get away with anything, no matter how stupid?” From Bill Clinton to John Edwards to Tiger Woods to Charlie Sheen, and a zillion other assholes, men in powerful positions seem to loose sight of the fact that they are not invincible. Doubt me? Ask Newt “Big Dumb Shit” Gingrich. How can these highly visible men forget that we live in the age of social media where your every fart is recorded and posted. I hope they all get what they deserve: public disgrace AND loss of their career.

I have more Deep Thoughts but let’s let them simmer until tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.