Where's Bob? Two-festing & Road-trippin'

Bobby Blogger took a few days off, have you missed me? I'm going to give you a quick photo montage to get you caught up with what's going on in my world.

After having been immobile for most of the year, I've broken out and taken to the road! WOOT!

First photo is a shot from the Lee's Summit, MO Oktoberfest where my niece did the cutest little dance number ever... sassy-walk girl! She's just the cutest lil' thing and loves to dance pretty much non-stop all day and night. SMOOCH!

The next photo is from the KC Beer Festival (hence the play on words with Two-festing) where a good time was had. Unfortunately we hit up three bars AFTER the BeerFest and that pretty much ruined my entire Sunday. I definitely made a new friend in Brenda at the first bar we visited, then completely copped-out on a real dinner and macked on some chili-cheese fries (which will be the death of me), totally don't remember a debate about preferences in regard to sexual frequency (which I'm sure was more interesting than the VP Debate last week) and then hit up another bar on the way home. I think the tally was about a case of beer, three DarkRum+OJs and two Negronis. Oops.

Photo #3 was snapped cruising east on I-80 through Iowa. It's tough to tell, but this SUV flew past me swerving all over the road. The SUV was covered with Obama stickers and the trailer had a bunch of banners duct-taped to it. I later saw the trailer make an emergency roadside stop... hopefully this isn't an indicator of the campaign trail yet to come for the Senator.

The fourth photo is from last Saturday night. The Cubs got swept, but some lady in the bar was having a Bachelorette or Birthday party (after a day of bocce ball and drinking I can no longer remember which) and she made us all feel better with the best chocolate cupcakes I've ever had in my life. Thanks, Cupcake Lady. BTW, MIZZOU kicked some Cornhusker arse that night which made this MO boy feel better than the IL crew.

Reader VOTE...
Where should I stop on the way home from Chicago?

• The Bridges of Madison County (& home of John Wayne).
• Herman, MO Oktoberfest.
• A B&B somewhere on the Mississippi River.
• An MU game at Faurot Field.
• Tour an ethanol plant.
  

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HALT! Departure on Hold

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the road trip to Chicago is on hold. I started not feeling well yesterday morning and I haven't quite recovered. Hey Chicagoans, I cracked open a Linne Calado "Problem Child" last night... so YUM YUM that it made me feel a little bit better!

However, I will be fully into the contest tonight when the CUBS take on those DODGER dogs.

Hit the Road, Jack!

After a really crappy 2008 of little traveling and lots of recuperation, I'm finally going to hit the road and head up to the Windy city tomorrow. Partly in payback for messing up our annual wine trip to Paso (because I thought I'd be smack in the middle of the Unity08 Online Convention) and partly because my fav Senior Circuit ball club is the best in the NL and they kick off their post-season tomorrow vs. the Dodgers.

Torre against Pinella. Go Sweet Lou!

I will arrive bearing great gifts: 3 Tobins, 3 Linnes and 1 Wild Coyote... still packed from when I was allowed to stuff a few cases of wine on the private jet from San Diego to DC (that's a story for another day). :) There are also 3 wonderful ports in that box, but I don't think we'll be pounding those back in Chicago.

What I really want to write about this morning is "the road." I love the road. I've never driven the route from KC to Chicago, so I look forward to the experience. Now, I've driven KC to STL a billion times and KC to Des Moines a couple of times, so it's the second leg of whichever direction I choose that will be the new experience. I have this thing with highlighting the roads I have traveled on a map that's been with me since one of the times when I rolled from KC to Cali.

It's a strange concept if you've never done it... striking out on the road on your own. I've struggled through two books recently (Steinbeck: Travels with Charley and Least Heat-Moon: Blue Highways) because they just don't have any continuity. They are about driving around the country, so they read like a series of short stories. I suppose they are examples of how difficult it is to write about being on the road.

The continuity is in the traveler and not the travels. Heat-Moon hits the nail on the head when he says (and I paraphrase here) that "the road forces you to know yourself for there are times when you have been without companionship for so long that you crave a passenger, a pub or a canine."

My trek to Chicago won't be that long, but being back on the road after practically 6 months of being in the same place will be nice. And maybe, just maybe, I'll meander my way back home on the Blue Highways instead of punching the accelerator on the Red Highways.

Morning GRRRRRRRRR.

My tire's flat again... Firestone plug didn't work or they didn't plug both holes even though I told them there were two.

I've no energy this morning.

My condo is going to be delayed until who knows when (again). It was initially scheduled to be done in May 2008.

Condo delays are probably going to interfere with road trip to Chicago and plans to party as long as the Cubs are in the playoffs.

Maybe this is just a bad start to what will end up being a fantasmic day... after all, there is beer on the agenda for later.

Cubs Magic # = 4

Say no more... well, delay your hockey beard and keep your goat on a leash.