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St. Louis/San Antonio/College Station Trip Blog
I have removed the pictures in the photo gallery to save space on the page, and I have shrunk the pictures in the blog. I guess I'm getting my $0 worth that I've invested in this page...
I have added some pictures. This link used to show the first page of pictures; you can see the other six pages by clicking the links at the bottom of each screen (there are only 4 pictures on each screen to reduce download times).
I haven't finished uploading pictures yet, but I thought I would share some really useless information about our trip:
- Number of packages of cold medicine purchased during the trip: 7
- Number of packages of Kleenex purchased: 4
- Number of souvenir t-shirts purchased: 0
- Number of Swiss Army knives purchased: 1
- Number of Swiss Army knives I will soon own: 5
- Pounds of ice purchased: 65
- Pounds of Blizzards purchased: 8.75
- Pounds of Diet Sprite purchased: 3.25
- Number of apples we took with us on the trip: 6
- Number of apples that we came home with: 5
- Pounds of carrots that we took with us: 5
- Pounds of carrots we returned with: 4.75
- Pounds of animal crackers we bought along the way: 2.5
- Pounds of animal crackers we returned with: 0.25
- Bags of baked chips and pretzels we took with us: 4
- Bags of baked chips and pretzels we returned with: 4
- Bags of higher-fat Sun Chips we took: 1
- Days before the Sun Chips were gone: 3
- Number of Redcats USA catalogs received at the house while we were gone: 1
- Number of Canadian Post Office catalogs received while we were gone: 2
- Chapters of books read during the trip: 1
- Days I used hotel shampoo from the places we stayed along the way: 1
- Days I used the hotel shampoo from the place we stayed at in Hawaii: 6
- Big Lots visited: 2
- Wal-Marts visited: 2
- Armadillos seen during the trip: 2
- Living armadillos seen: 0
First of all, we have made it home safely. We are both still ailing a little, with Brooke having coughing fits and me having a stuffy head, but at least we can be ill in our own bed, which is welcome.
We started our day by eating breakfast in the hotel when an entire girls high school color guard appeared just before we were finished. The reason I mention this is because one thing I didn't mention yesterday is that just as we were leaving Ruby Tuesday where we had dinner, we saw a school bus-load of girls heading in. This may have been the same group, but after we got home at 6:30 tonight, we and Bobby went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. As we were waiting, we noticed that there were many large groups (6 or more) both at tables and waiting for tables and most of these groups included children and all of the children were girls age 8 to 16. Is there any point to me telling you this? Well, I felt the need to tell somebody, and now I've done it.
We finally left Springfield, Missouri around 8:30 central time, I think. The concept of Daylight Savings Time should not be this complicated, but I know I changed my watch and the car clock back to eastern time sometime today, and I guess I have to add another hour sometime tomorrow. That actually kind of bites because we end up losing two hours as part of our vacation, but I guess everyone loses that hour so we can "spring forward". Anyway, our main objective was to get home, but I couldn't resist the draw of the knife outlet store in Lebanon, Missouri so I could look for the Huntsman Lite Swiss Army knife I have been unable to find (except at www.victorinox.com) for two years. (Well, I haven't looked on eBay or anything like that, but I thought it might be cool to find it at on outlet.) Who wouldn't want a knife that also had a pen, a light, an eyeglass repair screwdriver, a can opener, and who knows what else. Sadly, they didn't have it, but they did have the "Midnight Minichamp", a small knife with a light and a ball-point pen (and, of all things, an orange peeler), and it looked cool, so I bought myself an early birthday present:
Of course, in the past few minutes I looked on Amazon.com and found the Huntsman Lite for a dollar less than what I paid for the miniknife. I never knew I could be addicted to knives.
Speaking of addictions, we finally made our stop at Dairy Queen, returning to the DQ in Collinsville, Illinois. They produced a pair of tasty Blizzard treats for us, but unfortunately, none of the toppings made it lower than the top 1/3 of our Blizzard. However, they get a bit of a bonus point for labeling their 16 oz. size as a "small" instead of a medium like it is in Indiana. That way, when I gain 15 pounds from Blizzards, I can say "I only ate a small!" The grade is still a C-.
From Collinsville, we had an uneventful trip the rest of the way home (other than noticing that the price of gas is 10 cents per gallon higher here than anywhere else we saw in the past 8 days). Bobby was there to greet us (and help us carry stuff into the house) and our pets were hap...well...they got fed while we were gone, so they didn't really care that we were back. Tomorrow looks like it will be a long day pf laundry (possibly 23 hours worth, or is it 22)? In the meantime, I will try to select some pictures to post on the site as well as some other totally useless information about our trip (as if any of the information I've written so far has improved your daily lives) for one final blog entry. I also want to formally thank Alison and Heather and Dean for letting us stay with them during our trip and especially for letting use their internet access so I could keep doing this blog. It has been fun, and since it looks like I may be travelling for work soon, I'm thinking that I have another blog to do soon!
"I feel great!" Yes, Brooke awoke and said those exact words. If only it hadn't been 3 a.m. Still, she felt better today despite a few coughing fits and was even able to drive for a significant portion of today's trip.
Before we left, we (I) decided we needed to visit the Kettle for one more pancake breakfast with Heather and Dean. I even got to find another bug for Dean outside the restaurant. After breakfast, we said our good-byes and began what we had hoped would be a ten-hour journey to Springfield, Missouri. The reason I say "hoped" is because we decided to take a different route home that involved using some regular highways through eastern Oklahoma. I'm always a little unsure about taking the other highways because the speed limits are lower and you often to stop in the little towns. However, there was nothing to worry about and very little of interest to note since in Oklahoma, the speed limit is 70 on the regular highways, and there were maybe only a dozen stoplights over the whole 200 miles we drove there. The only interesting thing was the three large signs we saw that all read "SPEED TRAP AHEAD" just before we re-joined the freeway. It turned out to be nothing, but I have to admit that I expected to see a lot more speed traps in rural Oklahoma.
Overall, a day that seemed to have the potential for adventure turned out to be pleasantly dull. We made it to Springfield by 8:00 and we're just chilling out and watching a movie where a man is being attacked by garden implements and a really cheesy-looking monster. Sadly, there was no trip to Dairy Queen today (5 pancakes from the Kettle take up a lot of stomach space), so there is no grade to give out there. It certainly wasn't because we couldn't find them; there is a Dairy Queen at nearly every exit along the interstate in Texas. In fact, Texas Dairy Queens have their own website and logo:
The odd thing is that Dairy Queen started in Illinois. Anyway, we did get an ice cream fix with a Blue Bell "drumstick" cones. (Blue Bell is a Texas-based creamery.) They were cookies and cream ice cream and the top was coated in chocolate and the cone itself was a chocolate sugar cone. It was all I could want for 79 cents.
We have about 7 to 8 hours left to make it home, and we will definitely be glad to get back. However, I remember seeing a billboard for a Victorinox outlet, so I may look for a Swiss Army Knife I have wanted for a couple of years. There might also be a few Dairy Queens on the way home, but I doubt we'll stop there. (April Fool!)
Again, we'll begin with the health report. Brooke cannot shake her cough, and as a result, she could not sleep much last night. We went to a store to pick up more cold medicine so we are now trying Mucinex for her cold. We'll have the results when they come available. As for me, I am getting stuffier, but the drugs and the warm outdoor air are keeping things under control.
As for the rest of the day, we had a satifying breakfast at the Kettle (the restaurant that makes Brooke's favorite pancakes) and then a dessert at the local Dairy Queen. I am happy to say that the Chocolate French Silk Pie Blizzard is back as part of April's Blizzard of the Month promotion and the one I had today was pretty awesome. Add in that the price was 20 cents less than it is at home, and you get a grade of DQ+ (kind of like an A). After that, we went to the Texas A&M Research Park to look for turtles and for Dean to look for interesting bugs so we could play with our cameras. Of course, whenever we got close enough to anything worth photographing, the animal would run away, so it became like a hunt. It really turned out to be a lot of fun. I took pictures of turtles and birds and a grasshopper (very difficult to catch and see) and some other bugs and it was really pretty cool. Dean also got some cool turtle and bug pictures, including what he believes to be a specimen of a species of wingless wasp that had an ant's head stuck to its leg. My zoom lens isn't as good as Dean's, but I did get this picture of a turtle family:
In the evening, we were treated to an enjoyable dinner at Outback Steakhouse by Brooke's Aunt Ramona (who we heard has recently been promoted to a full professor at Texas A&M) and her man-friend Steve. And now we're going through our pictures for the day (turtles, ants, mating damselflies, hog lice, a wingless wasp wearing an ant-head bracelet, etc.), watching the third Harry Potter movie, and getting ready to start the trip home tomorrow. It has been a good trip (any trip with this many Blizzards can't be that bad) but I will be glad to sleep (and cough and blow my nose) in our own bed soon.
First of all, the health report. Brooke now smells. I mean, she is now capable of using her sense of smell, so that is good. She spent a good portion of the day announcing how happy she was that she could smell...anything! I am getting stuffier, but well within the control of pseudoephedrine, which is only slightly more available here than it is in Indiana.
Today was like a play in three acts. We started in San Antonio and after a slow morning, we went to BW-3 for lunch and some trivia (one of Alison's favorite pastimes). Yes, of course I won at trivia (ha-ha). However, I decided to try the mango habenero sauce on a chicken sandwich. The sauce was like a combination of jelly and evil. I did breathe very clearly while I was there, though. We then went to Dairy Queen (big shock) and I got a Blizzard that was served in a styrofoam Dairy Queen cup. Mine came an inch short of the top and the bottom inch had no toppings mixed in. Another DQ-. (Yes, I am a Dairy Queen snob.)
We then said our thanks and good-byes to Alison and headed on the uncertain trip to College Station (we weren't exactly sure of our route, except that I wasn't going to drive through Suckass City/Austin the way Mapquest wanted me to). After a minor adventure (our highway number wasn't listed on any interstate sign, but we still managed to find it), we made the trip to College Station/Bryan (they are pretty much the same city) in just over three hours. We had pleasant drive and evening with Heather and Dean (Brooke's sister and sister's husband) of dinner and discussion of bugs and biological warfare and the genes that control the genes that control how fat gets stored. We also got to visit with their pet cats, beetles, tarantulas, ringlegged earwigs. The newest member of the family is a Forest Tent Caterpillar pupa (or as Dean says, the Forest Tent Caterpillar Moth Larva Adult Pupa). Essentially, it was a bright blue and white caterpillar and it will grow up to be a very dull-looking moth that will look very similar to the ones I will smash with newspapers in the coming months. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the two generations of Madagascar hissing cockroaches:
And in case you're wondering about why there are so many bugs, Dean is an entomologist. He has a web site called www.insectasylum.net where you can see pictures of all kinds of interesting and gross bugs and buy T-shirts and coffee mugs.
I'm not sure what we'll be doing tomorrow, but we will probably eat breakfast at the Kettle (a local chain restaurant whose breakfast can sustain a man for several days) and spend some time turtle-watching (there is a good place on the Texas A&M campus) and I'm hoping the weather will be nice so I can take pictures. But it is now time for me to take some more cold medicine hope that tomorrow will have sunny skies, I will get to breathe freely, and that joke about Kelvin Sampson being hired as the head basketball coach at Indiana will be over.
So now we both seem to be sick. What kind of cruel joke is this? Anyway, our first foray into San Antonio was to Walgreens to find cold medicine for both of us. I'm doing OK, but Brooke is wiped out. We had a bit of a busy day to thank for that, but she is still not doing well.
We were on our own for the morning as Alison (Brooke's Army friend who is generously taking care of us in San Antonio) had to go to a meeting in the morning. She had to go in between midnight and 5:30 a.m. to officially sign out for her leave, but she still had to go in at 9:30 for some meeting. That's the United States military. We explored a little and we found...drum roll please...a Big Lots. When we all got back together, we found a Mexican restaurant for lunch. Are gorditas supposed to have potatoes in them. It was good, but El Jaripeo is very safe. Then we went downtown to the RiverWalk and the Alamo. Unlike the defenders of the mission in 1836, Brooke was defeated fairly quickly:
The highlight of the Alamo trip for me was getting to test out my cool new camera. The Alamo is actually very small, and pictures are not allowed indoors because it is a shrine, but there is a little moat with large fish and lots of plant life. Here is a picture of a cactus blossom (that is much healthier than one you can order at the Texas Roadhouse:
After the Alamo, we looked a bit more at the RiverWalk, which is mostly restaurants, but it looks like a fairly cool place. There are lots of theme restaurants, such as "Dick's", where the waiters are rude to you and you are expected to be rude to them. I decided to eat at "Ben & Jerry's" (way overpriced, D), then we decided it was time to go home and rest. On the way home, we saw something that I'll bet you've never seen before:
Yes, that's a ten-foot tall Chuck Woolery bobblehead being pulled by a truck that had the Game Show Network marked on it in the middle of San Antonio. (Chuck Woolery hosted the TV show "Love Connection", among other things, for those of you who aren't familiar).
Tomorrow, we will spend the day here and eventually head for College Station (hopefully, without driving through Suckass City). I don't exactly know what we're going to do, but if I see a ten-foot-tall Bob Barker, I don't think I'll be surprised.
First of all, Brooke is better. It is amazing what a little sleep and some cough medicine (pills, not syrup) will do. At least she was well enough to travel all the way here to San Antonio and even have a small dinner at Texas Roadhouse once we got here (we are creatures of habit, aren't we).
Our trip yesterday went fine until we got to Austin and encountered what the Texans must consider a natural catastrophe: rain. We had no trouble getting through Oklahoma City, Ft. Worth, or San Antonio, but it sprinkled rain when we got to Austin around 5:00 and we didn't get out of Austin until 6:30. There weren't even any accidents or construction (even though the natural design of the Texas interstate system should be used as an example of what happens while smoking dope on the job). It kind of got on my nerves, so I have renamed Austin as "Suckass City". I may relent someday when I am in a better mood.
As for the interstates, the off-ramps here aren't just the simple roads where you leave the interstate and come to a stop sign where your road is. Just about all of the off ramps are only a few hundred feet long and dump you onto an access road that runs parallel to each side of the interstate. Sometimes, these access roads are two-way, so there is the chance that you will leave a 70 mph interstate and immediately cross 2-way traffic. In addition, the exit may put you on the access road a full mile before you get to your actual road, which is a little scary when you're driving in an unfamiliar place in the dark. The whole design seems like something that might have looked good on paper, but when you actually experience it, it just seems insane. Kind of like Tradebeam.
Despite the weird off-ramps, I did find my way to a Dairy Queen just south of Waco (if I have no other special abilities, I can find Dairy Queens). They had a big sign advertising the Chocolate French Silk blizzard, so when I ordered, of course they told me they didn't have it. I was sad, but I didn't scream like I did at a DQ in Illinois last summer (I have learned to control my emotions a little bit, if not my appetite). The Chocolate Extreme blizzard was pretty good, as was the rest of Brooke's Buster Bar, so I give it a B with the only markdown for the cruel hoax of the non-existent Chocolate French Silk flavor.
Speaking of ice cream, we've (I've) discovered a place down here called Braun's. It reminds me of a cross between Baskin-Robbins and Steak & Shake. I had to try a cone, but of course the first flavor I chose, rocky road, was not available. I sense a theme. Anyway, the ice cream I did get was very good.
We are just getting started here, so I'm not sure where we're going today. I know we're going to a drug store soon to get more cough medicine for Brooke (she coughed a lot again last night, and just a minute ago) and then downtown to the RiverWalk where there is a bunch of stuff, I think. Unfortunately in this part of the state which has been in a drought for 2 years, it is raining. At least it is warm!
Brooke is sick. Unfortunately, there isn't much more I can say about the day. She coughed most of the night, started having a queasy stomach before breakfast, and then it went downhill from there. It's probably the flu. We cut our visit with Jim short since Brooke needed to lay down and Jim doesn't get his apartment until next week, so we continued our journey early in hopes of getting a little closer to Texas and finding a bed for Brooke. We did make it from St. Louis to Tulsa (where everyone looks like Willem Defoe with crooked teeth and optional bandana after he's been on a deserted island for about a month), so we only have about 8 hours left tomorrow, and I'm hoping a night's sleep will help her.
We did get to spend a little time with Jim. We had breakfast, then I schooled him in foosball (which really means he scored more goals against himself than I scored against myself). We tested tested the Collinsville, Illinois Dairy Queen (I give it a B+). Hopefully, I'll get to test one in San Antonio tomorrow.
We are the party animals aren't we? Well, it turned out that the bomb that got Jim called away for a late night was actually a bunch of trash. Still, we had some time to explore and we couldn't resist the Alton Big Lots. Sadly, Brooke seems to be getting sicker with more of a cough and Big Lots didn't have the cough medicine she likes. (I guess it's never good to count on Big Lots for your health care needs.) I don't know how we're going to deal with bird flu if Big Lots doesn't come through for us soon.
Oh, I also need to make a correction. Brooke didn't buy a T-shirt today. I guess she ordered it a month ago and just picked it up today. Still, I have a hunch the T-shirts will still multiply before the week is done.
We've arrived at our first stop for the night in Collinsville, Illinois (another St. Louis suburb). It was only moderately adventurous getting here as we drove through rain, snow, sunshine, ice, rain, sunshine, rain, heavy clouds, sunshine, well, you get the idea.
This may surprise you, but while on vacation (or while breathing), I like to perform quality control checks on Dairy Queens. I performed such a check on the one in Terre Haute. Brooke's small blizzard came at least an inch from the top of the cup (quantity is a big factor in my evaluation) and my chicken strips were more like chicken threads (I know, what am I doing ordering chicken strips from Dairy Queen). I'm giving it a grade of DQ-minus.
Before this trip, Brooke had mentioned that we had too many T-shirts so we were going to try not to buy any T-shirts on this trip. Therefore, you will not be surprised that she bought a T-shirt before we even left Indiana. I guess since this was for her music fraternity, it is OK.
We're waiting to meet with Jim and hopefully Angel for dinner. I'm hoping Brooke can stay awake that long (she has had some food and is now under blankets, so she may be asleep soon). Anyway, Jim got sent to cover a bomb threat at a courthouse and I guess the bomb was made of garbage. Anyway, it's always interesting with Jim, so I looking forward to seeing him.
OK, we haven't left yet (or at least I haven't), and really the most interesting thing that has happened so far is that I decided to keep a blog of this trip. The next most exciting thing is that my mom stopped by to drop off some things for us to take to Jim. One of those things was a container of peanut butter cookies, and I'm sad to say that it must have a leak because it now has two less cookies in it than it did when she dropped it off. In an unrelated story, we're now out of milk.
Everything is packed and ready to be loaded into the car, and hotel reservations are made, and maps have been printed. So here's looking forward to all these plans going astray.
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