Priorities:
Max: get the iPod hooked up and running
Leica: in the car, in the car, in the car, in the car ...
Diane: is everything packed? Do we have everything? Let me take a picture.
3:14 pm - GO! Oh. stop. We need gas. Alright, now. GO!!!!
Max changed the voice on the Garmin (GPS) to an Australian named Keith. He is much nicer to listen to than the female voice that was the default. I nearly killed her. However, nicer to listen to doesn't mean much when the Garmin is lost. More about that later.
3:35 pm - I love my Garmin! I spent a lot of time on Google maps building place markers of the locations we wanted to see - including our hotels. All I had to do was touch the place marker on the Garmin and then press 'Go.' Keith began giving us directions. Awesome! (again, later in the narrative this original thought becomes hilarious.)
3:50 pm - Oops - doggie pitstop. We are just barely out of town, directly east of Bellevue on I-29. We're going ... slowly.
Oh. Boz Scaggs - Lido Shuffle. On the iPod. Max told me to listen to the lyrics. It's not a 'clean' song. Good heavens, I've been singing this thing for 25+ years and had no idea. I'm not going to tell you what it's about, but yikes! But, there's a guy ... and he's trying to make some money and ... well ... sheesh! That made it past the censors.
We are definitely living in the electronic age:
Max and I are traveling with a Garmin, iPod, Kindle, 2 cell phones, 2 digital cameras and a laptop. I have two power plugs in the Jeep and power converters for both of them (AC/USB + car charger). What a riot!
4:14 pm - Mile 10 (Iowa). Stupid Sapp Bros. coffeepot breaking up the skyline. Ok, I'm heading for 50s Kitsch on Route 66. We just keep creating more and more, don't we?
5:27 pm - St. Joseph, MO. We thought we might stop here at the Bob Evans, but the Garmin says there is one in Kansas City (this begins the breakdown of my trust in this machine). I love this restaurant and can't find one in Omaha. When we head to Ohio to visit Max's family, I always beg for one Bob Evans stop. Yes, I know it's just another Perkins/Village Inn, but I do like it!
Riding in a car with Max and his music gives a person quite an education. Did you know Eric Clapton stole George Harrison's wife (Patty Boyd)? Layla ... its actually about her.
The Garmin told us to take an exit ... but it didn't make sense. As I soon discovered, the stupid thing wanted us to exit and then re-enter at the same area. Ummm ... what?
6:00 pm - The Garmin says that there is a Bob Evans at this location. I don't see a roadside sign for it, but we'll give it a shot. And this is what we found:
No, no, no, no, no!!! Back on the road for us. We're not that hungry anyway. We can wait.
And then ... the Garmin (Keith) made us a little crazy. We headed for downtown, I couldn't imagine why we were doing the trip this way, but hey ... I'm not the one with a map in my brain. All of a sudden, Max realized that he had programmed the Garmin to go the shortest route, not the fastest route. Yikes! I reset the programming and the Garmin decided to recalculate the entire trip. Whew! I'm glad he caught that before we got too much further!
6:54 pm - Ohmygosh! There's a Bob Evans (yes, I have been obsessing about this today). I figured that I wasn't going to get it and there it is in all of it's red and yellow glory. (it was too dark to take a picture) Breakfast and real sweet tea. Jennie - I had biscuits and Bob Evans sausage gravy. Ah ha! And I didn't need the freakin' Garmin to get me there.
7:45 pm - Alright, we are way south of Kansas City on Highway 71 now. It's time to head for the motel. The Garmin says 15 miles. Off we go.
Let's just say that the machine is full of ... ummmm ... crap. We followed the directions (at least it was in Harrisonville) and drove and drove. It took us off the highway, through town to another highway and then out in the country. Errr .. what? I'm looking at farms here. When it told me that we were .6 miles from the hotel, I got a little nervous. I had a picture of us in a rundown motel out in the middle of nowhere and men with axes and hatchets showing up in the middle of the night to make mincemeat out of us.
I breathed. And pulled out my paper copies of our locations. Plugged the actual address into the Garmin and we proceeded to retrace our steps and make our way to our home for the evening. A wonderful little strip motel - just off Highway 71 (where it should be). The room is really clean, there is fast wifi internet, a great place to walk the dog and Max is outside right now, shooting a picture of the moon. I think I will wait to post this blog until he comes back in and I can finish with that.
This has been a great day. We're excited about tomorrow. Lots of weird and wonderful things to see and do on our way.
3 comments:
Steve and Max have more music and sports info in their heads than any two people I know. I constantly get a musical history lesson from anything to do with the 70s...my husband, too, told me the Patty Boyd story. Gotta love 'em. My children were dancing to Styx tonight...oh so much I can't give them that he can!
geez Tracy, you are johnny on the spot...
ok, oracle, more pics prz!
Biscuits and gravy.... ahhhhhh. Matt says, "That's what we're having for dinner tonight!"
Post a Comment