Cellar Scribblings

[dejavu]

I'm in middle of Kansas at a hotel, soaking up the hi-speed internet before hitting the highway back to St. Louis.  Hopefully won't end up dead in Kansas City.  I despise driving through there.  Wish I could do it with my eyes closed.

What's wrong with KC?  Crime?  Or confusing highways?

Well, I might take a train,
I might take a plane,
But if I have to walk,
I'm gonna get there just the same,
Goin' to Kansas City...

[Mandy21]

It's the DRIVING THROUGH it that makes me a nervous wreck.  To stay on 70 East, you have to go this way and that, and suddenly move over 1 lane here and 2 lanes there, and don't forget the semis crawling up your ass, and don't hit the slowpoke grannies messing everybody else up, and avoid going through at lunchtime or when there's an event at Arrowhead, etc. etc.  Makes me crazy.

However, the traffic gods were with me today.  KC was nearly all my own, and I made the 6-hour drive in 4.5.  Home safe and sound again, and all is good.

[dejavu]

Oh, glad you're home.

I vaguely remember going through KC a couple of times.  Once as a kid, when my uncle, who'd worked there for a year or so, actually got lost and we teased him mercilessly.

And then I drove through it myself many years ago going from Denver to Philadelphia, and although I didn't get lost, I do remember that it seemed confusing.  The highways and lanes are probably worse now, 30 years later.

[CellarDweller]

Hiya BetterMost friends.

I don't even remember what I was when I found this, but I thought it was too cute, so now it's on my blog! 

Busy season has officially begun here at the bank, and thankfully I had an empty cube as of last week, because it's gonna be full again really quickl!



I'm thinking I'll be busy until mid-July.

Mandy, glad to hear that you are home, safe and sound!

[Mandy21]

Thanks, Deb and Chuck.  I don't travel 1/100th as much as the two of you, so even a 2-week road trip is quite a big adventure in my book.  Was lovely to be away, but it is good to have all the conveniences of home again.  Especially knowing there is a bucket of double chocolate fudge brownie ice cream in your freezer, available 24/7 whenever the need arises, ha-ha.  The town I was visiting completely shuts down at 10 pm, so such cravings would have to be scheduled well in advance, and then somehow squeezed into the 3" tall confines of a hotel mini-fridge.  Just wasn't happening.    Good news is that after about 30 restaurant meals and laying by the pool doing nothing for hours every day, I still only gained 1 pound.  Must have been something in the Kansas air. 

What's the next travelling adventure for each of you?  I'm thinking I'd like to go see fireworks on the 4th (my favorite holiday) somewhere I've never been before.  I've got some googling to do.  Suggestions welcome.

What is the impetus in the marketplace for a busy banking season, Chuck?  I'm curious.

[dejavu]

Good morning, Chuck.

Best wishes for staying on top of your pile of work.

[dejavu]

Hi, Mandy.  Next traveling adventurefor me is a bus tour out west (yes, we'll pass the St. Louis arch on the way home) in late July.  Nothing Brokie-related.  Starting in Pittsburgh, it will go through a number of states, as far as Wyoming, Utah and Arizona, going on a northern route (i.e. Minnesota and South Dakota) on the way out and a southern route (i.e. New Mexico and Oklahoma) on the way back.

[Mandy21]

Sounds like fun, Deb.  What a great way to see the country.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Hi, Mandy.  Next traveling adventurefor me is a bus tour out west (yes, we'll pass the St. Louis arch on the way home) in late July.  Nothing Brokie-related.  Starting in Pittsburgh, it will go through a number of states, as far as Wyoming, Utah and Arizona, going on a northern route (i.e. Minnesota and South Dakota) on the way out and a southern route (i.e. New Mexico and Oklahoma) on the way back.

That does sound like an interesting trip. 

Is it an escorted group tour?

[dejavu]

That does sound like an interesting trip. 

Is it an escorted group tour?

Yes, it's run by a company in Pittsburgh, and all the tours leave from there.  Lenzner Tour and Travel is the name.  I have traveled with them before.

They have two employees per bus or "coach," the bus driver and the tour director...often a woman tour director, but the tour director for the western tour is a guy named Joe whom some people say is good.  The office sets up the itinerary and makes all the hotel arrangements and some of the meal arrangements.  They are usually pretty well-run.

The coaches are comfortable, air-conditioned, have a restroom, and I've heard that the one used for this tour may have a table toward the back, for playing cards or games or whatever.  It will be such a long trip (15 days) that they will be doing things to keep people occupied on the road, I'm sure.  (Especially on the flat lands.)  Although so much of the scenery out west should be spectacular, too, so I don't think we'll get bored.