We Survived

Well, another year and another Canadian River Run behind us. No damage to my Jeep; drove it to Dumas and back without any problems. It was a great time of getting caught up with two of my best friends, little sleep since my feet were freezing cold every night, and angles of approach and departure that would get any heart beating faster. There was no video this trip, just pictures as you can see for yourself...

Canadian River Run 2007

Off to the river...

I made it back from K.C., unpacked, repacked, double checked things on the Jeep, loaded 'er up, cleaned up, and am back on the road. Canadian River Run '07...here I come!

Mmmmmmmmmm....

I have found a little slice of heaven in Kansas City.

Bravo! Cucina Italiana is a small chain of restaurants across the central and eastern parts of the U.S. of A. My friend/coworker had been talking this place up as one of the best places to eat that is close to our place of residence. We decided to partake in this culinary event this evening so that should anything go wrong, I would have a day to recover before having to board my flights back to the top o' the panhandle.

Two things to say: oh my goodness, it was meant to be.

First a disclaimer; I didn't have Italian food when I was there. The special for the evening was grilled trout over pan-fried red potatoes with fresh green beans. I was tired of "heavy foods" (such as all you can eat pork ribs and fried foods) and when the waitress said "trout", I was sold. By FAR, that had to be the best trout I have EVER had from a restaurant (in other words, 3c trout is still the best...you know - trout I caught, cleaned, and cooked or the 3c). Perfect flavor, perfect consistency (not too dry, not undercooked), perfect color. It was so perfect, the butter-lemon sauce did the trout injustice. The veggies were impeccable, the taters reminded me of the german-style taters my Oma would cook and the green beans were like those we would pick out of our garden and cook. I could have...no, should have stopped there...but I didn't

The waitress came out and asked if we wanted any desert and once again when she said "chocolate cake", I was sold. 5 minutes later, the Torta Di Cioccolata arrived. As the menu states: "Rich chocolate cake with warm center topped with vanilla bean gelato". Oh no. That is NOT what this thing is. Try a chocolate torte with a warm, gooey dark chocolate center topped with what most Americans would call ice-cream but in fact actually is more of a custard made with raw eggs and flavored with aged/authentic vanilla beans. All I can say: heaven.

So here I am sitting on the couch watching the latest "storm chaser" show on Discovery. All I can think of is a line Homer Simpson said: "belly button going from innie...to...outie...". Even though I'm a bit stuffed, it was well worth it.

Food coma...here I come.

More thoughts on KC

KC is definitely a different place. Different climate, different scenery, different people. Not in a bad way mind you, just different. I like the fact that it has rained twice in the last seven days as opposed to twice in the last three months. There is actually a change of seasons that results in the color of leaves changing to yellows, oranges, and reds as opposed from green straight to brown. There is terrain here, a gentle rolling of hills that makes for a pleasant drive around the outskirts of the metropolitan area. The people I have interacted with from KS/MO are friendly but not overly so; they won't stop and visit like folks back in the panhandle do. I'll definitely come back for classes and I might even try to visit a couple more times on my own. However, I don't think I could live out here.

I've grown accustom to the plains of the panhandle; where the land meets the sky. There was a beautiful "West Texas" sunset this evening but I couldn't truly enjoy it; there were buildings in the way and going outside of town still didn't allow that full-sky view of the colors. When I headed to the Kansas-side of town on Saturday to see where I briefly lived, the neighborhood was claustrophobic as the trees had formed a total canopy of the street, house, and yard. I couldn't handle not being able to look out the window and see the horizon or not being able to see what kind of weather would be moving towards me. Plus, that would be a LOT of leaves to clean up!

Then there is the traffic. Driving is once again an adventure as the sheer increase in the number of people on the road results in more idiots (you know, those who are driving 100 MPH talking on their cell phone while swerving in and out of traffic...) and random slowdowns as too many people try to merge into traffic. It is "too" busy here for me, people seem to be in a rush even outside of traffic. Stops at Cabela's, Chipotle, and Mimi's Restaurant had random people all in a hurry. People walking out because the wait was 10 minutes, people complaining their order of 16 soft or crispy tacos was taking too long (4 minutes !), people bumping into me as they pulled their kids behind them trying to cover the immense grounds of the Cabela's store. It just seems too fast-paced for me. I guess that's from having been in the top o' Texas for as long as I have.

When it is all said and done, I'll definitely look forward to coming back here. I've still got to get back to I.H.O.P. (poor scheduling on my part this trip), find the secret, hole-in-the-wall BBQ joint every good BBQ city has, and take in some of the more "nerdy" sites around town (a couple of science museums and historical sites). The rest of my evenings this week until I leave are booked so most of this will have to wait. As MacArthur said: "I shall Return."

A recommended form of transportation

As I mentioned in my previous post, I could have driven to K.C. which would have given me a vehicle to drive around in and enjoy the sights. However, my primary vehicle has seen it's better days and has a tad under 150k miles and my go-anywhere vehicle definitely ISN'T fun to drive on a 10-hour road trip. Because the place where I'm staying is within walking distance of the training location, the guv'ment doesn't authorize a rental vehicle meaning it comes out of my pocket. I wanted to have transportation to enjoy some of the good food and to get me back to IHOP on Sunday, so I decided to rent a car.

Also mentioned in my previous post was the fact that I arrived LATE Monday night (or was it EARLY Tuesday morning) thanks to flight delays. Once all the paperwork was filled out, I had to walk out in the middle of the night being very tired and select my car. Walking up to the first one I found, I looked it over, loaded up my luggage, and was off. It was a nice ride but I was ready to get to my room and hit the sack.

So, what did I end up getting you ask? Here it is:


In the gleaming sunlight the next morning on the way to training was a 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix GT. Leather interior, Supercharged V-6 with traction control, XM radio, Sunroof, and digital information center. Did I mention supercharged V-6? Having driven SUVs of various sizes for the last 10 some-odd years, I had forgotten how much fun it is to be behind the wheel of a vehicle that has some actual getup-and-go when it is pedal-to-the-metal. Granted, the supercharged V-6 isn't as powerful as the V-8 Mustang Cobra I drove at the drag races (once) but it did bring back some fun memories. However, I also forgot how low to the ground these sporty cars are and I had to re-learn how to get out of a sports car...you can't just slide out of the Grand Prix like you can an SUV.

Unfortunately I will have to return the car in 4 more days so I won't be giving the rental car my arm and a leg. With that in mind, I'll definitely be taking the GP out for a leisurely drive tomorrow afternoon with the windows down and the sunroof open as I explore K.C. and it's suburbs. It will be nice knowing that I'll be able to get on the interstate with all the crazy drivers in KS/MO thanks to the getup and go the Grand Prix GT has.

If you are traveling and need a fun yet reasonable rental car, you can't go wrong with the Grand Prix! Just be sure to get the GT model...or better yet, the GXP!

At the mercy of Mother Nature

Yes, believe it or not, once again I am writing to the two people who read this blog that I am back in Kansas City. It seems my unnamed employer once again decided to send me back to K.C. although this trip is not for testing software. This time I'm back in school taking a course on software support. Before your eyes start to glaze over as I try to explain what I'm learning, let's say that I'm learning how to work on the "engine" of our weather display software as opposed to testing how the "car" drives. However, I almost didn't make it.

Most people I visited with said that I should drive from the Panhandle to K.C. so I could have a vehicle to visit the sites and get around town. However, I've got our annual Canadian River Run that starts the day after my class ends. SO...I decided to fly. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal but my unnamed employer switched travel companies on October 1st and I was to be the guinea pig to see how this new agency works. Well, the folks are friendly but I had to fly the unfriendly skies...American Airlines.

In the past, I have had good luck with American but my luck ran out this trip. The plan was simple: leave at 9:30 in the AM and get to K.C. by 3 in the afternoon. A leisurely schedule in my eyes. Things fell apart before I even set foot on the grounds of the airport. My flight out was canceled as mother nature conspired to shut down DFW airport for two hours which pushed the EARLIEST time I could fly out to 4 pm. The travel agency said that EVERY flight out before then on EVERY carrier (except for Southwest as it turns out) was booked and I needed to take whatever flights American could get me on. Well, after some wrangling of schedules, I was going to be making it to K.C. at 8:30 as opposed to 3 pm which isn't bad. Or so I thought.

The flight out left an hour late as American was still trying to get caught up on flights but I made it to DFW with what was supposed to be a 1.5 hour layover. That's when things fell apart. The flight out to K.C. was delayed an hour. Then two hours. And then the plane arrives to take us to K.C. only to be grounded due to mechanical problems. Never once did American give us a straight answer; it was always "Your plane is still at the maintenance hangar and will be here in 15 minutes." Well, to make a long story short: after TWELVE "15 more minutes" (in other words...THREE HOURS), American found a plane, got it to the gate, prepped it for the flight and boarded us, and then took off. When it was all said and done, I didn't arrive to K.C. until 12:45 AM and wasn't asleep until 1:30. Oh, I had to get up for my class at 7 am also.

SO, what lessons have I learned? I'm driving to K.C. in the future even if it means 10 hours on the road. American needs to learn how to use multiple airports as hubs (such as Southwest) as opposed to one BIG hub at one airport. That way if your one BIG airport has weather and is shut down for two hours, you just reroute people around the weather (which Southwest can do to some extent...but they still have problems as well).

But I made it back to K.C. I'm here for a while and will be able to go back to some favorite places and spend an extended time back at I.H.O.P. on Sunday. That is after I get done with homework and a couple of take-home exams for this class I'm attending...