The Adventures of Fred: Road Trip
- Fred!
Update from the road here today. We Di decided that we’d go to Mom’s house for Labor Day. Normally, in the past, this then would have truly been a weekend of Labor. However, thanks to many long weekends in the past, Mom’s house remains ready to sell (anyone need a really great house in Illinois?)(silent ‘s’).
By now many of you have vicariously experienced my Epic Vacation from Hell here, and know the depleted enthusiasm we now have for road trips. Even the 5-hour journey to Mom’s pushes the limits of tolerance. I can also tell you that there are more exciting drives to be had than the one across Missouri. Not that Missouri is a bad place. The roads are well-maintained, but they’re awfully straight. There’s not a lot of variety to the scenery either, and out in the middle-ish part the number of radio stations drops to three-ish.
Anyway, we made it just fine. Di endured several naps while I remained awake and driving. Fred elected to come along since he’s not been on a road trip for over a year. Normally Fred travels in my carry-on for Army travel. Initially this was an issue but I explained about TSA to him and how they’d probably either profile him or freak out about his lack of pants. So Fred kicked it on the dash, getting some sun. Which is easy for him without his pants. He offered to drive but I pointed out that his wee little legs wouldn’t reach the pedals, and that I thought we’d covered that on a trip to Fort Campbell.
The point here I suppose is that for anyone concerned out there, both Missouri and Illinois are still there and they look much the same. I had a reflective moment while driving – well, actually about 360 reflective moments of driving – that it had been a while since I’d been out. At first I was trying to figure out how to drive without pants myself. After that, I was trying to rack up some good rants to unload and realized that this entire three-month blog effort to date has been completely between visits with Mom. We’re looking forward to a good visit with no house projects.
BrainRants 
September 2, 2011 at 13:46
Don’t worry about Fred. The wife and I travel with a stuffed animal entourage. It actually helped us get into Canada a couple decades ago. The border guard was gonna tear the car apart, spotted the stuffies, and hurried us through the border while whispering the whole time. (No way EITHER one of us was gonna tell him we had no kids….)
Dude, dead serious now. Where is the house in Illinois? I’m in temporary financial exile here in SE Ohio, but am a lifelong Chicagoan (well, Chicago-area-an) and DESPERATELY want to get back there! I am SO bloody homesick, not having been able to travel for the past 10 years.
(And though I love Illinois, I will definitely agree – I-55 to St. Louis could put an espresso-loving insomniac to sleep! 😀 )
September 2, 2011 at 14:32
House is in Springfield, which is a good 2 hours from Chicago. Not a kid-friendly one – kinda small.
September 2, 2011 at 14:49
Please, PLEASE contact me offline! A small house is great, we have no kids, 1 dog, and 7 cats – though we could easily leave some of the cats behind with friends down here. I did a consulting stint for Illinois Department of Revenue, so I know Springfield okay (though 25 years out-of-date). I’ve also been to U of I Cham-Bana and the other campus that currently escapes my sieve-like memory. Gimme an Email shout, and we might just get that house sold!
September 2, 2011 at 15:34
Let me research this. I can’t find the web site; probably went to my military account. Been on the market since about Feb/Mar, but this market blows rotting oatmeal.
September 2, 2011 at 15:53
Oh, I know about the housing market all too well. The house that shares our driveway just cannot sell, so we keep having shifty redneck families rotating in and out. I wanted to be out of this area a year ago, but sadly, not yet.
Take your time, no rush, but DEFINITE interest! 😉
September 2, 2011 at 16:29
sent link. check email.
September 2, 2011 at 16:36
Got it. Thanks VERY much!
September 2, 2011 at 17:10
Roger, got it. Offline now with your on this topic.
September 2, 2011 at 22:20
Happy Labor Day!
September 3, 2011 at 08:23
Thanks!