Tales of the Ordinary Days

Durango mug shots We are a week into our Durango adventure. Larry and I arrived last Tuesday night. On a scale from 1 to 10, we ranked our road trip an 8 for our 1,200 miles cross country together. Keep in mind, this is blended rating for our trip. By 5 pm last Tuesday, when we arrived at our storage unit in Durango after four days of driving, we were done. We were at a low score of a five. I was driving too fast. Larry was driving too slow. Four days on the road and we were delirious. And then Garrett interjected into our scene. Cool. Calm. The peacemaker. The three of us worked together to unload Larry's truck into the storage unit before dark with his U-Haul trailer returned shortly thereafter. With a visit to a local craft brewery and a warm dinner later, we were all good. Our new trio + Zeke was revived and ready to embark on our new adventure. Yes, all is good in the world. It is amazing what a good night's sleep and unpacking can do for a person. Fast fo...

Prosecco and Scotch kind of night. We are in Colorado!! Three Hampton Inn stays, four states covered, two time zone changes, seven McDonald's stops, one ice storm endured, and 1,085 miles logged. No, Dorothy, it certainly isn't Kansas anymore. After 400 miles across Kansas and a Mountain Time switch, we crossed the Colorado border early this afternoon. With sunny skies and dry roads, it was a drastic change from our crawl into Junction City, KS last night. With me following Larry in his pick-up + U-Haul, our speed was at a steady 40 MPH last night as we navigated over icy bridges on the Kansas Interstate stretch. My last count was seven cars and one semi that had slid off the road. The temp dropped to a perfect ice storm of 28 degrees. Not cold enough to turn to snow, but not warm enough to avoid icing over. Although mentally spent, we made it to our hotel destination safely. With a quick dinner and the viewing of a Packers impressive game start, Larry was down for...

Old Guy and me We did it. Somehow, someway...with a lot of help from a lot of wonderful people, we got my father-in-law moved out of his long-time home in Monterey, Indiana. I flew in last Monday to assist with the move. Larry and I 'flew out' today, via our packed vehicles and a stuffed U-Haul trailer. Oh what a week. Let me start by saying that I have never met Larry's mom, Mabel, nor have I met the prior owner of his house, Agnes. But I now feel like we are intimately acquainted and I am grateful for the experience. I have also relived the years of Larry's ex's and Garrett's ex through the house cleansing process. Photos, cards, memorabilia from trips...you name it, I've been through it. As Larry and I reflected over wine and steak tonight, so much of our journey is lived in a home. A journey full of people who have walked by our side. The home being the ultimate holder of these memories. Now I need to digress a bit on Mabel and Agnes and the m...

This is Us I don't even know where to start in describing this day. Our day for Smokey. A random Facebook event post. A trip to get a signed wine bottle at a grocery store. A missed movie. A bunch of strangers. An aging R&B icon. A really long wait. A group of new friends. Yeah. It went something like that. The story starts with what we thought would be a quick stop for a Christmas gift. We were also hoping for a picture with the famed singer, Smokey Robinson. All these hopes were to happen on December 21st, which also was the last Saturday before Christmas. Hopes and dreams. The event of note came to our attention through Facebook. It was advertised as a wine bottle signing from 2-4 pm at a nearby Albertson's grocery store. Who knew Smokey had his own wine line? I didn't. But Facebook is always there to remind me of obscure happenings like these. My cousin, Bill, saw the post and after an exchange of texts, we added to our calendars. It sounded like a ...