Traveling Adventures

Jason reminded me today that I need a new blog. I took a trip last weekend to Jason and Andrea's house to dog sit while they attended the funeral of Andrea's grandfather. The first day they left I had to show the house. Andrea called me and let me know that the realtor wanted to show the house at 2. When I answered the phone at 10 am, Cuddles and I were sitting in my car at Petersburg, Il eating a pork chop biscuit from Hardee's, which Cuddles throughly enjoyed having her own. I had to go to Petersburg to take care of some business, so I took Cuddles with me while Jason and Andrea were leaving for their trip. We had to hurry home and clean the house up and get the other dogs in the car. Of course, when I let Cuddles out Bonnie pushes her way in and runs under Jason and Andrea's bed. I tried coaxing, pulling, pushing, swearing anything to try and get the big beast out from under the bed to no avail. So, I cleaned until the last thing I had left to do was mop the floors. I called all the other dogs in telling them let's go bye bye. As I turned to step down into the kitchen, a big brown blur runs past me almost knocking me to the floor trying to get to the garage door first. They all ran down the steps to the garage and jumped up in my car. I left the car doors open while I mopped the floor. When I was finally ready to go Bonnie insisted she was riding shot gun. Herc and Rocky decided they would just sit on her, which elicited a growl and baring of her teeth. I took her by the ear and growled back at her and showed my teeth and told her they could sit where ever they wanted to. She accepted and let them lay beside her. We rode around, bought french fries that they ate as I sailed them through the air to the back of the car. I had an ice cream cone, but Clyde ended up with it after he reached between the drivers seat and window and licked it. After we rode around Chatham and Auburn for an hour we returned home with no more showings for the rest of my stay there--thank goodness! Three dogs and three elephants in a SUV are hard to control.

The leaves on the trees on I-96 going around Lake Michigan were wonderous, on fire, and breath taking. I recommend to everybody you must experience the trees up North during this time of year one time at least before you die. God out did himself up here. I guess it prepares us for the gloomy white and gray days of a long winter. I also got to experience the Northern Lights again this year. Another thing of nature that will astound you. At least this year I knew what it was.

During my trip I also caught up on my HBO series and saw a new one. Jason and Andrea have HBO on demand which I'm obsessed with! I had a "Rome" 8 hour marathon, since I had never watched it before. Good show. Interesting take on History. I'm hooked on Deadwood, Sopranos, and Sex and the City. Great writing in Deadwood if you can hear past the fucking this, fucking that. The use of old English is lyrical. The words used to describe are flowing and imaginative. The scenes can be quite ruff at times (many times) but worth watching. The reality of what it was like in 1876 in a gold rush town in the Black Hills of the Dakotas. What these people were made of that founded that part of our country. What they endured and lived through. I never thought about what kind of people it took to be a pioneer, until I lived in Wichita and experienced the wind, the dust storms, the snow and even today the isolation of that area of the US. I couldn't imagine crossing the plains in a covered wagon and witnessing one of those horrific tornados that that part of the country produces. Ten miles a day was a good day for a covered wagon. Houses that were made out of prairie sod, no wood, no trees to be found. What backbone and grit those people possessed.

One summer when we lived there I wanted the kids, Jason and Jessica, to experience the Rocky Mountains like I did growing up. Every summer a week after school was out Mama-O packed Jim (my brother) and me up and hit the road for our summer adventure. Aunt Sandra already had her life going with school and WT, so I don't think she was on those trips with us. I know there were trips with Mama-O and JD she went on with us, but I was too little to remember except for the puking part. Everytime I got in a car my day was spent pulling over to the side of the road to let me puke with JD yelling and cursing me for costing him travel time. Those trips weren't fun because they started at the crack of dawn and everyone had to be asleep by 8 pm with his horrendous snoring in the same room...sorry I digress... One summer Mama-O decided it was time for us to experience the West. She had finally divised a way to keep me from puking by putting a mattress in the back of the station wagon and letting me sleep. I remember Jim waking me up so I could see far off in the distance a snow covered mountain range. It was 90 degrees outside the car how could I be witnessing snow? Jim or Mama-O didn't wake me often, because it would take about 20 minutes before the car door was open and I was leaning out. So this was one of those "nature defining moments" for me. Something I knew if I ever had kids I wanted them to experience. When Jason and Jessica saw the same mountain range I had seen as a child, they were in awe and amazement too. It was 102 that day.

My life has had many days of travel in it. They say you get the parents you have to guide your soul, to help you prepare to make your journey through life, to help you reach your next plain in life, and I know that was true for me. My mothers traveling, constant rearranging of her furniture and constant moving of her living quarters made me unafraid to face many new "moves" and places to live. I used to think if only we could live in one place for the rest of our lives. Now I see how dull that would have been. No adventure, nothing or no one new to learn about. I can only hope my children will see their young lives, as a guide in helping them cope and learn about themselves. I keep reflecting on what your Aunt Sandra said at Mama-O's funeral, about how the last time Mama-O was able to drive, she remembered her pulling away with her little dog sitting up on the back seat ready for another one of Mama-O's traveling adventures. That's what life is. An adventure. Sometimes great, sometimes not so great, sometimes wonderful, sometimes heart-wrenching but always a trip.