On the home stretch...
I was hoping to be home tonight. Everything was going just dandy until we hit a rainstorm in Indianapolis. Mother Nature put up a hurdle. I could have driven in the rain, but elected to pull over and take it easy. Tomorrow, I will be sleeping soundly in my bed with my Sammy dog.
On a good note, when I wake up tomorrow morning, there is a Starbucks right across the street from our hotel! What a way to start my day. Man, I sure have missed my daily Starbucks fix.
When I'm driving, sometimes my mind drifts, and I am reminded of the players themselves as I am driving through their neck of the woods, Gabe Owen from Tulsa, James Walden from Oklahoma City, Jeanette Lee and George Breedlove from Indiana, and then there's the Ohio contingency consisting of Corey, Aaron and Shawn.
Seeing so many Native Americans out West, I can honestly say I've only met two Native American pool players, "Richard Burton" a/k/a Rolling Thunder from Northern California and a player named Billy from Oklahoma, who actually play pool.
Oklahoma has really taken a beating from the heat. In the heart of the afternoons, temperatures soaring above 100 degrees, the poor cows are all huddled together under whatever tree they can find, packed like sardines. However, some Oklahoma farmers have man-made ponds for their cows. It's funny to see them wading in the ponds and enjoying laying alongside them as if they're sun-bathing at a retreat. Oklahoma also has a lot of horse farms. Sadly, some of the corn fields in Oklahoma were completely yellow, looking as if they got burned and were never picked. Out of all the States I traveled through, three of them stand above the rest in my eyes, and that's Oklahoma, Iowa, and Arizona.
Traveling through Missouri was eye-opening. We ate breakfast at a Cracker Barrel, and seated next us was a lady whose husband was in the service as a military policeman. She used to live in Gettysburg, which ain't too far from me in D.C. So we soon struck up a conversation. She said living in Missouri is very cheap. However, she can't find a job that pays more than 7 bucks an hour. She stated that what struck her about some of the native Missouri folks is that it seems commonplace to walk around town barefoot with no shoes, and in her opinion, some of the locals in her neck of the woods always seem to have dirty feet. That seemed odd to her. She's going to settle here in Missouri, though, because she's building a brand-new house, 4 bedrooms, for an excellent low price of $200,000.
The scenery in Missouri was pleasant until we got to St. Louis. I saw the big arch, but it wasn't quite as big as I had anticipated. Matter of fact, it's not much taller than the height of a roller-coaster. I got the chance to study it well as I was stuck in grid-lock traffic going through the City of St. Louis for a little over one hour. The city reminded me very much of Baltimore, as it's very old and well established, but one thing I did see that was unusual was flying trash. The streets were very littered and quite dirty. After driving at a snail's pace, studying the big arch for quite some time out of boredom, we finally crossed a bridge leaving St. Louis, but then we were met with a horrible stench, smelling like old rotten fish. Somebody needs to do something about poor St. Louis.
In Terre Haute, we pulled off to stretch our legs, smoke a cigarette, and get something cold to drink. There were two burly bikers sitting at an outside bench who were traveling on Harley Davidsons. They were the real deal. I thought they were both men, until I realized one of them was a very large lady with a beer belly, tatoos all over her, and a manly kind of face. Both of them looked weather-beaten. They said they were coming from Denver and on their way to Toledo. When I told them I was from D.C., the big one said, "I've been to D.C. It's an okay place to visit, but I sure wouldn't want to live there." LOL
I have enjoyed being exposed to other parts of this great Nation. If it weren't for my work, I think I would consider moving from D.C., and now I have several States that look attractive to me. I'm kind of envious of Ernest Borgnine who travels the country in an RV. What a great life!
JAM
rackmsuckr said:...JAM, hope all is well with you!
I was hoping to be home tonight. Everything was going just dandy until we hit a rainstorm in Indianapolis. Mother Nature put up a hurdle. I could have driven in the rain, but elected to pull over and take it easy. Tomorrow, I will be sleeping soundly in my bed with my Sammy dog.
On a good note, when I wake up tomorrow morning, there is a Starbucks right across the street from our hotel! What a way to start my day. Man, I sure have missed my daily Starbucks fix.
When I'm driving, sometimes my mind drifts, and I am reminded of the players themselves as I am driving through their neck of the woods, Gabe Owen from Tulsa, James Walden from Oklahoma City, Jeanette Lee and George Breedlove from Indiana, and then there's the Ohio contingency consisting of Corey, Aaron and Shawn.
Seeing so many Native Americans out West, I can honestly say I've only met two Native American pool players, "Richard Burton" a/k/a Rolling Thunder from Northern California and a player named Billy from Oklahoma, who actually play pool.
Oklahoma has really taken a beating from the heat. In the heart of the afternoons, temperatures soaring above 100 degrees, the poor cows are all huddled together under whatever tree they can find, packed like sardines. However, some Oklahoma farmers have man-made ponds for their cows. It's funny to see them wading in the ponds and enjoying laying alongside them as if they're sun-bathing at a retreat. Oklahoma also has a lot of horse farms. Sadly, some of the corn fields in Oklahoma were completely yellow, looking as if they got burned and were never picked. Out of all the States I traveled through, three of them stand above the rest in my eyes, and that's Oklahoma, Iowa, and Arizona.
Traveling through Missouri was eye-opening. We ate breakfast at a Cracker Barrel, and seated next us was a lady whose husband was in the service as a military policeman. She used to live in Gettysburg, which ain't too far from me in D.C. So we soon struck up a conversation. She said living in Missouri is very cheap. However, she can't find a job that pays more than 7 bucks an hour. She stated that what struck her about some of the native Missouri folks is that it seems commonplace to walk around town barefoot with no shoes, and in her opinion, some of the locals in her neck of the woods always seem to have dirty feet. That seemed odd to her. She's going to settle here in Missouri, though, because she's building a brand-new house, 4 bedrooms, for an excellent low price of $200,000.
The scenery in Missouri was pleasant until we got to St. Louis. I saw the big arch, but it wasn't quite as big as I had anticipated. Matter of fact, it's not much taller than the height of a roller-coaster. I got the chance to study it well as I was stuck in grid-lock traffic going through the City of St. Louis for a little over one hour. The city reminded me very much of Baltimore, as it's very old and well established, but one thing I did see that was unusual was flying trash. The streets were very littered and quite dirty. After driving at a snail's pace, studying the big arch for quite some time out of boredom, we finally crossed a bridge leaving St. Louis, but then we were met with a horrible stench, smelling like old rotten fish. Somebody needs to do something about poor St. Louis.
In Terre Haute, we pulled off to stretch our legs, smoke a cigarette, and get something cold to drink. There were two burly bikers sitting at an outside bench who were traveling on Harley Davidsons. They were the real deal. I thought they were both men, until I realized one of them was a very large lady with a beer belly, tatoos all over her, and a manly kind of face. Both of them looked weather-beaten. They said they were coming from Denver and on their way to Toledo. When I told them I was from D.C., the big one said, "I've been to D.C. It's an okay place to visit, but I sure wouldn't want to live there." LOL
I have enjoyed being exposed to other parts of this great Nation. If it weren't for my work, I think I would consider moving from D.C., and now I have several States that look attractive to me. I'm kind of envious of Ernest Borgnine who travels the country in an RV. What a great life!
JAM
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