July 6, 2008

Trip Report

Tuesday, 9 Promise 2008

[A Day Late And A Dollar Short post from the Funny Farm]

I made it back!

Pre Trip Planning Stage

Goals
There are two main goals of this trip:

1. Restock my mental state: Visit my good friend BartCop, celebrate the Mid Years' Holiday in the Midling Calendar, and get away from the office for a while.

and

2. Restock the tequila bar: I'm on my last bottle of Don Julio 1942, and the price differential struck me as noticeably large last time around. Plus, I know that I could always use a restock on mas finas Chinaco Anejo, Bart could always use some Chinaco (so I'll be getting a lot of it), and I'm thinking about changing up the lineup* slightly. The Chinaco is not available here in Michigan, and I'll have to get it on the way (I have ordered a case by phone from Binny's Beverage Depot in the past, and it has worked out rather well, so I plan on trying that again this time). Bart says he only wants a couple of bottles from this case, so maybe I'll have to find some way to distribute some extra tequila. I think I'm willing to take that risk.

Hopefully I'll also find some mas finas sweet corn at the Bixby Corn Fest, and get to bring some home as well. I was not as successful as I had hoped in keeping the corn I bought from Conrad Farms last year fresh on the journey home, and haven't still quite figured out how best to transport it for the thousand mile (plus side trips) journey home. I have five three coolers to pack the corn in while it stays in (and takes up pretty much all of) the trunk.

There's also the standard travel gear (extra clothes, footwear, toiletries, reading material**, and the personally required CPAP machine) to be packed. And the car is coming up on its' fifty thousand mile checkup, which should be done before I put another couple of thousand miles of pavement under it.

The journey involves a number of stops and a number of mini adventures along the way. I'm planning on gifting Zendaba Jim with a bottle of tequila and some sweet corn, and there's a rumor that somebody else would like to get picked up along the way and share part of the adventure.

Actuality

The car checkup was a disaster (quick note to Troy Honda: it's generally not considered good business practice to tell your customer, who's been waiting six hours into a quoted three hour [max] service, at 4:30 in the afternoon, that you've finally completed the stuff you told me would take you half the time to do, and that you've just found out that the brakes are 85 - 90% gone and should be replaced.) and caused a bit of anxiety about braking problems in the hills of Missouri. Plus it took up the first of my days off from work and frustrated me somewhat. Oh well...

The travel companion has been confirmed, and I'll be stopping off in greater metropolitan St. Louis to pick up Daddy-O and then drop him off on the way home.

The case of Chinaco has been ordered and is waiting for me in greater metropolitan Chicago.

The car has been packed, and I made a thermos of coffee for the start of the trip. All systems go!

The Trip To St. Louis

Due to Daddy-O's work restrictions, I don't need to worry about getting in to St. Louis until Thirsday night, so I can start things a bit late. I left Pontiac Wednesday late morning with a half a tank of gas or so. First fill up was on the western side of Michigan, and, as scary as it sounds, I'm pretty glad that I can still fill my tank for less than $40. I made it to Binny's around 4PM Central Time (hey! - I have an extra hour!) and decided to try and get out of metro Chicago before parking for the night. And I made it all the way to Pontiac before deciding to stop for the day. Pontiac, Illinois. I checked in with all parties in the party, made sure that everything was still on track, and went on the Snooze Cruise for a while. Daddy-o didn't answer, and I asked him not to call me until tomorrow morning if he couldn't get back to me within the next hour or so.

Out and on the road by brunch and putting the pavement behind me until a construction backup caused me to use my TomsLuck personal naggravating system and find a local eatery to recharge, reorient, and return to the road I need to get on to Daddy-O's place. Right after I get settled in I get the return call from Daddy-O, who is just about to leave for work, confirming the final details of the next phase of the trip.

I got to his neck of the woods in greater St. Louis a bit early, spent waaaay too much time fidning the local WiFi hotspot, and then spent some time surfing the internets and waiting for my expected arrival time. I also gassed up (under $40 to fill the tank) for the first time since Michigan.

At Daddy-O's

No need to get into too many details of Daddy-O's personal situation, other than to say that his wife of fifteen years plus (congrats) is a wondrous person whose strength and wisdom is a Basic Force For Good In Our Time in its' own right that seems to me to be one of the better things to happen to Daddy-O. At least, as far as I can tell from my interactions...

Anyways,... they had an extra bedroom set up, and I had a nice visit with someone who will hopefully be a source of positive personal interaction in the future. And we opened up one of the bottles in my case of Chinaco, which was to be consumed by all and sundry during the trip, and began consuming it. I also made final reservations for one night at the Hilton Garden Inn so we'd have a place to crash Friday night pre-corn fest.

To Tulsa And Casa De Bart

We left a bit late Friday morning due to Daddy-O attending a school function where one of his younglings was performing, and managed to make it to the Tulsa area around 4:30 PM. We called Bart, and, during the call, panicked and thought we had gone too far. So the TomsLuck personal naggravating system was activated again, and after going through a few small towns in greater metropolitan Tulsa, we arrived at our destination. Amazingly, the area around the hotel was so new that Bart had some trouble finding his way back to his digs!

Eventually we all made it to Casa de Bart. Tequilas were redistributed and opened, and part of Bart's Private Collection (incuding a bottle of Don Julio Real) were sampled. Mr. and Mrs. Bart had already made a trip to Conrad Farms, and some very tasty sweet corn, fine chicken, and baked potatoes made for a delicious late supper. Casa de Bart has a backyard water garden and a chiminea, and it was quite enjoyable maxing and relaxing with some kindred souls for a while. Daddy-O was offered the chance to play one of the signed by Les Paul Gibson guitars (the white one) in Bart's New York trip story, and I can now claim to have touched an authentic Les Paul autographed guitar.

We hopped in a cab back to the hotel and flaked out for a while. Morning toiletries complete, we packed the hybrid and headed over to Bart's general locale. The first visit to Mickey Dee's in years was the locale for him to pick us up and guide us in to his digs past the gates, where we made some last minute preparations, and gathered ourselves in his vehicle to drive to Conrad Farms (where I picked up five dozen ears of corn - a dozen each of five different varieties of sweet corn! - and I grabbed some peaches and some tomatoes for the ride home. Then it was off to Parkhill Liquor and Wines to restock the tequila bar. Getting three bottles of Don Julio 1942 (regular price $129.99 back home) for $73.99 each pretty much made up for the gas expenses along the ride. I also stocked up on Patron, El Tesoro de Don Felipe, and something new - Olmega Tezon anejo for $27.99. I also picked up a siz pack of Basement Pale Ale from the Boulevard Brewing Company, and another six of Ellie's Brown Ale from the Avery Brewing Company.

Due to some problems with the weather co-operating (and the distinct lack of enthusiasm of four old people getting wet at the Bixby corn festival), we chose not to attend the small town carnival and corn roast in Bixby. Instead we headed out to a very good Italian restaurant, had a good meal, gassed up (still under $40 to fill the tank!), and headed home.

The Trip Home

We made it to Daddy-O's place sometime around 10-11PM Saturday night, unpacked his stuff, and bid each other a fond farewell. I still felt like driving for a while and so got myself past Effingham, IL that night, took a nap, then started driving again. I made it to Zendada Jim's place in greater metro Chicago early afternoon, gifted him with a bottle of Don Julio 1942 and three ears of each type of sweet corn, and had a refreshing (but altogether too brief) visit with him and his family, then headed back for home. The last gas fill up took place in western Michigan once again (and was still inder $40 to fill the tank!), and then made it back to my digs wothout incident.

The Aftermath

Mas finas sweet corn for supper for the first few days back. I still need to figure out a better way to transport this stuff from Tulsa to Pontiac without losing its' freshness - by day three the corn was getting tough. I did manage to get some freezer packs of frozen Bixby corn (boil corn, let it cool down a bit, then slice off the kernels from the cob, put 'em in a freezer bag, then toss that in the freezer until you want some corn with your meal. It's like Green Giant frozen corn, but much much better!) put away amidst my pigging out on fresh sweet corn. The tequila bar has been restocked, a new lineup is in place***, and all is well.

Total cost of the trip was under $300 (gas, hotel rooms, food, and tolls), and half of that amount was partially subsidized by my travel companion. I saved over $150 on those three bottles of Don Julio 1942, and picked up some premium Chinaco (which I can only get out of state) along the way. I met a new friend who has been making noises about traveling to WhaleFest in early 2009 with me should I decide upon that road trip (which I have almost already decided upon). I got a chance to touch a Les Paul autographed Gibson guitar. But most of all, I got a chance to visit with the owner of the finest tequila treehouse on the internets and his lovely spouse.

* - the bar at the time of pre trip planning included (all anejo) Don Julio 1942, Don Julio, El Tesoro de Don Felipe, Conquistador, Corazon, Tres Generaciones, Don Eduardo, Herradura, Patron, Sol Dios, and Chinaco.

** - this trip's choice is an old fave - David Brin's Earthclan.

* - the new bar includes (all anejo) Don Julio 1942, Don Julio,Corazon, Sol Dios, Herradura, Conquistador, El Tesoro de Don Felipe, Chinaco, Patron, Don Eduardo, and Olmega Tezon.

Posted by (: Tom :) at July 6, 2008 8:54 AM