Home Sweet Home

Sorry for the delay in getting this final post out there to let people know we’re back safe and sound, been a whirlwind re-entry to reality (besides, most the people reading this know we’re home anyway)...and one of the primary instigators of that whirlwind being the Wake game last night – which I’ll get to in a minute.

Yes, re-entry to reality has been a gradual, somewhat grueling process - case and point, I am actually writing a portion of this last post while standing in line at the DMV (plenty of time to fill there).  But as for the last leg of our trip, it sure was a surreal experience when we first got in the car to head home from Nashville and rather than programming some hotel address in the GPS we just hit the "Go Home" button.  Although we saved the longest leg of our trip for last it really didn't seem that way...Perhaps because we were traveling in familiar territory or maybe because there was the great end goal of being home (probably a combination of both, but more so the latter). I do know this too, I've never been so excited to see the likes of Gastonia (Gas-house!) as I did when it appeared on the signs for getting on I-85 for the last short stretch to Charlotte (which feels long every other time.! Another reason it didn’t seem so long (at least for me) was having the satellite radio to follow all the March Madness action on the first day of the tourney.
In an effort to get this out sooner rather than later, I’ll have to save some of the stories, pictures, and even video for later…but here are a few things to mention as I wrap this up for now:

• I should have kept a running log of this, but all throughout trip we made note of all the different states license plates we saw…So guess how many states we saw in total? Most people I’ve asked this to since we’ve been back have said around 18-20, but we actually saw 37 US States along with several from Canada! What really crazy was where we would see some of them, for example one of the first states we saw was Alabama, all the way in rural Colorado. Here is the entire list in its entirity in order of appearance...Colorado, Ohio, Kansas, Minnesota, Illinois,  Arkansas,  Missouri,  Texas,  Florida,  Michigan, Indiana, Montana, Wyoming, Iowa, Nebraska, Arizona, North Carolina, Alabama, California,  New Mexico, South Carolina, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Maine, Oregon, Utah, Tennessee, Washington,  Georgia, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, & West Virginia....and then also Ontario (more than once).


• To add to the real-life drama of the whole trip, on Thursday I got a job offer to go back to work for my previous employer (Velocity Sports). So in the midst of everything else going on in our lives add employment consideration and negotiation to the list.

• The final odometer reading was 52,350 so whoever took the under on 52,500 won the bet – and for those not wanting to do the math that amounts to a total of 1,850 miles traveled.

• Now back to the Wake game last night... For once Wake Forest provided for a moment of excitement in the NCAA tourney (albeit probably short lived with having face #1 seed Kentucky on Saturday). Seriously though, for those not aware of our plight, as long as I've been a fan we've had more than our share of crushingly disappointing showings n the NCAA tourney. Ran into Big Country Reeves and Okl State in the Duncan era, then got ‘Pittsnogled’ by West Virginia with Chris Paul, and of course don’t forget getting blown our last year in the first round by Cleveland State – and that was with two first round draft picks and another this year. Not to mention the fact that in both recent years UNC has won the championship (2005 & 2009) we've beat the eventual champs in the regular season only to do nothing ourselves in the post season. But for the record, I did take Wake to win in my bracket…Not that I was at all confident but I had Kentucky advancing in the next round over whoever won our game anyway and I just couldn’t pick against us. Besides, it pains me to say this but it’s true, we always play so much better when nothing is expected of us. It’s when we’re favored or highly seeded that we fall flat on our face. Going into last night I just wanted us to make a game of it and if we went out so be it but don’t just fall flat again…And for once we did exactly as I asked – and then some. Even though we tried our best to give it away, literally and figuratively, we somehow pulled one out for a change. Who knows what will happen tomorrow with Kentucky (a school that has several “WF notches” in its belt from knocking us out a number of times before), but last night alone already exceeded expectations so you never know, like I said we’re dangerous when discounted altogether.

To wrap this up for now, the trip really did go about as best as it possible could have…procedure was promising and the travel was without incident and actually enjoyable. Whether or not anything tangible will come of it remains to be see, but we now have plenty of intangible memories to last a lifetime that are priceless just the same.

St. Louie - Gateway to the West

Or in our case, gateway to the East...Greetings from Saint Louie, a very dreary beginning to the day in KC turned into a sunny and warm rest of the day in St. Louis – which is also a fitting metaphor for how we feel about the two towns. Drive only took us about 3 ½ hours when it was expected to take 4 ½ . So we got in town in time to enjoy the weather by venturing down to the Arch and Riverfront district for a bit…followed by a well deserved happy hour (for me) and dessert time (for her) – see pic below. FYI, for those with an itinerary, we’re not at the listed hotel…Last night after Catherine was asleep and after spending enough time at that Westin I called an audible and checked down to a tried and trusted hotel in St. Louie. We had planned to stay at a Sheraton complex (conference center, cheesy lounge, restaurant on top, etc.) in a suburb near the highway (think Ballantyne) but after being in a similar type complex in KC a (surprising for a Westin, this hotel should have been called a Sheraton), I thought better of it and opted for the Westin in Downtown St. Louis beside the ballpark. Very cool hotel in an emerging area, the hotel was built in a renovated warehouse beside the new Busch Stadium…Actually the hotel was here when the old Busch Stadium was still here before the new one was built. Anyway, the important thing was that this late night switcharoo was huge hit, Catherine was digging the area, the interior look, the spacious rooms, and elaborate bathroom with tub and glassed in shower (where my favorite thing was that there was a phone beside the toilet – not that I used it, but it’s good to know it’s there just in case). Stay tuned for a video, we will have to do a virtual tour of this one…But here is a picture of the view outside out hotel room.

Ohhhh schnappp (got to throw this in) while typing I just turned to a tie ball game b/w Carolina and William & Mary…I find it rather funny that Carolina was forced to put this game in Carmichael Auditorium rather than the Dean Dome. Think that was out of lack of support or a sense of pride not to taint the Dean Dome with the likes of the NIT – or both? And what’s up with the jersey change? Think they don’t want to taint the arglyes? (shoot, that can’t apply, they’ve been doing that all season). Looks like I’m jinxing them though…UNC up by 5 now (no comment).

Anyway, oh how things come full circle in life...I stayed at this hotel on numerous occasions when I traveled out here on the bank’s account running events around their sponsorship of the Cardinals. Now I can't help but wonder what my reaction would have been back then if you'd told me I'd be back her in 5 years on a cross country trek after our third trip to a Colorado fertility specialist and returning home in a Pathfinder (same kind of car I actually owned back then) I just bought at a CarMax in Colorado Springs.

Not to mention following that up by painting myself a bigger picture of my life at that time:

• Out of work for over a year, but in my third semester of MBA school. 
• Currently driving my in-laws' heavenly used 3rd car since Catherine is driving mine (or what used to be mine - really hers now since she's making the payments – thankfully to her credit).
• Started my own little sports marketing company promoting and marketing a tournament I hit my one and only home run in (sorry had to get that in there since I brought it up)
• Almost completely drained my airline miles and hotel points that I was acquiring at that very moment back in time
• But not regretful and probably better for it to be honest…and all worth it, regardless.

Anyway, we’ll be enjoying the second night in a row in a Heavenly Bed, and probably sleeping in because of it – plus, we’re not planning to leave ‘til noonish anyway.  Longer drive tomorrow to Nashville but looking forward to being around family, a free place to stay, and some home cooking – right Emily? Just kidding, no pressure – you’re travel schedule is comparable to ours and you’re actually having to coherently talk to people in interviews. So I guess that leaves Mercer to cook his wife and favorite in-laws dinner tomorrow night…besides, we're getting the Vail Valley Three band back together.

Before I go, I gotta share this freaky occurrence that happened to me as I was uploading photos I had emailed myself from my BlackBerry. So when I first went to my inbox and clicked on the email the following partial image showed up in the preview pane since attached photos show up in the body of the email…notice anything strange? See any type of optical illusion or something kinda like when Jesus’ image gets burned into a piece of toast? Any idea what it actually is?

Ok, now here is the full picture, can you spot it? What does it look like (open for interpretation)?  What is it?  Do you have goosebumps?

"We're Not in Kansas Anymore"

Well check Kansas of the list, we have now driven clear across the state (the wide portion - 410 miles). 

One random side note...I've always heard about "soft water" but I don't think I've ever experienced it - until now. The Hampton Inn in Hays, Kansas (or it may have been all of Hays, KS) had to have had 'soft water".  In my shower this morning it felt like I wasn't making any progress...In fact, the more I tried to wash off, the more slimy I got.  Eventually I just gave up and decided to use a wet wash towel to get the rest of the residue off.  Not a big deal, but another new experience...and it did provide something to entertain ourselves with in the car as we researched the difference b/w soft and hard water.

We made a slight detour into Manhattan, KS (a.ka. "the little apple") for lunch..I figured with this being a college town (Kansas St) we'd find somewhere a little better to eat than a truck stop off the highway..and we did, a lovely little bohemian old school pharmacy converted into a cafe and boutique.  Got the full college dining experience, had a dude with dreads fix my sandwich while a chick with pink hair and nose ring served us.

Several points of interest we passed by today, and by "passed by" I mean we saw signs for them on the highway, but educational nonetheless... 

• Abilene, KS. Birthplace of Dwight Eisenhower and location of his Presidential Library. Who knew?
• Hawks must be the State Bird of Kansas (it's actually the Western Meadowlark whatever that is)
• First stretch of interstate ever developed in the U.S...again, thanks to Ike!
• Greyhound Race Dog Hall of Fame
• Agriculture Hall of Fame
• Leavenworth Prison - maximum security prison, home of "bombers row" that houses the Ted Kanzinsky (Uni-Bomber), shoe bomber Richard Reid and former home of Timothy McVeigh until he was executed here.
• Enormous wind turbine farm alongside the highway...it had to stretch for 5+ miles with hundreds of these turbines (see pic below). While there's plenty of wind to harness here, I don't see how one of these could withstand a major twister?!?

Looking foward to a nice, thick, juicy steak tonight...Especially after traveling through the land of beef and seeing so many black angus grazing alongside the highway. There was this stout, yet lean one in particluar I saw in a pasture near Topeka that looked   d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s.


Catherine and the treatments are doing fine today...Nothing really to report, but today's sign that something might be working is that she took down an entire 12" margarita pizza for lunch and was already hungry again by 5:00...so for those looking for the silver lining, she might be eating for two (or three).

Couple pics from today...
 

First Leg Behind Us

Denver to Hays, KS=Done

After two 60 degree days, it began snowing in Denver today just as we were leaving...But we got out in front heading east of the storm and never saw another flake the rest of the day.  Following a quick stop at a local Bed, Bath & Beyond to get some pillows for the ride since Catherine wouldn't let me 'borrow' the hotel's pillows we hit the road for the heartland.  After 350 miles of looking at the exact same scenery (pastures & cows) we arrived in Hays, KS...this might be a small town, but it does have two exits off the highway and is actually the largest settlement we saw the whole way from Denver.  Salina, KS is supposed to be a bigger metropolis, not to mention the Wizard of Oz Museum it touts with signs on the highway, but it was another 200 miles away. There really was so little civilization along the way that we pushed on through lunch and just snacked on whatever we had in the cooler...As a result, I've never been so thrilled to see an Applebee's sign five miles outside of Hays.

Not much else to report...The car did fine on it's first road test and satelite radio came in huge for listening to NCAA conference finals and bracket announcements (Catherine was extremely really stoked about that aspect). 

Here are a few pics from today, hopefully we'll have more excitement to report after arriving to Kansas City tomorrow.

My view for 5+ hours today, it really never changed for the most part and don't expect to change much tomorrow either. (Sorry, boring picture, but I was bored and had to take a picture to entertain myself for all of 10 secs.)

Catherine's reclined setup, but inclined just enough to help keep one eye on the road and the other on my speedometer. 

Sign on the overpass as we entered Kansas, we also crossed into the central time zone but weren't quick enough to snap a shot the sign signifying it.  (To be honest, I would have been quick enough -even while driving- but my blackberry privedles had been revoked by this point.)

Now the real jouney begins...

After a successful transfer day on Friday, yesterday was a full day of bedrest for her, which meant full service nursing duties for me. So doing my best Gaylord Focker impression, I fixed food (or went to get it in some cases), cleaned the room (since we had to pass on maid service today), dialed up movies on the DVD, constantly adjusted the thermostat, refreshed beverages & snacks, and fetched anything else she decided she needed (nail clippers, magazines, medicine, kleenex, etc)...but gladly did it all with a smile of course and think I at least made the podium according to the female judge from North Carolina.   

By 5pm we had already watched two movies and two basketball games, of which we actually we both requested one of each (she wanted to see if Duke would lose, and I wanted to watch Couples Retreat - again.  But in my defense, it was that one again or a romedic comedy for the first time.  However, knowing I'd surely be watching some of the romedic, I did made sure to select one with Jennifer Aniston as opposed to someone like Diane Keaton).  The part of the day I'd been looked forward to most (back to the theme of striving for since of normalcy) was setting up the new car.  So I spent some of the afternoon tinkering with things in the car like satellite radio, bluetooth speaker, GPS, etc.  After that, I had to continue to stave off cabin fever so I hit the following spots to entertain myself...

For dinner we opted for Italian take out which resulted in Brio at the mall.  The food was good, but it made for a brutal experience picking it up - although I kinda suspected I had this coming to me. I just didn't know of or trust another Italian place around here. It literally would be like getting take out from the Brio at Piedmont Row in Charlotte (unless I'm unaware of temp parking out front in the circle). So I had park half a mile away, wait 20 minutes at the bar for it even though I called it in (but that did make for some good cougar spotting), and the food was cold once they finally brought it to me. Anyway, that's what we got a microwave in the room for.


About to start packing up the room and loading the car for the first leg of the journey to Nowhere, KS ('Hays' is actually the town name if that means anything to anyone). From my big Super Target run Friday we'll have an ice chest full of everything from organic milk to leftover PF Changs to stockpiled free Fat Tire from the hotel.  So with those rations and the rest of our trip essentials like books on tape, Mad Libs, my road trip playlist on Ipod, and Season Five of The Office that I found on sale at Target for only $17 (that's right, 26 episodes for $17, they're normally like $40)...and no, I will not be trying to watch the DVD while trying to drive, but still entertaining to listen while she's watching from her back seat lair. Besides, it would be a little dangerous to add that to the mix since I'll be busy fiddling with the GPS and texting on my BlackBerry - just kidding.

After two days of great weather with plenty of sun and temps in the 60's (which we couldn't really enjoy other than viewing out of our window), 8-12 inches of snow is expected to roll in by mid-day so we'll be trying to get out in front of the storm.  Although, it will be tough for me to head the opposite way of the snow...the ski places are getting up to a foot of fresh powder over the next 12 hours, with temperatures only in the 30's.  Not to mention our hotel faces west with views of snow covered peaks so I'm contstantly reminded of where I am and what I can't partake in (but really, I'm not bitter).


Over and out from Lone Tree Colorado...The land of Dorothy and Toto here we come!

Trip #3

Third and hopefully final trip to Colorado (at least for this purpose).

Day Two: Game On!


Transfer went about as well as we could have hoped for...Now the waiting game begins. After a minor scare with her having too high of blood pressure and body temperature (most likely brought on by anxiety) we were able to get those under control - i.e. valium and me fanning her down with magazines, along with her little booklet of soothing bible verses Melissa gave her.   The doctor we came all this way to see was the one to do the actual transfer (they rotate) and was very optimistic about both the condition of the "little suckers" and how things went. In all we were only at the clinic for about two hours...the good thing was that we had our own room and she didn't have to be transferred all over the place like before at CMC. Our room was even complete with a "Pure Moods" type CD playing, serene nature pictures on the wall, and current copies of Star and US Weekly magazines - perfect recipe, no?

Now it's back to hotel for 48 hrs of bed rest...I'll be busy playing nurse after a Blockbuster and Target run to stock up the room and the car for the trip. All we got is time on our hands now so feel free to call or text either of us...we'll be thirsty for entertainment and conversation.



Day One - Planes, Trains, and (new) Automobiles

Everything has gone relatively smooth to this point, except for flight from Denver to Colorado Springs...The flight was only 30 minutes long, but a small commuter jet combined with 30+ mph wind made for quite a roller coaster ride. I'll put it this way, it was rough enough for Catherine that had we originally been scheduled to fly back home, we'd probably be driving home now anyway.
Car purchase was rather uneventful as well. The Pathfinder was about what I expected from viewing it online...a few cosmetic scratches that would be expected on a 7 yr old car, but the low mileage and engine condition should make it seem like it's only about a 4 yr. old car - and thankfully it drives like it. There were only a few issues to work through, the biggest of which in Catherine's opinion was the non-matching floor mats. So I was able to get them to swap out the black floor mats for some charcoal gray ones that better matched the interior...Not like that was a huge negotiating victory, because I began to realize that I was in about as unenviable position as any car buyer ever could be. There we were, a thousand miles from home, having just arrived off a one-way flight, and this car was our only means of transportation while in Colorado as well as to get back home. Had it not been CarMax where they were stuck to charging me the sticker price, other car dealers would have salivated over having my vulnerable situation in their hands and begin tacking on all sorts of extra fees and charges. So my comprising position, combined with the fact that at CarMax you're paying the sticker price regardless of discovering any scratches you didn't see online meant there really wasn't anything I could do about anything - not that I would have, it all turned out fine. (Besides, I'd already paid a transfer fee to get the car here so even more reason that I was driving that car off the lot regardless).

Had to top off the day with our standard routine:  Free Fat Tire at Hotel Happy Hour, getting reacquainted with our friends on the hotel staff, and followed by trip to nearby PF Chang's. 

A few pictures from Day One...




Trying to relax in Denver Airport in between flights...also sitting back to allow medicine to take effect.

Sideline Marketing's first company car...President and CEO driving it off the lot.

First of my 'before and after' pictures with the odometter, stay tuned for the 'after' shot once we've pulled back into the driveway...I'll put the over/under at 52,400 miles (1900 for this trip).