It's My Life

I'm Home, Mom!

Just a quick post at 12:40 am on Monday. I'm home. Rain or drizzle since Des Moines. Night!

Story City Iowa

I'm at another rest stop - this one in Story City, Iowa and about three hours from home. Got a pretty good signal here; enough to keep three instant messaging sessions going plus this browser window for the blog.

I had a bowl of soup about 30 miles ago so I could take some more medication for this cold. It must have some caffeine in it cause I am so not tired yet. Going to go tell my friends bye-bye and hit the road again. Laters!

I'm Blogging at a Rest Stop...

They aren't at all what they used to be. I'm at the first rest stop on Interestate 35 Northbound. There is a wireless connection in here in addition to the banks of phones and soft drinks and toilets. It's a busy one, too, with both doors swooshing behind me.

I had Yahoo IM going long enough to talk to someone for a few exchanges. Won't reconnect though. Silly but I'm not the techie in charge of this network and hey, it's a really neat service.

I'm charging up my phone as I ran down its last few minutes talking to someone else this afternoon. And that's a good thing, having someone to talk to and keep my mind alert. People to laugh with is always a good thing - but I'd not made sure my battery was fresh after the drive down. Dopey me. So few minutes here is a good thing.

I'm about an hour out of Des Moines and then it's what, about four hours home?  I may be napping somewhere, you know?

I had a good brunch at the School of the Ozarks' conference center, with Mom and Bruce. The Keeter Center is one of the loveliest conference centers I have ever been in; go look at the link and tell me you agree. Nice people working the dining room and yummy food, too. We later snuck a look into one of the loft suites and let me tell you, this isn't some place you'd go and then not spend a lot of time in your room. I'm thinking romantic get-away myself. Hey, Van?? Interested in a weekend down there? They have a neat museum if you need to get away from the huge bed, the jacuzzi, the fireplace and me. <grin>

I'm going to hit the road now. Cheers!

Toddling down the road

Hi!  Got Ginny safely back to Rolla - my thanks to Jason who did most of the driving so I could cough and hack and wheeze in the back seat. Gag but I hate head colds. This one is more like bronchitis now. Sexy voice and red nose - woo, baby.

Memories of the road:

Outside of Harmony, MN, I got pulled over for speeding. Which I was, I admit, since it's such a long drive and I was fresh yet. Got a warning from the patrolman and a teasing from Van and Ginny.

We got stopped in Small Town Somewhere by a Christmas parade, complete with Santa on the fire truck. Its route was right down the highway so we had to wait; and I got candy thrown at me!! I guess I was a good waver? It was probably today since the families are already together, so a great time to throw this parade.

At a rest stop south of Rolla, they have self contained handwashing stations. When you put your hands inside the enclosed sink area, it first dispenses soap, then water, then shuts the water off and the blowers start up. Pretty neat! The woman next to me was tickled by it all as well. We had one of those "I know you, do you know me?" moments where we connected over something that struck us as funny at the same time.

The lovely ladies at the Comfort Inn here in Springfield made my night by telling me I looked tired and giving me support and sympathy while I checked in. Thanks, Lovely Ladies!!

Driving by a motel on the highway that looked like it was advertising itself as a place for one-night-stands. Red lights in the parking lot and lighting the sidewalks. Weird.

Driving by a big plant for Prime Trucks that was all dolled up for Christmas. Lights in trees and around trucks and static figures and a couple of phrases like "seasons greetings!" I came off the highway and had to slow down a bit to enjoy it. All the silver and red lights (or gold and red, maybe) was causing several of us to slow down. Fortunately it was a three-lane highway at that point so they could just go around.

OK, enough for now! Cheers!

Catching up post

Well...yeah. So much to say but most of it just drivel about myself and all. Read in Kathy Sierra's blog that I should be making my blog only 20% about me and 80% about other people if I want to pull in an audience. And it's nice having something here for people to read.

The Iron Rose blog continues to pull in readers and I'm very happy about that. I'm talking to some of them privately but mostly it's via the IR email list and comments.

I'm taking Ginny home after thanksgiving and plan to visit my mother, but until I get a bit more information from Ginny, not sure what that will be. I took the day after that weekend off, though, so I have some freedom.

More later!

Wet Day at Home

8:52 am - It's the opening day of deer season so Van is working. I'm cleaning - about to tear into the bathroom for a nice scrubbing and all. I've been moving stuff around since 7 am, after having a good meal of scrambled eggs and ham.

Opps. Oncall phone went off.