Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Morning All,

It's 7:30 something here in Abilene, KS.  I haven't quite made it to Denver yet but will be getting there soon enough. The goal is by 3pm mountain time (5pm EST). So by the time you get out of work, I will hopefully be signing a lease and sitting in my furnitureless new apartment!  Today is a big day. :)

The trip so far has been good. Barely any traffic and pretty decent weather. A few times it has rained so hard that you couldn't see the front of the car, but those storms usually lasted 10 minutes or less. Not really a big deal.

So far I've stopped in Columbus, OH, Louisville, KY, O'Fallon, IL, and now, Abilene, KS.  The only thing to report about Columbus is that gas was only 3.17 per gallon (wow!).  Other than that, we didn't see much of it and it was kind of boring.  Sorry LD, your city gets a 3/10 stars.

On the way out of Columbus, we drove through Cincinnati which seemed like a pretty cool city.  Lots of cool architecture (from the highway).  I wanted to stop and get some chili but first of all, it was 10am and secondly, Bryan didn't pick up his phone in time to tell me where to go. Oh well.

Louisville was a good time. I didn't do too much there besides see my cousin AJ and meet his 2.5 year old daughter Abigail.  She's incredibly cute.

AJ is going through a rough time right now but overall seems to be doing alright. He's happy with his daughter and was in high spirits when I saw him.  It was good to reconnect with my long lost cousin (it's probably been a decade) and his daughter.

After Louisville it was on to O'Fallon, IL to see my uncle and his family.  They made some incredible St Louis style ribs.  After several plates of ribs and more beer than i should have had (try the new 6.0% black crown), I went to bed fat and happy.

Upwards and onwards to the Arch in St Louis.  It's pretty freaking huge.  It's pretty impossible to get the whole thing in one picture from anywhere near it, but Brian got a good shot from the highway.

After St Louis, it was on to Kansas City.  Let me tell you...driving through Missouri is pretty damn boring.  If we hadn't stopped off to fuel up, and gotten a little lost off the highway, we never would have found these two guys!

1.21 gigawatts?!?!

Giant gorilla in front 

of an Adult Novelty store.

Andy would have loved them both...

After that, we stopped in Kansas City to get some of the barbecue that I had heard so much about.  Unfortunately, Monty wasn't around so we didn't get to see him but let me tell you what, the pulled pork sandwich that I got might have been the best I have ever had. Jack Stack Barbecue (jackstackbbq.com) ships nationwide, and honestly, I may order it when I get to Denver if their bbq isn't up to snuff.

Like i said, now we're in Abilene, KS.  There's not much here to do but drink so alcohol is super cheap.  Last night I got a $4 liter.  Yum.

So yeah...that's been the trip so far. Like I said...Denver a little later today.  

I miss everyone terribly and can't wait to see a lot of people in late July and early August.  Till next time,

j