1) Tornado/flash flood/flood/storm warnings were splattered across the Southwest when we woke up, so instead of waiting, we decided to leave immediately. Consequently, we found ourselves driving right through the middle of the storm. By this time, we figured that the sky would soon, without a doubt, run out of rain, but it didn’t. Missouri doesn’t get rain like this. I assume this is what it is like to live in Seattle, except warmer, and I’m not a fan. Finally after three hours of wet/treacherous/terrifying driving, the sun burst through the clouds for the first time in three days. I think Florida must have known we were leaving, so it decided to become sunny again. Thanks for nothing.
2) For lunch, we once again stopped at Cracker Barrel. Right when we sat down during both our visits to Cracker Barrel, Papa immediately handed either Grammy or me the peg game to see if we can do it. If you don’t know what the peg game is, it is a little triangle board with lots of pegs in holes, and you try and jump pegs one at a time until you have the fewest pegs left in the board. So, both Grammy and I could only get it down to three pegs. The first time we went to Cracker Barrel, Papa “ran out of time” so couldn’t play the game, but he said he could get it down to one peg. The second trip, we made Papa do it and he only got it to three pegs, too. Grammy said that my dad made her a peg game one time, so we’ll have to get it out of the basement to practice for next time. My dad used to be a hippie and made all these wooden things like peg games and dulcimers; well I guess he kind of still is a hippie, but at least he wears shoes now. Mom said that the first time she brought my dad home to meet Grammy and Papa, he brought a tent and camped in the backyard. Though Papa thought my dad was crazy at the time, he recently joked with Grammy and me that if he and Grammy separated he was going to buy an RV and park it in the backyard. And he was still going to come over to Grammy’s for meals.
3) Our Mizzou Tigers made it into the Elite Eight, so they played Connecticut this afternoon at 3:50pm. Since we were in Middle-of-Nowhere-Mississippi, we didn’t have access to a TV, so we listened to it on fuzzy AM radio. It was pretty intense. Papa was driving, which was probably wise since Grammy and I get really active and antsy during sports games. I mean, we have to have our hands free to hex the other team! Anyway, this game was close, because our Tigers are good at catching up and pressuring the other team, especially during the second half. Once Mizzou’s score got within 6 points of UConn, Grammy and I were practically bouncing around the car, so we decided to try and find somewhere to watch the end of the game. Games are better when you can see them, that’s all there is to it. Grammy kept yelling to Papa: “Find a bar, William! We need to find a bar!” so, we turned off into a town called Mendenhall in search of a sports bar or an Applebee’s. We drove around town and there was not a single bar. In the entire town. Now, being from Missouri, this was quite shocking because I think that every city in Missouri has at least one bar. Take my favorite town, Rosebud, for example. There are only a few hundred people in the town, but they have two bars. Anyway, I guess dry counties do exist. So, in our defeat, we went and sat outside a gas station to finish the last seconds of the game. Unfortunately, though we put up a good fight, we lost by just a few points. That’s ok, though. Grammy and I are still proud of you, Tigers!
4) We ate at Applebee’s for dinner since we searched so hard for one earlier this afternoon. After we ordered our meal, we bought a shamrock to support muscular dystrophy, so Grammy and I spent the meal deciding what name we should write on our support shamrock. We decided on “The Terrific Trio” and our shamrock will live forever in the hearts of many.
Those signs ARE clever! I'm impressed.
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