The Birthday Party Trip

I'm happy to report that I have returned from my trip to far-off Utah, where I was priviliged to join with my Son and Favorite-Daughter-In-Law (FDIL -- she who discounts my protestations of affection on the spurious grounds that she is my ONLY Daughter-In-Law) in celebrating the 2nd birthday of my grandson, Jakob.

(By the way, FDIL was careful to bake a separate cake for Jake, which he enjoyed very much. Whatever you THINK it looks like, he is really eating chocolate cake.)

I spent three days driving the 900+ miles from Corvallis, Oregon, to the Provo, Utah, area; it took me only two days to drive back, because I was really tired of sleeping in cheezy hotel beds. I missed SWMBO, I missed my waterbed, and I missed my predictable work schedule.

Okay, so I didn't miss being at the office. In fact, I took today off for 'recovery time'. (More on that later.)

The Damned Old Ford (TDOF) got me there and back with no problems. Hrummph! I'm still fully prepared to hate TDOF, but I can't deny that I wouldn't have attempted the trip with the Geek Geep which I traded in on TDOF on July 1. It probably didn't hurt to take TDOF to Oil-Can Harry's for servicing before I left. Sure, it cost me a hundred bucks to make sure that everything worked as well as could be expected, but it was worth it for the peace of mind.

Before I left I went to the local library and borrowed some Books On Tape (actually, CD). I distracted myself during the 7-hour driving days by listening to Appaloosa, by Robert B. Parker (of Spenser For Hire fame), "The Dilbert Principle" by Scott Adams (BORING!), Martin Cruz Smith's "Wolves Eat Dogs" (you may remember "Gorky Park"; this is a continuation of Arcady Renko's adventures), and Lillian Jackson Braun's memorable "The Cat Who Knew A Cardinal".

I had brought four other books-on-CD with me -- including Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code" -- just in case, and I expect to listen to them, too, before I return them.

You may have noticed that I haven't provided a lot of detail about my visit with my son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren (which includes Connor and Lizzie.) That's because I don't feel obliged to talk about my family in this public forum. You may assume (properly) that I enjoyed the opportunity to see my son and FDIL, my Utah grandchildren, and the impressive state of Utah.

BTW, if you're driving to Utah from the NW via Interstate 84, you should be advised that the last 66 miles out of Idaho is entirely without gas stations. I filled up at the first Utah exit (Snowville) with less than 2 gallons left in the tank, because I had no idea that I should tank up at Burley, Idaho, before transversing The Great Wasteland.

Well, that pretty much describes all of Idaho ... at least, the SW part.