After an absence of two years, VWife and I made the 800 mile journey to Indiana from the VunderLair, deep in the Great Dismal Swamp of North Carolina. The occasion was VunderKind’s 21st birthday, which I was publicly on record as saying I would not miss, even if it meant hitchhiking and turning tricks to finance it all. Fortunately, I could afford to drive the van and pay my own way.
We left late Thursday morning, the two of us and our two dogs Loki and Freya, who will always be the functional equivalents of your basic three year old toddler. Besides the usual amount of luggage for a 5 day trip not counting road days, there was dog stuff to take, as well as a week’s worth of groceries that never get et because VWife always wants fast food. Next time, I’m considering U-Haul.
After an overnight in Charleston WV, we left town looking for a restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives located in Olive Hill Kentucky to have breakfast. After a classic misdirection typical of Mapquest, the joint was located about 8 miles from the dot on the map. Typical of our luck, the power was out for about 3 hours when we got there, and they were closed. We made Indianapolis Friday afternoon, and made a brief stop at my MiL’s house to announce our arrival, then headed to the far northeast suburbs to stay with VWife’s BFF Eileen. Eileen is who we worked with when we did Boxer Rescue in Indiana, so by definition, her house is dog friendly. The place was packed; the two of us, Eileen and her hubby, our two dogs, her 3 regulars, and her foster.
The foster was a wild one. Despite having been fixed, he kept trying to hump Freya, and his equipment was functional. I was proud of her, because she finally went after him and put him in his place, so he humped no more. The social dynamics of a dog pack are very fascinating to me.
Anyways, VKind had to work Firday night, so we didn’t see him until Saturday morning, when we met him for brekkies at a place we used to go to quite frequently in the old 'hood. We got there before him, and we seated at a table attended to by a very cute and very young waitress. I muttered to VWife that I’d like to fix her up with the kid.
We waited a few minutes. VunderKind walked in spotted the waitress at the same time she saw him, and she yells in a happy excited voice, “Bobby!” Then they bear hugged right in the middle of the place.
Hmm. He seems to know her already… I love it when a plan comes together. He sat down with us, wearing a big ol’ shit-eating grin.
You long time Mumpers may remember a story from shortly after we moved east about VKind leaving work at a previous job, waving at a girl, and hitting a parked truck in the process. Turns out our waitress is that girl. Small world. To make it even smaller, she’s the roommate of the daughter of his current boss, and Vkind’s boss is doing his damnedest to fix him up with his girl.
I asked him back when he hit the truck if the girl was cute, and he gave me a pained look at the time that was a combination of embarrassment and “Hell yes. Are you stupid?”, which I never forgot. To twist the knife in the present tense, I told him she was worth wrecking his car over.
Saturday, I did a solo side trip to the land of my upbringing to see my sister, assorted aunts/uncles/cousins, and my BiL’s family who are all family to me in the most general of sense.
My sister and I got into an insulting contest, ripping on each other like we haven’t done since we were teenagers, and it had both of us laughing so hard we were crying. The margaritas helped. I was sloshed on two…
Monday was the big day. After going back and forth several times about the place between my kid and his aunt, he won out and we went to another hole-in-the-wall we used to frequent, and the rest of the family still does, for pizza and adult beverages. His first two legal drinks were a dark microbrew I loved but he hated, and something called a Dirty Bastard, which both of us loved. Dirty Bastards somehow seemed appropriate.
I was drunk by the time I got to the bottom of mine, and I wound up drinking both our brews on top of that. I wasn’t that much of a lightweight in college part 1; having my plumbing redone has turned me into a cheap drunk.
Tuesday, I spent time in the morning fixing stuff at Eileen’s house because her hubby has no clue about handyman stuff. Late afternoon, we picked up the kid, and headed to Danville IL to visit with my stepmother. We visited a long time, and she sent us back with boxes of books, yearbooks, trinkets, and newspaper clippings he had collected through the years. We had a good ol’ time, and I gave her a paper copy of my fire tales I post here.
We left Wednesday, and got home Thursday after another overnight in Charleston. Nothing to report on the return trip, except we hauled back more shit than we took, and the place in Olive Hill was open and had lots of cars in the parking lot as we drove by.
Here’s a picture of my slightly loopy Birthday Boy, cuz I know y’all would ask.
I take it y’all didn’t eat at that place in Olive Hill, KY.
