- giddy up -

-| Did Somebody Say VACATION? |-
[Let's Roll!]

I called Aaron a multitude of times on December 5th, practically all night. Why? Why not! He was leaving on vacation, which he failed to tell me until the last minute. Geez - he didn't even ask me to watch MY cat. So I figured, why not bombard him with questions? Where are you going? When are you coming back? Which highways are you going to take? Etcetera. Of course, of all the questions I asked, quite a few he hadn't even thought about; which was causing him to go totally insane. Ever so often I would hear him say, "Oh crap!", and the phone would go dead. I knew he had list after list of precisely what was going to happen on his trip; which grew longer each time I called back.

That night after Sharon left, I decided I was also in dire need of a vacation. It was too late by this time to call and receive vacation approval so I figured why not ask in the morning and see what happens. I fell asleep with a smile on my face knowing I would throw a big wrench in Aaron's plans by showing up at his house in the morning unannounced.

I am standing in his living room and in walks Aaron with this weird expression on his face. He always looks like this when he's in the middle of his "schedule" and something unexpected happens. (I'm sure he fell asleep last night with this same look.) He also knows something is up, because I hardly ever show up at 6am. "Dude! when are we leaving?" I ask. "We?", he responds. I pick up his phone; call work and "BOOM" instant vacation. Hanging up the phone, I look at him as he shakes his head mouthing, "unbelievable". Smiling, I say, "Yeah man, WE." So off we go with Aaron still dumbfounded about how I was able to get so much time off in such little notice. I'm just good that way.

Traveling state-to-state, you see some really unbelievable sites. Taking a detour to visit the beauty of this country is NOT something you can get away with when traveling with Aaron. Once during a road trip, I mentioned this two-headed chicken my dad’s buddy had on his farm. I don't know about you, but really, how often do you get to see one of those babies? But Nooooooo!! We have to keep to the schedule. This time was different though, because I knew Aaron likes art. So I suggested we go by this place owned by a hippie who, displays yard art using old vehicles. Not ANY vehicle, but the classic VW bus. Aaron calls it a van but I owned one of these treasures - and it is definitely a bus! Now, I tried to show him on the map that it wasn't "out of the way" but you see, Aaron can't read small print in the car, he gets a little dizzy. So while eating my third egg McMuffin, drinking coffee and driving with my knees, I show him - between grease drips on the map, that it's only 70 miles away! Oh well, so much for his love of art.

Stopping periodically for the dog and gas gave me an opportunity to meet some great people. Hitchhikers ALWAYS have a great story just waiting to be heard. Most of the time they only tell you while driving them to their next destination. You guessed it; Aaron wouldn't allow me to stop and pick up any hitchhikers, no matter how cute she was. That was ok, because I still had the women truckers and gas station attendants to mingle with. These stops always seemed to be long anyway since Aaron had to walk the dog, clean out the car, wash the windows and sweep the dog hair out of the back seat.

The first overnight stay was at a KOA campground. I was glad to finally get out of the car and enjoy the cool night air. We cooked outdoors and drank in the company of two friends I met when we checked in named Teri and Julie. It was nice to just kick back and talk with our new buddies and enjoy the roaring fire. Unfortunately,Aaron's "date" had to leave early for a prior engagement. He seemed a little tired anyway. Teri, on the other hand had to open the grounds in the morning and had no reason to leave. "We're leaving early tomorrow." Aaron says as he heads to his tent. Waving him goodnight I say, "No problem."

The next leg of our trip was similar to the first. All driving and "absolutely no detours." Great, now I'm not going to see the biggest roll of aluminum foil I've heard so much about. We arrive at the hotel late in the evening. There is only a sub shop open down the road so we shower quickly and get our food to go. We eat in the room watching the weather channel and then the news, after which Aaron falls asleep. I take a walk around the hotel with the dog and notice a Jacuzzi. I always bring my suit with me when I travel, so I decided to take advantage and enjoy the water. In the morning as we check out Aaron noticed me waving to someone outside. "Who was THAT?", he asked. Winking, with a smirk I say, "Michelle, I met her at the Jacuzzi last night."

On the way out we stop by a donut shop for breakfast. I love ALL donuts and can eat a dozen by myself. Aaron on the other hand doesn't like anything other then the plain ones. The best joke I've played on him is when I gave him one that looked like a plain glazed but filled with oozing raspberry jelly! The look on his face when he feels the ooze squirting into his mouth is priceless! Ha-ha!! So we go up to the counter and I can't believe my eyes! Every kind of donut imaginable! I figure we could get a half dozen and that should be good for now. We can always stop again (when Aaron isn't paying attention). Aaron only wants two plain glazed. I decide on two chocolate glazed, two cinnamon twists and ...oh boy!! They have bear claws!!! Those are the best! Gimme one of them! So I pay for them and we stop by a convenience store to fill up the thermos with coffee.

Now we're on the road and I eat the bear claw first and then the two chocolate glazed. Aaron is pouring coffee and waving his hand, motioning me back to the center of the road. Why do you think they make a shoulder on the road anyway? Room for error, of course! Anyway, so I sip my coffee and of course, it's black. Why did I even bring him with me? So after he complains about the 8 creams and 6 sugars he has to put in my coffee, (not that he has anything better to do) I start looking for my other two donuts. The bag is empty. No cinnamon twists to be found, ANYWHERE. Damn that chick at the donut shop! I even turned the bag over looking and dumped out all the crumbs. Aaron had a fit about that. "Now I have to clean the seats!" Oh well, gives me more time to chat with the girls at our next stop.

During the vacation we had a great time drinking and shootin' the bull about anything and everything. Eating out everyday seemed to be the norm. I tend to eat out a lot at home, so this didn't bother me. Aaron on the other hand, seemed to really tire of restaurant food. He even volunteered to cook quite a few times but everyone seemed to enjoy going out, me included.

One evening, we went to a place specializing in hot wings. I LOVE hot food. The hotter, the better! Every time someone says it's spicy or hot I just look at them shaking my head thinking "you haven't seen hot". When I go out to eat hot wings and the menu lists different levels I always chose the highest. This time was no exception.

The waiter on the other hand had a different view. If it's on the menu then don't question whether I can handle the spice or not. He seemed the need to inform us that the "blazing hot" wings were indeed hot. Ok, yeah sure dude, that's why we're here right? Isn't that why they call them "hot" wings? If we wanted wimpy wings we'd go somewhere else. Just do it, bring it on I say. So he stands there, shaking his head warning us about this grave mistake we are about to make. I should have kicked his ass right there. Then all of a sudden he's gone and instantly he's back with a sample consisting of two wings and a bunch of sauce. I take a sample using my finger as a spoon and everyone looks at me waiting for a reaction. When I show nothing, two others take the wings and start eating. I look at the waiter and say, "Dude, bring it on!" He says ok and off we go! Wing heaven! Everyone at the table couldn't believe I was eating these. I thought Aaron liked hot food but they were too much for even him.

The rest of the trip was a blast. Drinking and eating! Eating and drinking! Linda and Becky were my pals down there. Aaron had Peggy. Well "had" -- I'm not quite so sure about. He gives me his best poker face when I ask him about what happened between them down there. He won't say a word and quickly changes the subject when questioned. I can tell when Aaron has bumped uglies. He did, he just won't admit it.

The trip home was nothing special. No aluminum foil sightings or yard art stops. Though I did hook up with Michelle on the way back!

Link to Pero's Version of this can be found [Here].