too tired to go to bed

I do this all the time...stay up late when I should be in bed. Tonight's one of those nights.

I'm too tired to get up from the couch, wash my face, then hit the sack. So instead, I'll stay up and play around on the computer and build up my strength with butter cookies.

We're back from Texas, by the way. The trip home wasn't bad at all.

On the drive, I listened to an Oak Ridge Boys tape for at least 10 hours. It looped all the way through the upper part of Texas, lower Missouri and the entire state of Arkansas.

The Boys were in a closet at Mom's where they'd been sequestered since 1984, just waiting to be rescued.

Aren't you glad you weren't with me? You'd still be whistling "Elvira." And you'd finally know all the words to "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight."

Here are a couple of shots from the trip. By the way, Carie, I swear I'll get those Disney World pictures up one of these days.

This is outside of my old elementary school. Logan's eye is swollen, as you can probably tell. A mosquito bit him. At least that's what I'll tell CPS.

Logan and Mom inside the planet's best burger joint.

time to head home

We've had a wonderful two weeks in Texas, but the time has come to head home.

Logan, Aunt Barb and I will hit the road at 8 a.m. tomorrow. We'll drive to Aunt Barb's, spend two nights, then travel the rest of the way Friday. It's about 20 hours, so if you're the praying type, please send one up for us.

heaven on a bun

Here's what it looked like seconds before I slammed it down my gullet. I'm getting another one (or two) today.

Neen's birthday was a gas

After another 10 hours in the minivan, we made it to Ingleside. This time, Aunt Barb was with us.

Adult conversation was so much more enjoyable than the looping of "Mickey's Silly Songs" that burned my ears during the first half of the drive.

Neen's 83rd birthday party was a gas, literally. Logan broke out his fart machine, much to the dismay of some of his elders.

He wasted no time demonstrating to Neenie and the other guests the full cadence of farts it produces.

My stepdad, George, later wanted to know where Logan got the device.

I got the impression that he was asking more out of a need to reprimand the responsible party than a desire to obtain a fart machine of his own.

Either way, I'm not saying a word.

donkeying around

We made it to Omaha, TX on Wednesday, the first stop on our road trip. It took about 10 hours to get to my aunt and uncle's house, and boy, were we whipped.

My Uncle Mike raises donkeys and we spent lots of time with them during our two days there.

Uncle Mike kept telling me that one of the miniatures would easily fit in the back of the minivan on our return trip to Missouri. Think Todd would notice?

water...water...

Like a thirsty transient who crawls toward a pond, on Wednesday I'll slowly make my way to Texas in Silver the Trusty Minivan with a goal in mind such as not to get robbed, raped, maimed, shot, stabbed or otherwise left for dead along the interstate.

Yes, I'm going to see my family, but there's another objective of this trip:

In my carnivorous opinion, these are the best burgers on the planet. The patties are large and drenched in grease, the buns are just the right ratio of soft and crispy, and even the ketchup seems superior to the lowly versions served at other burger joints.

When I lived in the Corpus Christi area, there were many times that I went to Whataburger twice in one day for a fix. And I had the butt and thighs to prove it.

As a kid, the name of the place confused me. I thought it was Water Burger.

One afternoon, my cousin Julia and I were seated at the kitchen table at Neenie and Pa-pa's house. We merrily poured our glasses of water onto some home-cooked hamburgers to create "water burgers."

I imagine Neen took the switch to us when she walked in and saw the mess we had made.

getting ready for a road trip

Logan and I are planning a trip to Texas at the end of this month. No sweat; we've done it several times.

Only difference is that this time, we're driving. Alone.

I was full of bravado when I first made these plans. After all, I used to drive home alone from college all the time, accompanied only by a feline companion who slept in the back window most of the way.

That was a seven-hour trip. Sure it wasn't as long of a jaunt, but I was much younger and had less driving experience.

Or so I've been telling myself.

This trip will be 17 hours, nine of which will be on my own. We're going to pick up Aunt Barb in East Texas, and she'll make the rest of the trip with us.

It's that initial stretch between my house and hers that is starting to get me a little worried. But it'll be fine, I'm sure.

By the way, that's not my car in the above photo. I'd never use duct tape to secure an item to the roof of my vehicle. Packing tape is better and much less expensive.