Road Trip - day 3

Sunday started off sunny, a few clouds but even those faded away soon.
We jumped out of bed at 8:00 to be on the road by 9 to have brunch with
some friends that I'd never had the chance to meet face to face. We
arrived in Columbia MO at about 10:45 and the Cracker Barrell where we
were to meet looked crowded. I called Mark, one of the friends, and
said, "hey! We're here!"
He said "wow, you're early."
To which I replied, "yeah, we made good time."
"Okay, we weren't expecting you until 11, but we'll get ourselves
together and be there in a half hour."
In the meantime I had Mark give us directioons to a car wash that ended
up being conveniently up the street. ($3 for an automatic car wash! What
a bargain! Makes my PA Dutch heart sing!)
When we got back I had them put our name on the list and we wandered
around the gift shop. I kept looking for someone that could be Mark
(didn't know what he looked like) or Ric, whom I'd seen pictures of.
Eventually I noticed a fellow walking towards me with a giveaway Batman
patch on his shoulder. Mark introduced us to his wife Elaine and I
introduced Deb. We were seated and Ric showed up shortly. Ric, by the
way, had driven in all the way from Kansas City, a two hour drive for
the get together!
Neither Deb or I have ever been to a Cracker Barrell by the way.
Impressive breakfasts!
We sat around the table chatting for over two hours and only left
because I was getting uncomfortable with the looks we were getting from
the manager. (We were at their big table, the minute we walked out, they
paged a party of 8... Whoops!)
We stood out in the parking lot chatting for a while and then Mark said,
"I know you want to get going by 2 or so but how'd you like to stop in
MY favorite comics shop? Its not too far.
Sounded like fun and since it was a little after 2 already, Deb and I
both figured Mark was kidding about the time, but we figured its not too
often you get to meet your online friends! We hung out for some time
chatting but eventually we figured we'd better hit the road as it was
3:30 and we had a long drive to Minnesotta. We took some pictures, which
I'll share when we get home, and reluctantly said our goodbyes. Mark
guided Ric and us back to Route 70 where it turned out that driving 2
hours west to Kansas City, before turning north, was the fastest route.
As we pulled out of the parking lot, Deb asked, "do you think maybe
we're in a different time zone?"
I looked at her (with that blank look that comes so naturally to me) and
said, "yeah, you know I think we might be!"
Deb said, "well that WOULD explain a lot!" to which we both busted out
laughing. Deb urged me to call Mark on his cell phone and tell him what
had happened, which I did, giggleing the whole time I left the message.
Mark emailed later to say they had listened to the message, and I quote,
were ROTFL (rolling on the floor laughing). I emailed back and did
apologize eventually...
We continued our drive north eventually stopping in Iowa at a reataurant
called Chips, so named for the basket of homemade potato chips they give
you as an appetizer. Their special was rottisere chicken , so that's
what we had.
We got as far as Clear Lake (yep, "where the music died") and spent the
night in a Best Western.

Bruce and Deb

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