epilogue: the end of the road

and so went the road trip. the morning after, gabe and wade headed to atlanta to finally see the apartment they had decided to rent, sight unseen. i headed back to athens to pack myself up for the trip back to kansas. that night, we all went out to eat at thai spoon with madison and ali in tow. some basketball was watched, some walker's karaoke was sung, and we parted ways.

the next night, i left for kansas, after a good long attempt at saying goodbye to all of the friends who were still around. i covered most of the important ones. it was marlee's birthday, so everyone was in the same place. like fish in a barrel.

after the two and a half weeks on the road with two guys i consider to be my best friends, it was a sad irony that the final leg of my journey was taken alone, under the cover of stormy night and morning fog. really, though, life is all about launching. leaving what you're comfortable with, and jetting yourself into something unexpected. if i'd never left kansas, i'd have never had the opportunities to do so many amazing things - from becoming an sec football fan to being in an a cappella group, to taking an insanely well worth it road trip. i'd not trade these experiences for anything.

after a month back in leavenworth, working hard, seeing the people who still love me and those who always have, i'm again going into that dark night with no one in the passenger's seat. the memory of those who've ridden shotgun in the past will sustain me, though. it always has.

here's to the road. may the unexpected twists and turns lead you to destinations as wondrous as those i've been blessed to pass through so far.

days sixteen and seventeen

the final two days of our road trip were interesting in that we all got a chance to go home. we woke up around ten on tuesday, had a little food, laughed at wade's 7-year-old brother andrew's antics, and headed to leavenworth.

mom and dad were both home, luckily, so we sat and talked with them briefly about our favorite parts of the trip. i headed upstairs to make a mix cd that would carry us through the remainder of the trip - believe me, and the other two, it was long overdue. the guys convinced mom and dad to put on some baby dvds. apparently, i had some trouble with standing up when i was not yet two years old. go figure.

i fiddled around on the computer for a bit, then played gabe "only wins by deuce" shaukat in some ping pong. won. played wade "internet may-may" wisdom. won. played gabe again. lost by deuce. perfection would have been ideal, but i was off my game.


i drove the guys around leavenworth high school, then we ate lunch with mom and dad at homer's. the food was greasy and delicious, quite satisfying for the bros. from there, we headed up to padilla field, where i had the opportunity to reclaim my glorious past on the baseball field. it was unfortunately unkempt, but we managed to get a few pitches in from the mound and take some grounders anyway.

we headed back to kansas city, where we got to make fun of wade's brother andrew for looking like short round from indiana jones and the temple of doom. the kid has also apparently pooped in the pool. cool little guy, though. lots of energy. steve took us to the royals game and bought us some beers. his devious plot to inebriate gabe and myself to the extent that we were no longer capable of beating him and wade in a friendly game of 8-ball was totally foiled. gabe and i took the series 2-1. how'd the royals game go, you ask? we left in the seventh. it ended up going about twelve innings, a real nail-biter. of course, the boys in blue couldn't keep it together and ended up dropping the series to the twins.

we slept well, and drove all the way back to columbus the next day. via the southern route. if you've ever seen deliverance, you're well aware of many of the wonders and joys that southern missouri, arkansas, and alabama hold. we slept in columbus, and i departed early the next morning, bringing our road trip to an end. the odometer hit 8000 miles just south of atlanta.

here's to closed chapters of open books.