Friday August 12th, 2011 - Overland Park, KS Road trip. In years past, I might have put an exclamation point or maybe even two after those words, but now it just describes what it is - trying to get from point A to point B in as reasonable a time with as few catastrophes as possible. The thrill of it has long faded. What hasn’t faded is the extreme satisfaction that comes with being able to help friends, and that’s the reason I’m spending this weekend driving from Cary, IL to Fort Worth, TX with my friend Jerry Agar’s sons Tanner and Cooper as Tanner begins his college years. Jerry and I have helped each other however we could for over twenty years now, and we aren’t keeping score. We do what we can, when we can. He helped me recently by letting me stay in his guest room as I healed up from my surgery, so this is no big deal. I’ve been a road warrior my whole life, and I’ve known Tanner and Cooper since they were born. What makes it fun for me is to see how excited they are. It’s a coming of age adventure, and I want it to be a pleasant memory. Tanner is 19 and Cooper is 16, and they’ve always considered me their uncle. This is about as close to a fun family vacation as I’ll ever get. The only drawback is, we’re taking it in a 1984 Buick Skylark with no air conditioning and an AM radio. It reminds me of one of my beaters, and I’m the perfect tour guide on a trip like this because if anything blows up (and it might at any moment) I’ll take care of it. Jerry is originally from Canada and his aunt gave Tanner the car because she didn’t use it anymore. It has ridiculously low miles and actually runs great, but the lack of air will be murder once we start heading south to Texas. It’s not her fault - how often does a Canuck need air conditioning in the car? About as often as someone in Texas needs a toboggan. I was supposed to pick the boys up at their house by 6 pm, but was running late with my errands and didn’t get there until 7. Jerry’s wife Ann is a wonderful mom, and this was an emotional moment for her as her oldest child went off to college. She wanted pictures and I can’t blame her, so that took a little while longer. I didn’t mind, and totally understood. We finally said our goodbyes and got on the road, only to realize five minutes later that Cooper had forgotten something he needed to bring along for his girlfriend, who’s father just got transferred to the Dallas area for his job. Tanner was impatient and frustrated and reminded me a lot of myself when I was that age. Eventually, we got it together and left. The weather was absolutely perfect as we drove from Cary to I-55 and then I-70 out of St. Louis. I remember both of those kids in diapers, and now they took turns driving a car across the country. I felt old on one hand, but proud on the other. They’re both great kids. We pulled into Kansas City at 5am on the dot, and are staying with the real estate agent who helped Jerry and Ann sell their house here. His name is Brian and it’s nice of him to put us up. We plan on leaving tomorrow night to avoid the furnace like heat. Fat chance.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment