The trip to St. Louis

Pretty eventful weekend I must say. Let's start from the beginning

Thursday: Packing

I didn't start packing until about 8:00pm. I now know that was probably not a good decision seeing as how I feel like I could have brought a few specific things had I really sat down and thought about it. Like for instance, instead of bringing things like trash bags, shampoo/body wash and snacks, I had to go out and buy those things and others late at night when all I really want to do is blog and sleep. We'll get into that more later.

I loaded up my car with everything I thought I might need in the next three months, including some things I need for future plans. I brought all of my camera boxes and whatnot in case I am able to sell my D200 from here. I pretty much have everything I need to ship it out with me. Now all I have to do is set it up on ebay with my friend Ben's account. His account proved to be useful in high school when I sold one hubcap (yes, just one) from my Honda Civic (I had a bit of an accident and had that wheel replaced, thereby giving me a busted hubcap as a spare). Surprisingly I got rid of that thing pretty quickly and made about $8.50.

Friday: Departure and the Mishap

I made it on the road at about 10:30am with plans to meet Breia in Tulsa for lunch. I had the schedule strategically timed so that she could leave at a decent time for lunch. Uneventful drive up until I got into the Tulsa area. I gave Breia the play-by-play as I watched towns pass by. Briea told me to stay on I44 and follow some signs down to Subway on Peroria St. Well, the signs gave me the option "I44 Tulsa" and "I44 Joplin." On a split second decision I chose the Tulsa exit. Wrong. After some unplanned turns and confusing sinage I actually found myself looking into downtown Tulsa. The preconceived Subway location would have led me to avoid going into downtown, so this was all very bad. I took some random ass exit, which you should never do, and found myself in the shady neighborhood right next to the bigger buildings. Breia called me back after a few words with her mom and eventually pointed me in the right direction. It ended up that I was a block from where Breia originally left. So much for convenience.

So, finally I made it to Subway. Hooray! Now I can eat and finally see Breia. I forgot that she has to dress business casual for Tulsa People, so seeing her get out of the car in a black dress had me confused for about a half second. I was telling Breia about what I all I saw on my little detour and she mentioned that the bigger arena is where she and Kelsey will see Celine Dion. Sweet! Excellent looking structure. I'm sure that concert will change their lives.

After being flustered by Tulsa it was time to get back on the road. Breia went back to work while I traveled on I44 with Springfield, MO on my radar. Kelsey's directions to her house was like night and day compared to trying to navigate Tulsa with Breia's plan. Thank you Kelsey haha. I was looking forward to the fact that my trip was over at least for the next couple of days. What was on the agenda? The lake.

Kelsey's 80-lbs. lap dog was pretty cool. Carlye seemed a little bigger than I was thinking in my mind. I'd never seen her in real life until then, so I'm glad to see she is a real person and not just some girl in pictures haha. Kelsey's step dad Gary was really excited about his new pool. The pool has about a week more of work so he eloquently asked, "Mike, have you seen my hole in the backyard?" I remember thinking, "That's quite a hole you have" but I never said it out loud. I must say, the pool does look pretty good so far. He also has many other plans with the pool area which apparently Kelsey will be helping with at some point... much to her displeasure I'm sure.

Anyway, after picking up Kel's friend Brittney, we headed out to their lake. Table Rock Lake according to them has gone up 40-50ft. from normal since the flooding a couple of months ago. Politics have made releasing that added water a bit more difficult than what the property owners, including Kels' dad, hope for. The flooding prevents direct access to their lake property via road, so we have to go by boat. Easier said than done. Since it is mostly trees and whatnot right below most of the risen water, we couldn't take the boat straight. So Kelsey, her dad, step mom, Brittney and I, along with all of our stuff, loaded up on an inflatable boat effectively named "Fish Hunter."

The great Fish Hunter

Kelsey holds the outboard that propelled us at a blistering 3mph down the lake.

Kelsey and Brittney nervously look on as Dan, Kels' dad, mans the Fish Hunter's motor.

It was all too funny. I'm sure it would have been funnier to see five other people and stuff packed into such a small area and traveling so slowly.


For being so small and at some points mildly embarrassing, that thing was freakin cool. I kind of want my own actually. It’s not a bad way to get around some water.

We safely made it to their cabin with no time to spare. The sunlight was all but nonexistent when we got settled. Not a bad way to end the day. The Fish Hunter treated us well.

Saturday: Boat Times

I was greeted in the morning to the sweet sounds of thunder at 6am. I remember thinking it better not be raining by the time we have to go on the Fish Hunter to get to the other boat. Luckily we didn’t have to suffer that fate. The clouds moved on, and after a quick trip in the skiff, we made it out to the lake lake in Kels’ dad’s boat. Not a bad boat I must say. Granted, I’ve only really been in one other boat on a lake ever in my life. It’s kind of sad to say that when all of my company on the boat had practically been born on the water. Oh well, I’m a nube.

There’s not really much to report on the actual time we spent on the lake. Just a bunch of chillin and listening to half drunk older men talk about random things while sucking down Coors Lights on coozies. The three of us went tubing, which was pretty fun. I was the only one not thrown off. I was, to be honest, in the middle and had the best possible chance to stay on.

Men with beer. Their names escape me.

One of many lake front properties. The lake is littered with large and expensive ones like this.

One of many trees that now makes it's home in the middle of the water. Damn lake level.

Taking the D300 on the boat came in handy. Again, name escape me, but they are the daughters of one (or both, I don't know) of the beer guys. The ride was extremely bumpy for shooting, so it was actually a lot of fun to see what I could do with the conditions.

Brittney takes in some sun.

Kelsey contemplates peeing in the very cold water. This was the position she decided to take for about ten minutes.

Dan threatened to push her in if she didn't get a move on.

Kels didn't find that proposition all that funny.

Finally... relief.

We eventually made it back to the cabin and enjoyed some burgers from the grill. They bought 20 burgers and buns since we expected more people. Still, 20 would have been a bit ambitious with the original projection, but with just us five it was just funny to think about. We enjoyed the night’s feature presentation: Titanic on TBS. Brittney was probably one of only five or six people on earth that hadn’t seen Titanic, so that night was extra special. She was really good at predicting what happened (besides the obvious – the ship sinks and everyone dies). Throughout the movie we discussed things wrong with the plotline and production along with my occasional worthless factoid. I’m surprised I remembered as much as I did about Titanic the movie and factual event. Time to turn in for another day.

Sunday: Weightlifting and Part II of the Trip

While trying to find something to watch in the morning, we stumbled upon women’s weightlifting Olympic Trials. In the course of about hour, we learned and found an appreciation for the sport of women’s weightlifting. Let me tell ya, these women aren’t fuckin around. This was some serious weight with serious technique. I can say that we left looking forward to at least one more sport in the upcoming Olympics.

We loaded the Fish Hunter again, but now with our stuff. I wanted to leave the lake in time to make it to St. Louis before sundown. Kind of sad because I was having a lot of fun despite the Fish Hunter difficulties and soaking up more sun than I’m used to (I hate that fucking sun...). Oh well.

We got back into Springfield and I once again headed toward St. Louis. Maybe I’ll make it. The drive wasn’t too bad. One thing I noticed was the difference in landscape. Oklahoma is just soooo flat and actually driving up and down hills kind of took me by surprise. Some of the hills and rocks were more beautiful than I was used to seeing by the highway. I was beating storms the whole way, so the clouds also made it quite nice.

Those storms eventually caught up with me.

I pulled into the apartment complex with the help of LP’s dad’s awesome directions. It was easy as cake. I was a bit nervous to see what the place looked like, but after spending a few hours in it I can safely say that it is quite nice (especially for being absolutely free the entire summer).

Here is what you see as soon as you open the door.

From the kitchen.

From the middle of the living room. The ceiling is about 20 ft. high surprisingly.

Kitchen.

From the stairs looking at the kitchen. The door on the left is the bedroom and the one in the back is the bathroom. Funny, it opens to the kitchen so I really felt like it I could put something on the stove and watch it while I took a shit. Doubt that will happen for real, but it's nice to think that I have that option.

Bedroom. It's pretty spacious. What you don't see in frame is the vast closet space (to the right).

There are, however, a few things that are annoying about the area.

1. It rains like a bitch. I haven’t even been in town for two hours and I’ve already been hailed on.

2. The roads are IMPOSSIBLE to navigate in the rain. There are no streetlights and the lane marks aren’t reflective. Because of this, I ran a stop sign and found out that I was driving in two lanes for about five blocks only after passing a set of lights.

Anyway, all is well. I am typing this at the head of the dining room table, comfortably settled in the apartment. I shall make this my home until mid August. I have many things on my agenda for tomorrow.

That’s it for now. I have to cut it off at some point, or Kelsey won’t sleep tonight. Sorry Kels!

More to come tomorrow.