Almost Home

I am near cripple. It's okay to laugh, I cannot help but laugh at myself every time I exit the car. The girls laugh, take video to remember this moment, then we all laugh (at me) together. My hip muscles (which I didn't even know I possessed or possibly only used in the spawning of my offspring) are so stiff I walk like I am on the hunt for a cane...no a wheel chair...actually I walk like a duck with a stick up its butt. I am on a four hour cycle of popping 600mg of Motrin with a gas station soda pop chaser-- so I can exit the car at rest stops. I do not take steps without comments from strange gentlemen...one said "traveling is hard on the body", another guy at a rest stop hung his head out his car window and said "I'm fifty and don't walk nearly like that". To both I replied, well I hiked Pikes Peak yesterday, so there! Regardless the crippled condition I am in, I am 100% glad I can say I took on the Pike. (I'm thinking in four days I should be back to normal).

King Ralph wanted to try to take on a straight through drive from Colorado Springs to St.Louis--crazy foolish idea. The girls devised a plan (while in the gas station rest room) to play Patsy Cline's greatest hits (not his favorite CD) and sing every word (which they do know) till he agreed to stop at a hotel for the night. They popped in the CD. King Ralph thought they were so funny that he danced to the tunes, even repeating a song or two. The plan either worked or the king finally admitted to himself (not us) that he was tired and crazy to try a 14 hour drive in one day. Here I (we) sit at the Days Inn -Topeka Kansas.

The Days Inn...aaaahhhhh! A hot tub...double aaaaahhhh! I took a shower without my flip flops on...triple aaaaahhhh! A TV with a screen larger than 14 inches in a room which more than quadrupled our recent living space...ah, ah, ah.

I'm so close to home I can almost smell home sweet home.