The Last Hoorah

I think that the road trip is a quintessential American rite of passage. I mean, don't get me wrong, jumping on a train and going to another country a la Europe is pretty cool.
But -- logging the time in the car, the combo of the company you keep in a very small space, the right tunes on the radio and the ever present truck stop make them a uniquely American thing to do.
I mean, we have movies, songs and books about them.
One of those undertakings where the journey is just as much part of the trip as the destination. In some cases, the journey itself makes the trip.
And I have undertaken my fair share of them since getting that all important drivers license:
San Antonio, TX
St Louis, MO
MPLS, MN
Chicago, IL
Kansas City, MO
And even some less than exciting locations while in college.

So with that somewhat loaded introduction, I am afraid that I probably took my last one this week.

**big collective sigh**

Yes, we went down to KC from DSM to go see Ray LaMontagne in concert. One this was a road trip and two, it was a road trip to see a band -- which is the holy grail of road trips in my mind.
And I will grant you, a 3 hour drive from Des Moines isn't colossal on the road trip scale by any stretch of the imagination. But I took some time off of work -- yes, I took time off of work -- and we headed down. Had a great time -- show was amazing. He hurts my heart when he sings. And it was one of those 2500- 3000 person venues, so our seats were only about 20 ft from the stage. I mean, wow. 2 encores and just a great, great show. Got to share it with our good friends Lisa and Tim. Which was interesting, as she just found out she is expecting, so two of us could drink, two of us couldn't. The boys had to convince the bar tender that being in their presence would NOT get you pregnant.

Which is another side activity of a good road trip -- the drinking. I mean, I did an hour of power out of a bathtub filled with LONESTAR of all things before a U2 show in San Antonio. This was years ago, but you get the idea, and we won't even talk about the beating my liver took on one of my trips to Chicago (it was St. Pat's, need I say more?)
But in homage to the spirit of the road trip, I had a non-alcoholic beer.
Woo Hoo.
I know, how the mighty have fallen, but I have to say it wasn't actually that bad. And for not having a beer -- and loving beer -- in 7 months, it fixed the itch for a little bit.
The saddest part of the whole day and a half, was the realization that this is probably the last true road trip I will take for some time. I mean, we will go places, but with baby in tow.
Whole different ball game at this point.
It made me slightly nostalgic for all the trips of the past.
Ok - enough Debbie Downer, moving on...

Big weekend at the Smith/McConville household. The Des Moines Race for the Cure is this weekend and my first baby shower is on Sunday -- and my sisters birthday is Sunday. So we have company for both events, having breakfast for 40 people at the house after the race and trying to get the house ready in advance of that and getting winded after about 5 stairs has made this a new experience.
I miss my cleaning people.
I miss being able to reach down and pick something up without it being a big deal.
Nonetheless, I am super excited for the weekend. My sisters are coming up, I get all my girls together on Sunday, which NEVER happens, and Julie is coming in from DC for the long weekend.
Woo hoo.
It shall rock.
Ok, back to the grind.

Now Listening: Back to Black by Amy Winehouse