Dominica is home today working all day on getting the house ready for the event tonight. I went into the office this morning. It is going to be one crazy busy day. We are going to be so exhausted at the end of this.
There was so much to be done and no time to do it in that I came home from work early, around two or three. That way I could help with the cleaning and prep and watch the girls so that Dominica could run errands too. There is just too much for her to do. Originally I was going to take the Acadia for an oil change today but I didn’t get any time this morning to do that. So we made the judgement call that I would take the Spark to Kansas tonight. It’s maintenance is completely up to date. I didn’t want to take it because of the lack of cruise control but I will just have to make due. The upside is that driving the Spark cuts the travel costs for the trip nearly in half, it is just so much less expensive to operate than the Acadia and since it is just me going I don’t need the space at all. So it is a good decision, just not so much fun for such a long drive on one, open highway without cruise control. This is exactly not the situation that the Spark is built for.
I had to run over to Dominica’s office this afternoon to pick up two SpiceCorps yard signs that Dominica’s boss whipped up for us. That was awesome, it makes the group feel much more professional and given how hard our house is to find it really makes it a lot easier for people to not be stuck outside wondering if they have the right place or not. They are really nice signs that we will be able to use again and again too. I put one in our yard and one directly across the street for visibility.
Dominica ran out to pick up the Subway catering trays and to go to Walmart for other supplies at the last minute and we were pretty much ready to go. Allie arrived to set up the bar a little before six and the first people were arriving just a few minute later.
The meeting itself went quite well. We had a decent turn out, about twenty people which is a pretty healthy number, and the content went well. I think that people were pleased with the meeting. I had to give both presentations plus MC the event so I was talking an awful lot. I prefer not to do that if possible but it worked out okay and tonight’s meeting was shorter than most.
We wrapped up at the house around eleven. Having a bar tender on duty definitely went over well, everyone really enjoyed that. It was quite a treat seeing our own bar in action for the first time. It really, truly is a fully commercial bar right there in the middle of our house.
At eleven Dominica helped me to load up the car and get on the road. It is a long drive to Kansas City from Dallas. It is supposed to take about seven and a half hours if all goes well. That would put me at Bob’s house, where I am staying, barely before it would be time to get up for work.
Most of the drive went fine. All through Texas and Oklahoma was fine and I made good time. On the horizon in Oklahoma, to the north, I was staring at blinding lighting flashing but never saw more than a few drops of rain. That all changed once I hit Kansas.
In Kansas I got first rain and then a driving thunderstorm so fierce that the radio was reporting eight mile per hour winds and the rain was so heavy that even out on Interstate 35 I had to come to an actual stand still because I was unable to see the pavement in front of the car to know if i was on the road or not. It was horrible.
The storm took quite a toll on my drive time. I ended up having to grab a hotel room at the Econolodge in Emporia. It was just after six when I grabbed the hotel room. I knew that I was within two hours of Kansas City so that I could switch from Emporia to Kansas City during lunch tomorrow.
On the drive I listened to many hours of A Game of Thrones, the first book in the A Song of Fire and Ice cycle. I’m not sure that I’m really that into it. It is okay but I am very surprised by how popular it is. Not what I was expecting at all. It’s good, but much slower and more political than I had assumed.
It was probably six thirty when I managed to get to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a really rough day. If all goes well I will be about three hours of sleep tonight. I have to be back to Dallas tomorrow night. So there is no time for more sleep than this. I just have to make due. Tomorrow will be an exceptionally long day for me. The last few hours of my drive tonight were pretty rough.