Three Thoughts About Time

I’m too tired tonight to post pictures tonight. Sorry if that disappoints you, but take comfort in the knowledge that all you’re missing are poorly framed shots of Eastern New Mexico, Northern Texas, and Western Oklahoma. In other words (and I mean no offense to those who live there) it’s not exceedingly scenic. Or rather, there is a beauty to it, but it stays about the same for duration. I snapped some pictures, but just don’t have the energy right now to post them

More importantly though, I wanted to take these few minutes before I go to sleep to talk about time. Three points about time as a matter of fact.

1) I’m back on schedule!! It seems Robert, our shareholder in Oklahoma already gathered everything from the OKC and Tulsa locations and needs me to do nothing here. So, while I am a day late arriving in Oklahoma City, I will arrive in Wichita precisely on time. Cosmic, eh? The map has been updated accordingly.

2) I’ve returned to the same time zone as my wife and daughter. This may seem like a small deal, but whenever you have to ask yourself, “What time is it there?” the distance just feels so much more terrible. So, while I still won’t see Moonshot or Little Lutine for a few days, I no longer have to do time adjustments before I call.

3) My wife asked me today if I was sick of driving yet. I was sort of surprised to find that I was not. There are many things about this trip that I will happily complain about, but the cross-country driving is not one of them. And this is odd considering the fact that after a two and a half hour trip to see my Mom, the last half hour is unbearable. On a four and a half hour trip to see my in-laws, the last half hour is unbearable. Apparently, I can tolerate any length of travel that I schedule…but not a minute more. I suspect, therefore, that the last half hour of this trip will be horrendous. Strange place, the human brain.

And with that, my dear friends, I am off to sleep in a hotel room just north of Oklahoma City that looks exactly like the one I slept in last night in Albuquerque. No, wait, the TV in this room is better…but other than that, it’s like I drove in an 8-hour circle.

Moksha Tracker

• Miles Driven: 1033
• Miles to Go: 830

• Tucson, AZ: 3 Stores


• Phoenix, AZ: 3 Stores


• Albuquerque, NM: 3 Stores


• Oklahoma City, OK: 4 Stores


• Tulsa, OK: 2 Stores


• Wichita, KS: 3 Stores


• Topeka, KS: 1 Store and a Huge Storage Locker


• Lawrence, KS: 1 Store


• Kansas City, KS: 1 Store


• Columbia, MO: 1 Store

Desert Drivin'

Today went exactly to schedule...assuming you ignore the fact that I'm already a day behind. Three stores done by noon and then on the road to Alburquerque. No wrong turns yet, Simon.

Two things struck me today. First, the realization that truck-stop food has come a long way. Time was that such a phrase brought up images of grease-soaked burgers and sponge-like fries. However, these new-fangled, brightly-lit and clean truck stops offer a wide variety of culinary options that ain't half bad. Had me a veggie burrito just south of Flagstaff for lunch that was better than just about any Mexican food I could find in St Louis. I find myself happy for the nation's truckers.

Secondly, I was amazed as the varied scenery during today's drive. I know that my pictures won't really do it justice. Pictures of the expansive Southwest just never capture the sense of space, the depth out here. The flat images so often look rather boring. However, even knowing that, I continued to occasionally hoist my camera to roughly eye-height and attempt a shot or two while cruising down the highway. From time to time I thought about pulling over to line up a better shot, but in the end I like these. This was my view, through the bug-splattered windsheild. Nicely framed shots (while desirable in other contexts) just didn't appeal to me today.


Just outside Phoenix. Lots of Cacti.

Gained altitude toward Flagstaff and got trees and cool air.

Down the other side of the mountain to flatness...and lots of trains like these two

I slowed down to taunt him as I passed

"It's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford"

Then the rocks got purdy and sculpty-like.

Like massive, massive river stones

This just amused me.

Moksha Tracker

• Miles Driven: 473
• Miles to Go: 1,390

• Tucson, AZ: 3 Stores


• Phoenix, AZ: 3 Stores


• Albuquerque, NM: 3 Stores


• Oklahoma City, OK: 4 Stores


• Tulsa, OK: 2 Stores


• Wichita, KS: 3 Stores


• Topeka, KS: 1 Store and a Huge Storage Locker


• Lawrence, KS: 1 Store


• Kansas City, KS: 1 Store


• Columbia, MO: 1 Store

Alas, poor Schedule...I knew it well

My schedule lies ruined...tattered by the brutal delays inherent to reality. Alas…it was a beautiful schedule.

My plan had been to knock out six stores today, the three in Tucson and the three in Phoenix. I had visions of driving a few hours even after that to bed down in Flagstaff so I could get a jump on the road tomorrow and be waiting in Albuquerque when they opened at 10am. Instead, I walked into the very first store this morning and discovered that my one-hour per store theory had been wildly optimistic. Especially so if the rest of the stores continue, as did the first one, to pile unimaginable pounds of junk atop the boxes I’ve come for. I spent three hours digging through their boxes, trying to sort out ours from theirs. The next two stores went better, but the damage had been done. I rolled into Phoenix exactly as the stores were closing…and no one was willing to wait around for me to tackle a few extra stores. And so, I’m sitting in a hotel in Phoenix, having finished only three stores. Tomorrow, I’ll rush through the three locations here and then make the drive to New Mexico, but I won’t make it before they close there. In short, the three hours I fell behind has cost me a full day. And since I had planned to finish on Saturday, that pushes me over into Sunday. And since they aren’t open on Sunday, that pushes me over to Monday. So I correct myself…that three hour delay cost me two full days.

However, I am inexplicably in high spirits. The desert scenery agrees with me apparently. I miss my wife and daughter fiercely, but will treasure that first hug upon my return all the more.

And now, I plan to curl up in bed and spend some time with Fiddler’s Ghost. It’s a wonderful book written by a local Missourian who beautifully captures the speech patterns of 1950s Ozarkian without being condescending. As a writer who has trouble with dialogue, I’m inspired by his authenticity.

Anyway. Good night, I hope to talk to you from New Mexico tomorrow night.

Moksha Tracker

• Miles Driven: 133
• Miles to Go: 1,863

• Tucson, AZ: 3 Stores


• Phoenix, AZ: 3 Stores


• Albuquerque, NM: 3 Stores


• Oklahoma City, OK: 4 Stores


• Tulsa, OK: 2 Stores


• Wichita, KS: 3 Stores


• Topeka, KS: 1 Store and a Huge Storage Locker


• Lawrence, KS: 1 Store


• Kansas City, KS: 1 Store


• Columbia, MO: 1 Store

This Is Not a Blog Post

I know, I know…you got all excited when your RSS feeder buzzed or you saw a new title here on the Impish Gren. But sorry to say, this isn’t really a blog post. I’m not here to share new goings-on exactly. Instead, I’m here to discuss other blog posts; some already posted, some soon to arrive. Together, these past and future posts can shed a bit of light on what this rather lazy blogger has been up to of late. But this post, in and of itself, has almost no real information within it.

First the stuff from the past. A couple weeks ago (has it really been that long?) my fellow Blogfathers, Mark and Simon, descended upon my humble city in search of amusement and comradery. It was the first of what we hope will become recurring get-togethers and given amount of fun we all seemed to have, that looks likely. I had big plans of writing up a detailed retelling of exactly what happened while they were here…but see…Mark is just so much more diligent that I am. He started posting this tale the day his plane landed back in Dallas. Fact is, I had so much fun following along with his telling that I pretty much gave up any illusion that I was going to do the same in my own voice. Instead, I’ll put up this non-post and tell anyone interested in seeing the blast we had over the May 10th weekend to jog over to Mark’s site. That link will take you to the first of, like, six posts he did on the weekend. Like I said, diligent. And if a tale about me isn’t enough to get you over there…there are a few pictures of Norah as well.

Now on to the future…next week, in fact. By the time the sun rises this Tuesday, I will be at the airport preparing to depart for Arizona. What will follow will be a grueling tale I look forward to complaining about for years to come. As you know, the company I work for and own (a teeny-tiny fraction of) sold all of its stores back in February. I had anticipated that this would mean less work for me and a swift absence of a job. Instead, the chaos that ensued meant more work right after the sale and a slow dwindling of my job. It now looks like I’ll be done there by mid-June…we’ll see. Anyway, each of our 40 or so stores had a bunch of old computer equipment and loads of paperwork. At first our Pres and CEO said, “forget all that stuff, it’s not worth the trip out there to get it.” As much as it pained me to let all those electronics go to waste, I couldn’t really disagree with him and was more than happy to ignore the problem. However, about a week ago, the Pres came to the conclusion that while the hardware was still not worth the trip…the paperwork was. Mad rushing about followed as I booked a flight to Tucson, Arizona and a 24-foot moving truck in time to gather the boxes and equipment from 23 or so of the remote locations before the deadline imposed by the folks that bought our stores: May 31st. After that…they start pitching stuff, they say.

Ok, so flight out on Tuesday, twenty-seven hours of drive time along my route (not counting the jogs from store to store) and figuring about 1 hour load-time per store I calculate I should hit my last store in Columbia, Missouri about an hour before closing time on Saturday, May 31st. If I fall behind schedule, I miss the last store.

I’m planning to bring my camera and laptop along for the ride. And since wireless access is fairly ubiquitous in hotels these days, I should (given a lack of exhaustion) be able to post the day’s events on a nightly basis from my hotel. Once again…we’ll see, but I wanted to lay the groundwork now so that I don’t have to waste precious, precious minutes explaining the set-up on Tuesday night.

Stay tuned.

Moksha Tracker

• Miles Driven: 0
• Miles to Go: 1,996

• Tucson, AZ: 3 Stores


• Phoenix, AZ: 3 Stores


• Albuquerque, NM: 3 Stores


• Oklahoma City, OK: 4 Stores


• Tulsa, OK: 2 Stores


• Wichita, KS: 3 Stores


• Topeka, KS: 1 Store and a Huge Storage Locker


• Lawrence, KS: 1 Store


• Kansas City, KS: 1 Store


• Columbia, MO: 1 Store