Saturday, November 14, 2009

Wedding Weekend Part 1, pre-ceremony...

So the wedding trip started off on a beautiful November day Thursday morning, the 4th. We decided to get on the road just a tad early so we could have a few hours of R&R in a 2 bedroom suite at the Holtze in Overland Park. However, since I added Ed to my rental at Hertz they charged another $13 a day, and to top it off, I must have screwed up when I rescheduled because it went from a 3 day rental to a 4 day. After deposit, my card was short $4, and they would not let us put it on two separate cards.


It was quickly decided that we'll save our money by taking Ed's Blazer, though it wasn't going to be much savings because he gets half the mileage the rental would have. But for the moment, we were freed up a good $400 bucks, with that in mind we headed straight for the liquor store (on the way to Costco gas, of course). One bottle of Macallan 10 year, a bottle of Bombay, and a tank of gas quickly blew $100 of that "saved" money.



Ed sped along at about 90mph while I plugged in the Hero (HTC android phone) to his aux-in and we both enjoyed internet radio with very little drops and GREAT sound all the way to the Kansas border! So far so good. Another app that we put to use was Where, a free app that gives you gas prices based on whatever location we wanted. We were gambling that we could save 15 cents a gallon if we made it to Hayes; but the smell of burnt oil and Ed's distrust in his car's mileage computer led us to stop 40 miles short of Hays to drop a few bucks in the tank and get some papers & oil.



In a flash we were back to the highway, and Ed was back to 90mph, the smell of oil came back too and almost as if you were expecting it, KA-BOOM. Smoke was coming out of the rear like there was something on fire and we lost all acceleration. Pulling over about 8 miles outside of Wakeeney, KS just in time to catch the sunset, we checked out the rear and there was our source of burning oil. Apparently the differential doesn't do well at 90mph when there's an oil leak, and it was split in two.




The Hero came to the rescue, living up to it's name, finding us a junk yard where we were quoted about $550 for a whole rear assembly. Fuck that nonsense, next thing to do was find out how the hell we were going to get to KC. My stepdad was due to head out the following morning and he agreed to haul a trailer out, where we'd leave both it and the Blazer in Wakeeney and worry about everything Monday on our return trip. Once again the Hero found us a tow truck that only needed to take us 8 miles, another $60 gone...



We get to Wakeeney and leave the Blazer in the parking lot of a 24 hour truck stop next to a beat up white truck the driver says he left there last night. There was a lil dog in it, barking away. We polished off a bottle of vodka, had a smoke, and decided to do the humane thing and feed outselves and the dog. We spied a McDonald's to the north and said to hell with it, we might as well eat crap-tastic nuggets and fries while we notify my lovely friend that we will not make it to Overland Park that evening. We v-blogged at McDonald's and Ed ate the last chicken nugget, I noticed in the middle of blogging and commented,"fuck the dog." Khetiwe, my friend working at Holtze in OP, texted me to say she cancelled our reservation and walked off the job. We cheered and headed over to Best Western to get quoted $90 bucks on a double bed room. That turned us around, and we went back across the street from the truck stop and got quoted $50 at Econo lodge, much better, and at this point there weren't many other choices. The guy at the desk sealed the deal by letting us know there was a 10% discount at the bar in front of the motel for anyone with room keys. We gleefully walk across the parking lot and I had a bitter sweet moment as soon as a spied a Boulevard Wheat neon sign in the window. It was on tap even! With the discount, the beers were around $1.50 a piece. That was the best $15 we spent so far on the trip!





Back at the hotel we poured Gin & Tonics and set up the Wii to play sports resort for a few hours all the while eye-balling the Macallan. We promised ourselves that it would be opened on a merrier occassion, when we made it to Kansas City. The bottle became something of an obsession to Ed, who began taking pictures of it, as did I.



The stepdad made it out to Wakeneey somewhere around the 9 o'clock hour. The Tow truck guys let us keep his trailer in their fenced in yard and that was that. The trailer-less extended cab truck hauled four of us, Ed, Darrell, Grandma Cox, and I as well as two very grown dogs, Rex & Peyton. We dragged through Kansas at a dismal 70 miles per hour, which feels like 30 in the vastness of the prairie.



We made it to Overland Park a little after 2, with 3 1/2 hours until rehearsal. The bride to be let us have her car, and I left my suitcase in the truck, I was in a hurry to get to midtown and show Ed what KC was all about. State Line road was a beautiful sight, as was the plaza and the beautiful fall colors that outshine Denver's vegetation. Of course, I have to make a roundtrip back to Overland Park for the suitcase and then head all the way up north for the Tuxedo. I didn't make rehearsal at all, but my dead-beat dad did! That was the last my sisters saw of him, however, until after the wedding. More to come on that. Suffice to say, he never made it to dinner, though I did, staying until about 9 but I was one of the first to leave after toasts were finally made...



I make it back to the hotel, stopping at Gate's BBQ to bring some to Ed, at least he got some KC BBQ while out there. The bottle of Macallan was cracked and we headed down to the Crossroads Art District for First Fridays. Some B-Boys caught Ed's eye, they were perfectly situated near a popular strip in the Xroads, and we walked around the block to find an opening. We quickly made friends with the man behind the beer table and began telling our tale so far. When we mentioned we were here to record the wedding his eyes widened, we happened to be talking to a digital film director with a background in theatre; kindred, if you will. The beers became free and we enjoyed a smoke in a store room deeper inside the building.



I couldn't let this be all that Ed sees of KC though, so I took him further downtown to see a glimpse of the Power and Light district, then swing back to my old Wii bowling stomping grounds, the Brick. It was karaoke night and the crowd was lacking; though I did meet eyes with a beautiful caramel complected woman I recognized but couldn't quite remember. It took me a week to realized that I shared a smile with the girl I used to see every Sunday at Hip Hop & Hot-wings at the downtown Peanut 2-3 years ago. She just finished singing and smiled at me as she headed back to her table and friends. It wasn't enough to keep us there,though; I had things to show Ed. There was no time for conversation with the girl I've always wanted to approach.



I took Ed to a much more crowded Grinderz Pizza for another beer. Ed really liked the bike shop across the street from the bar, but we didn't get very good pictures of the tangled mass of cycles hanging on a pole in front of it due to lack of proper lighting. I decided to take us back to the hotel and continue the rest of the evening walking around Westport.



First stop I should've known would be kind of lame; it was mostly a meat market at the Levee but it was so damn close to the Best Western Seville Plaza that it made perfect sense to stop in for a drink. I encouraged Ed to make a short hike to Westport with me. We strolled through the Vietnam memorial and up the street. I didn't want to continue to 39th, where I did have friends invite me to, but the Blarney Stone was not on my list of places to show Ed. We got to the heart of Westport and noticed music coming from behind the Hurricane, now called The Riot Room. We thought it was from another bar and were a little perplexed when we headed into the wrong place, I got a water and Ed went to the can to make water... We promptly left the fairly empty bar, then found the steps leading to the Riot Room's courtyard.



I had never actually been out in their courtyard before, but the night was perfect and the DJ was good, at least when we first got there. We were amidst lots of lovely ladies, many of whom conveniently brushed up against me or "accidently" bumped into me while dancing. Cute and all, but I'm not hooking up with a college girl this night, I needed some sort of rest. I recognized another face from The Peanut, a shorter pale guy who always has some sort of style going on, years ago it was a pair of aviator sunglasses, tonight it was a backpack and some sort of hat, I think. Ed and I both knew this was the best spot to close the bar. We would have too, if the DJ didn't start playing some really whack stuff. His closing song was "3 am", no, not Eninem, but Matchbox 20! It was terrible, and I don't care that it was actually 3am.



We followed some really cute girls who happened to be on the same route as us for a minute, we might have looked like stalkers but what can you do? The evening was beautiful, a little chill but Ed and I both noticed the humidity, something completely lacking in Denver this time of year (and most the year round actually). I got to bed a little after 4am, Saturday was going to be a big day, and it had to start in 3 hours.



More to come...







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