I've been so busy or exhausted with soccer that I have neglected this blog. On July 6, 2012, I left my friend's apartment at 7AM for Kansas City. In the car was MF, her brother (who happens to have the same initials), and me. We stopped along the way to pick up a friend as well and then met another vehicle at the Bucee's in Madisonville.
The plan was to caravan with the other vehicle, but no one seemed to discuss the route upon leaving Madisonville. In Dallas (about 4hrs later), my GPS said to take 75N and merge with 69N. So, this is the route we decided to follow. Starting in Van Alstyne (a little north of Dallas), we noticed the other vehicle wasn't behind us anymore. Phone calls and text messages ensued. The other vehicle was taking 35N the entire way. As a result, we decided to meet a little north of Denton, TX so we took 75N to 82W (went through Sherman, home of my alma mater - great memories!) to 35N. After meeting with the other vehicle at a gas station, we were well on our way.
Even though I only lived about 15 minutes south of the Texoma border while at Austin College, I never had a desire to enter Oklahoma. With that said, it is a surprisingly beautiful drive. OK is full of hills (unlike TX) and lots of limestone. There were lots of trees, beautiful scenery, and some controlled burns along the way. In contrast, Kansas is pretty boring, although this is due partly to the turnpike. Since you're on the turnpike, there's really very little branching off, in terms of small towns, due to the limited number of exits.
The drive itself was pretty mundane until we were about 20 miles outside of Ottowa, KS when the other vehicle broke down. For some reason, when JH (driving at the time) pushed the accelerator, the car slowed down. It was very strange because I was driving at the time. At one point JH was nearly 2 miles ahead of me, and all of a sudden, he was behind me. We stopped on the side of the road. The guys attempted to figure out what was wrong with the vehicle while MF called AAA. Thankfully they didn't take too long, considering that they were totally swamped. In the meantime, we were trying to figure out logistics - people's stuff, who would ride with whom (no one could fit in the tow truck itself), etc.
A tow truck arrived, along with the AAA supervisor in his own vehicle. JH determined the closest Nissan dealer is in Lawrence, KS, about 40 miles away from Kansas City. Luckily AAA only charged $150 to tow it there; technically they should have charged $4/extra mile over a certain amount. The AAA supervisor graciously took 3 people in his car to a gas station in Ottowa, KS while I followed; we took 1 passenger from the vehicle. We waited for about 1.5 hours for another Texian Army member (who had already arrived in Kansas City) to come pick up the other 3 people. We did not want to leave anyone stranded.
I will say a situation like this gives great insight as to how people react to curve balls. One of the people in our vehicle became visibly upset, yelling, "I just want out of here!" She could not understand why we stopped to help people in need. Neither MF nor I had the heart to leave people stranded. In addition, I kept thinking, "What if we had been in that situation?" I would have hoped friends would have helped. Besides, it isn't like we are all strangers. Being part of a supporters group is like being with a family. I am with these people constantly, and I've known the people in the other vehicle since 2007.
One of the people who drove from Kansas City to the gas station in Ottowa, KS later revealed to someone, "That put me in a compromising situation." I am not sure how this was warranted. He was already in KC, and according to another person, wasn't going to go out anyway because he was too tired. I really don't understand people like this. But nevertheless we made it to our hotel, Best Western - Kansas City Inn, around 10PM. The drive, which should've taken 12 hours, ended up taking 15, but the important thing is that we were safe.
Of course, we did not stay in the hotel that night. After a couple arrived at the hotel from the airport, the hotel graciously shuttled us (with the exception of the friend who was upset by the whole car situation) to dinner at Gates BBQ. We then returned to the hotel for a brief stop, and the shuttle again took us to KC Live, a place in the Power and Light District. I like KC Live because there's a perimeter of bars around an outdoor courtyard. You can move from bar to bar with your open container, listen to live music in the middle, etc. Johnny's Tavern is adjacent to KC Live, home of the KC Cauldron and American Outlaws KC chapter (was there in March & April). There's also Pizza Bar where you can buy a big slice of pizza for only $3.50. My only criticism of KC Live is that the bars close at 3AM, but the bathrooms close at 2AM. Due to lack of bathrooms, we left around 2:30AM, headed back to the hotel, and I called it a night.
Another blog post will follow. Have a good evening!
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