The 1992 Sons of the Desert Convention – Las Vegas
Saturday, November 19th, 2011
For week, maybe even months, before we actually departed for the 8th International Convention of the Sons of the Desert, my friend Jon Petering kept telling me, “Buddy, I can’t wait to get on that plane.” Yes, for some odd reason one of my fellow Kroger baggers was going along with us to Las Vegas to attend the convention. It was a little odd, because he had no real interest in Laurel and Hardy, but the allure of Las Vegas and the untold pleasures he could find there was too much to resist. In the end, his favorite quote was “Buddy, there’s nothing to do here”, and he spent a lot of his time sitting in the room watching baseball. Read the rest of this entry »
As far as my bucket list/scavenger hunt was concerned, Friday, July 8, 2011, was a most excellent day. Anytime you can scratch off two Presidential gravesites, a state capitol, and pair of Presidential homes, off your checklist, you’re doing quite well. Add to that mix two more eateries that had been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and you’ve really got something! The only problem was that I had had such a great time just hanging out with Jamie during the course of our week-long trip, I was just sad to see it come to an end. 
Thursday, August 4, 2011, was our last day in Myrtle Beach. So far it had been a great trip with my Mom & Bob, Denise & Aaron and Adam and Megan, Ashleigh and Silas, and Jamie. I didn’t like cutting the trip short since we had to be back for a wedding on Saturday, but in another regard, it wasn’t quite as sad, knowing that we had a full weekend at home, and a few adventures on which to embark as Jamie and I traveled home. But nonetheless, we had one more full day to spend…and we did it well. 
When I woke up on the morning of Sunday, October 2, 2011, I found myself in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village at the Super 8 motel. Jamie was there with me and we were preparing to spend the day scouting film locations in other nearby suburbs. I also found myself to be 40 years old. Oddly enough, I didn’t feel much different. Jamie gave me a great and thoughtful card and some sour apple Big League Chew. Of course, she was also treating in all we did this Chicago weekend. 
After Jamie and I had spent our day at the Willow Springs Water Park in Little Rock, Arkansas, on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 6, 2011, we made the three-hour journey back to Memphis, Tennessee. Of course if you’ve been following this series of road trip posts, you’ll know that we had already spent Sunday in Memphis. But I had purposely made the plans so that we would hit it both coming and going. Following our long drive, we were both ready for a late dinner and we arrived at Uncle Lou’s Chicken at about 7:30pm.