I Blog, Mate

So last night I was far too tired to blogw so I have to blog today as if I was blogging last night so when I refer to today I really mean yesterday so please try to keep all that straight if you can.

So today I woke up in Oklahoma. In the luxury of the Hampton Innw I forgot about the horrors of yesterday and enjoyed a lovable breakfast and got ready for the drive to St. Louis. And so the nightmarish tale begins.

We get on the road, in the day this time so we are able to get a better view of Oklahoma, and boy was that a mistake. Seriously we would've better off looking a highway lined with brown paper bags lining miles upon miles of the highway. There were dead things everywhere and everything was out of control. It became very clear to me why the US government moved Native Americans there. No body would chose to live there after going there. Even the places that looked somewhat nice were ruined but dilapidated buildings.

I want to be clear right now though that this and any more negativity is directed towards the experience of driving through Oklahoma not the people in it.

It was in Oklahoma that we experienced our first toll. We were upset about having to dig to find the change necessary to pay for the toll. We ended up having to use all of our change. And then, beaconing in the distance, what do we see? Another damn toll booth, pocket empty of change we were “lucky” that this had a person who could take cash, of course this meant it was more expensive too. Now all of this might have been somewhat acceptable, if it wasn't for the fact that Oklahoma had the worse roads out of every single state that I ever driven through.

When were driving, the GPS we had seemed to direct us to toll road. Also due to having the cell phone reception of a third world country, it kept cutting out on us and turning itself off. The weather was hot and muggy. When we finally got out of Oklahoma I spit on the ground out of the car to show my complete disgust for the state of Oklahoma.

Well before I leave my discussion of Oklahoma and be fair and mention the two cool things I saw there: the blue whale of Catoosa and the world's largest totem poll (which is disputed). The whale signified a cool swimming spot of yesteryear; one can't swim there anymore which is LAME (thanks a lot Oklahoma), but it was still very cool to see. Also, the totem poll did look cool, but even more cool was the dogs who showed up to play, and every one knows, Phil loves hims some dogs. By the end the realized I would way cool and would come whenever I called them. I also called my friend, let's call her Chandni, who REALLY LOVES dogs so that she would be so jealous she'd hate me for a least the next ten or twelve minutes. Now that's all I have to say about that.

So immediately after arrived it Missouri, it was apparent to the dimmest walrus that it was a much MUCH nicer place to be. The scenery was amazing. Tree everywhere, beautiful rock faces that almost seemed to smile back at us. The highway seemed to immediately improve over the awful, awful state of the Oklahoma highway. Well as we drove through and stopped in Springfield. There we ate a Hardee's. Now you know what time it is? Well you're wrong. I decided to save my “Tom! Don't eat that!” Section for later because that's how Phil likes to do things, fill people with hope, then crushing disappointment. So anyway I will say this about Hardee's: it is not Carls Jr. People always assume they are the same or similar. While this may have been true at one point, the menus now are completely different. While I liked the French Dip Thickburger I had there, my cousin did not enjoy his Little Thickburger. So the point is don't expect to find the same things at either place.

So we left Springfield, as hard as a tried I couldn't find the tire fire, which was disappointing or the Krusty Burger, but I think I'll be OK in the end.

So after more very pleasant driving, I ended up in Missouri where my aunt and uncle live. When we got to their house, I thought it looked really cool. I learned later that it was built in 1904 as an ice cream parlor. After that it was mostly likely a speak easy due to the barrels of alcohol they found buried in the basement when they were redoing the house. Right before they bought it, it was a bar called....well I don't remember, I think it may have had something to do with Homer. I'm not sure if they served Flaming Homers there, but one can dream. Anyway way more happened than a history lesson about the house.

We first went to Imo's Pizza for some St. Louis style pizza and toasted ravioli, which are foods originating in St. Louis. Now it's time for “Tom! Don't Eat That!” It's time to be happy. So I went in the the restaurant not knowing exactly what to expect. The pizza was almost as thin as a sheet of paper. I was warned that the cheese was unique, though there was so much debate about what the cheese was called that all I really remember that it sticky. The pizza was strange and unlike any pizza I had had prior to it. It was, however good. I heard tales that many a person, especially from New York did not care for the pizza, but I think they're crazy. Pizza is pizza and this was good, well made pizza. The toasted ravioli were good as well. A nice appetizer to have at any time. While the last time I had toasted ravioli I thought it tasted better, this was still very good. Bottom line readers, if you don't like this pizza you're crazy. You need to realize that any place that will put whole bacon strips on your pizza can't be bad. If you're in the mood for some thin crust pizza, get this pizza.

Anyway after that we went to a Cardinals game, which was pretty cool except the fact that we didn't get to see the Cardinals score after the first inning. It did not detract much from being at the game with my aunt, uncle, and cousin however. We decided to sign up for designated driver tickets so we could get a free soda, but we couldn't drink. I thought that this may have been a mistake until I won't the drawing for a free Cardinal polo shirt! I was really excited, and I already have plans for it.

After the game we went to Ted Drewes,which is a stand that sells sundaes and concretes which are shakes so thick they can turn them upside down and they do not fall out of the glass. I had a cardinal sin and it was quite good.

More to come about tomorrow's (which is really today's) exploits.