The Politics In Kansas

Tomorrow, we're going to Kansas. The whole family is packing up tonight and catching the early morning plane off to the Sunflower State. The tough part of air traveling with a 2-month-old and a 2-and-a-half year old is that they require so much stuff to take. Besides one big suitcase for our clothing, we're bringing 2 car seats for the rental car when we get there, huge (yet fashionable) diaper bag, styrofoam box full of Oregon beer (okay, that's for me), and then all the carry-ons laden with snacks, treats, games, books, and crayons. In addition to the stuff we'll just be managing to carry, we're going to have to wrangle the older girl and convince her the plane is going to be "really fun". I hope the people we're sitting near have a solid sense of humor and/or kids of their own. After we get there, we have a 5-and-a-half hour drive to Dodge City from the airport. That's after we get our luggage and take a shuttle over to pick up our rental car. For those of you who have been to the Kansas City airport (MCI), you know what I'm talking about when I say it sucks donkey balls -- infinity. The only salvation to this plane trip is that at least we have a direct flight from Portland to KC. Having to deal with layovers would be that much worse.

Being that they live in Kansas, Violet's whole Jayhawk-loving family is required to vote Republican. It has already been discussed, and I have agreed to not bring up politics, in any form, for discussion while we're in Kansas. The only time I can open my mouth and express opinion about it is if/when I am asked a direct question about it. Kind of a "rules of engagement" principal. Not that I like verbally disarming them and then cross-arm river-dancing on their Rush Limpdick conservative spoon-fed-to-you-so-as-to-better-regurgitate-them-to-others opinions they wildly toss about. Wait. Hell yes I do. I got Rick (Violet's dad) all in a huff the last time we were discussing our differing points of view, and he stormed out of the house. We didn't see him for 2 days after that.

It'll be good for the girls to get to see their Great-Grandmother and Great-Grandfather. Let them spend some time together. They also have a Grandpa and a Great-Aunt in Dodge City. They'll get to meet some other relatives in Wichita, when we stop there. We're going to hit Sonic at least once while we're there too. It's just part of the trip. No Sonic where we live (yet).

The part of the trip I'm really looking forward to is getting to see my long-lost brother in Kansas, Mario. Originally, he was Violet's friend, but I've now claimed him as my friend since we have more in common. He's a fellow homebrewer, so I would like to take him some beer. Good, Oregon beer. Kansas has a very low number of homebrewers. They're limited in many areas where good beer is concerned. The last time we were there, Mario and I went to the liquor store to get "the good beer". They had a small stash in the bottom of a cooler in the back, and every can had a layer of dust on it. We selected a couple cans of Murphy's Irish and a couple of Guinness. The other choices were Heineken and Bass. That was it. Noland got me those styrofoam containers for the beer, so I'm going to pack up a couple bottles and take them with me. Good beer in Kansas will be consumed! Oh, and the last thing I'm looking forward to is getting back and not having to go again until next year. That'll be great.

Plus + to spending a week with my family and not being at ass work.
Minus - to not playing GTA:SA for an entire week.

I'm going to try like crazy to post from Kansas. They have one of them fancy 28.8 Kbps dial-up modems to connect to the Internets. They're Great-Grandparents who live in Kansas, so that's actually bleeding-edge; considering. If I don't post, I'm sure I'll have plenty of good stuff when I get back next Thursday.