Monday, June 4, 2012

Brett's Plans Fall Apart...Again

Yesterday marked a milestone in the ongoing saga between myself and Red of Doesn't Speak Klingon. It was the first time she came to my hometown. Up until now, we have met somewhere in the middle or I have gone to her area.

Red coming here had more meaning than just less travel for me. She was going to meet my daughter Kirsten as well. This was, of course, very important.

After Red left, I asked Kirsten's opinion and she said, "She's just wonderful." This morning, Kirsten was talking about how pretty and funny Red is. I have to say the day went very well and Kirsten is correct. Red is wonderful, pretty and funny. I have been wanting to share more of our time together with my readers so you can see more of this as well, but it is not that easy.

Readers of Red's blog know that she is a very private person. She does not use her real name and the only photos of herself that she has ever used have been from her childhood. I approach my blog in a much different way. My life is (for the most part) an open book. I have divulged my real name, where I live and work and have not even used aliases for my kids. I had never considered what this might mean when I first started writing, but now that it's out there, I can't take it back.

Since I include lots of pictures of the activities I write about (which she has become a part of) and hate to leave my readers without details, I convinced Red to allow some of the pictures I have of us together to be used. So as not to betray her confidence, I will still not give away her name and gave her final say on what pictures could be used. So, my readers will finally get to see what she looks like starting with this post.

Yesterday morning, we intended to head south to Giant City for some rappelling on a 140 foot rock bluff. However, right before leaving we had to change our plans. My brother Kyle, who had all the equipment, couldn't make it. We (Red, myself, my daughter and her friend Charles) decided to go to the area anyway.

Giant City Water Tower
Giant City has miles of rugged trails and beautiful scenery. I first took her to an area where we could survey the park before we tackled it. We climbed the steps to the water tower (pictured on the left) and admired the miles of scenery we could see around us. It is a beautiful area with a breath-taking view for those who have the nerve to get to the top. It is well worth the climb, especially in the fall when the leaves are changing.  With this backdrop, I convinced Red to pose for our first public picture. Reluctantly, she agreed.


She is right behind the guy with the glasses. Isn't she beautiful?
After picking the direction we wanted to explore we ventured out into the wilderness. The Giant City State Park has warning signs posted on every path and throughout the rest of the park telling people to watch their step and use extreme caution. There are deep ravines and large drop offs everywhere. Much of the ground is rocky and gets slick when wet.

Red tripped right before the snap.

After leaving Giant City, we sought out a Root Beer Saloon and enjoyed root beer floats in the small town of Alto Pass. We then made our way to a natural bridge that I had heard about. After a long winding drive down a terrible gravel road we finally arrived. A short hike through the woods and there it was.

Between the bright background and her light colored shirt,
I think the picture is a little overexposed.

I know it's blurry. I wasn't ready.
After a long day of hiking and climbing rocks, we started the journey home. We didn't get far before my radio went out. While trying to find the problem, I noticed that I was losing power to the vehicle. I pulled into a Casey's gas station and 90 minutes later my van is being towed away to a mechanic. Being close to 8 o' clock on a Saturday night, it wouldn't even be looked at until Monday morning.

Red using the curb for a pillow.
So, the four of us are stranded 60 miles from home and it is getting dark. Luckily, we know other bloggers and called one for help. Adam, from The Train's Whistle agrees to come pick us up. We knew it would take at least an hour for him to get to us, so we got comfortable. It was a beautiful night, so we set up camp in the parking lot.

We were happy it was a nice night, because it took Adam a considerable amount of time to get to us. When we called him, he had just ordered a meal at Chili's, so he could not leave until it arrived and he had eaten it. Forty-five minutes later, when he had gotten on the road, he was upset that he hadn't been able to enjoy a dessert.

Having never been to Elkville before, he was following the GPS on his smartphone which led him through a small town that happened to be having a carnival. Still depressed over missing his dessert, he stopped and scoured the event for a food cart. After buying a funnel cake with extra powdered sugar, he got back on the road with a smile on his face.

Since he drives a pickup, Kirsten and Charles had to ride in the back and we arrived home four hours after the initial breakdown. Add to this the fact that Red still had a 3 1/2 hour drive to get back home and she had a very long night.

Despite the unanticipated turmoil, we had a wonderful day. Adam was wonderful for coming to rescue us. Red is still coming back next week. We saw a lot of beautiful scenery. We ate at a great Thai place and we ran into this guy in Carbondale.


He was out killing zombies.
Don't ask. We didn't.

51 comments:

  1. I can't believe that Red finally allowed her picture on a blog. I think I'm in shock. haha

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    1. Oh! It took some convincing, be she finally relented.

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  2. Finally, pictures of Red! You did an outstanding job on these, be sure to thank her for sharing! :-) It looks like you had an awesome day, despite things going not exactly as planned. The fact that she's willing to come back next weekend says it all! Great news that your daughter likes her too!

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    1. Thank you. Everyone seems to be happy and her coming back seems to be a good sign.

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  3. Haha, nicely done :) Red is going to become as mysterious as the next door neighbour from Home Improvement

    But funnier

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  4. Very funny.

    Maybe Red could get a mask - your very own superhero ?

    Although Train was the hero in this story.

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    1. We would have been there all night without Train. We were very grateful. Although, he might have only come because he wanted to meet Red.

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    2. I really didn't Preach you know that I owe you my life and that I hopped at the chance to return the favor..Okay your right I only wanted to meet Red. Dirtycowgirl...thanks for seeing it my way...

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  5. Oh my - I'm blushing! Such high praise...and on a bad hair day, too. It was a lot of fun. I don't know how I'll handle it if we have a day together where we end up doing exactly what we originally planned!

    Kirsten is very easy to get along with. I wonder if she gets that from her dad.

    ...and I think I knew Train in a former life.

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    1. I think we have spent more time together trying to figure out how to fix the situations we have found ourselves in than just enjoying what he planned. Except the day in Indianapolis. That day had relatively few surprises.

      Kirsten IS very easygoing.

      Train will be thrilled to hear this, but I will wait for him to weigh in before I say anything to him.

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    2. (didn't I spring the Indy baseball game idea on you after you arrived here for lunch?)

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    3. Yes. You are quite right.

      It seems we thrive in chaos.

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    4. Preach you are right I'm on cloud nine right about now...as you know...I meet Red and had a funnel cake and milkshake...lol

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  6. Ha! I *knew* there was going to be something up with the photos lol... great job and yes, Red is absolutely beautiful. My favourite picture is of course the first one (not including the tower pic) and I'm sure I don't need to explain why.

    You know, even though Red's face is hidden, it's still a blast to see these pictures :) So thank you both for sharing them.

    Train coming out to save you was great - and I imagine (more than imagine actually) that he enjoyed himself tremendously.

    Nice post.

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    1. We had a great time. Once Train picked us up, we went out for milkshakes and stayed out another hour visiting. Red didn't get on the road until almost 1 a.m. and then had close to a four hour drive to get home crossing a time zone which added another hour to her commute.

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    2. Wow... that's a little risky with her possibly being tired. On the other hand, I think we can safely say that her mind would have been more in a wired state, than a tired state, after spending a day with you - so I'm sure all was good :)

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  7. She is a stunner. I can tell by her arms. Those are the arms of a beauty queen. Maybe one day she'll allow for her face to be shown. I'll be waiting. Until then, I decided to follow her blog.

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    1. Good eye. Plus, you get a more complete story if you read both blogs.

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  8. Love it..... can see we are all going try and see around objects as if it was mysteriously 3D!!

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  9. What a totally Brett day. Don't forget you can always call me to rescue you guys... I would love to meet her now that it is serious enough to introduce the kids. I was just a bit worried about your radio, glad it was the van.:)

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    1. Thank you. The more potential rescuers, the better.

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  10. this is so funny - just made my morning! and the "pix" of red are exactly what i would expect!

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  11. Those pics do not do her beauty justice, of course! But I'm glad she finally relented to have her picture posted on your blog. That is true trust on her part!

    And what a long and crazy day! I have found some of the best days I have had was when something unexpected happened or something went wrong and we had to scramble to figure out what to do. It's all about the people you are experiencing it with, really.

    And nice try, Brett, but I would recognize Red anywhere. That's really her in that last pic, isn't it? Nice try, but you have to work harder to fool me!! ;)

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    1. We saw this guy walking down the street so I approached him. He had just come from a ZOMBIE WALK and was headed back to his car. He agreed to a picture.

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    2. Thank you, Misty! After all those photos, I was sure someone would come to that conclusion.
      (vindication - yes!)

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  12. FANTASTIC! She is just gorgeous! I agree they may not do her justice, but I can tell she is much prettier than you! LOL

    I use an alias, but there are pictures of us on the blog, and they use alias as well, but they use them in real life too!

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    1. She looks much better than me.

      I had never considered what being anonymous or known may mean. I just started writing. Sometimes I wish I had gone the anonymous route, but it doesn't matter at this point.

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  13. So funny. I'm happy for you and Red, that you're both enjoying life, and that Kirsten likes her too. Best wishes :-)

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  14. Red has cool shoes. I'm all about the shoes. You done good.

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    1. (They're from Timberland. Excellent hiking sneakers.)

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  15. Haha well played on the photos. Very happy that things are going well for you!

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    1. Thank you. Very much enjoying this adventure.

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  16. I'm happy to hear your daughter likes her, I imagine that's the hardest hurdle to jump in a situation like that.

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    1. It really is. I wasn't too worried about whether she would like her, but it is important that she does.

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  17. This might not relate to your post but the things my kids seem to remember most about trips that we've taken are the things that happened unexpectedly. Sometimes they things you can't plan for, make the trip memorable. That and funnel cakes. :)

    Glad this all seems to be going well for you guys. Good news indeed!

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    1. It relates perfectly. I agree. It works out that way quite often. The mishaps that sometimes goes with it are very memorable.

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  18. Sounds like it was a lot of fun. I'm like Red in that I don't use pictures containing myself in any of my posts.

    Not commenting if my name is real though. :P

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    1. Quite all right. It seems that a great number of bloggers are anonymous.

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  19. Did you happen to take her to Makanda? Love those little shops!

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    1. We went through Makanda, but did not stop to look at anything. I was disappointed that the carved columns have been replaced by plain 4x4's.

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  20. Sounds like no matter what happened, ya'll had a great time and that counts. I love to hike. Don't like to break down, though.

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    1. He had a great time regardless. You just have to roll with whatever gets thrown your way. We had the great advantage of wonderful weather and good company.

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  21. Glad you guys are still having fun. All the best to both of you.

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  22. Sounds like you guys really work well together, which is cute as hell.

    Also, I don't really know what to say about the guy in the last picture, so uhm, I'm just not going to say anything.

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    1. He really threw us as well. Definitely stood out walking down the street.

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  23. Ahhh this looks like fun and I literally laughed out loud at the pic of you two lovelies embracing. Nicely done, my friend, nicely done.

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