Day trip, the final entry

Since there was no trading done in Kansas, we all breathed a sigh and readied ourselves for the long trek home.  But there was that wonderful chicken to try at the Brookview Hotel when we passed through Abilene.  

"Maybe we'll get at least one good thing out of this lousy trip," Arick said.  

It looked like the timing would be perfect:  Dinner is served on Saturday from 4:30 to 7:30, and we were right on the mark to get there at 4:30.  Finally, something was going right.  We joked around about how it was probably a dump, and the food would be terrible, just because we were so looking forward to it.  We felt encouraged, though, when we saw dozens of cars already parked and more pulling in behind us.  

Alas.  Everybody there had reservations.  They would take walk-ins, but not until 7:30.  What a disappointment.  We weren't about to spend four hours in Abilene and end up getting home at midnight or so.  

You could have cut the gloom in that truck with a knife, it was so thick.  We were a glum bunch of travelers, I'll tell you that.  

"I'm for going on home," Arick said to us.  "Are you guys hungry?  Because if not, we're going home,"  

It hadn't been that long since our McDonald's meal, so we told him to drive on.  

But then I spied a sign advertising Puffy's Steak and Ice house, and I had to open my big mouth.  

"Oh, wow," I exclaimed.  "Cliff, remember when we were going home from Colorado and were really wanting a steak and we saw that sign and went to Puffy's and had the best steak ever?"  

"Do you guys want to go?"  Arick asked.  

"Fine with me."  "Sure."  

I won't go into detail, but the food was awful.  The steak was tough and tasteless.  What a way to end a miserable road trip.  Oh, and as we sat at the table, we were being alerted that a tornado was touching down about six miles from our house.  It was looking mighty cloudy in Maple Hill, too, so Arick went outside to figure out a way to keep water out of the carburetor of that high-class engine we were taking back home with us, in case it rained.  He used a floor mat out of the pickup for that, and then returned inside to suffer through the worst steak dinner in history.   

Here's the thing about having a blog:  If I document a day like this, I start to see the humor in the situation.  As I told the others on our way home, a year from now we will be laughing at this.  And I can get at least three blog entries out of it when I'm home.

Just think how helpful this entry is for my readers.  Next time you are passing through Kansas, you know one eatery to avoid at all cost, and one restaurant to visit... but make sure you have a reservation.  

I should figure out some way for you people to pay me for the things you learn from my mistakes.

THE END