Pecan Logs and Cheap Gas

The year was 1999.  Eric and I had been married for a whole year.  We were living high on 23 thousand dollars a year.   And love.  Lots of love.  We were debt free, besides our mortgage.  We were proud of not owing any money and we proved it by both driving cars that didn't have any air conditioning.

But we wanted to go on a road trip.  And that required air.  Lots of cool air.

So, we convinced Eric's Grandmother that her new Camry needed to see the interstate a bit.  Stretch her legs out.  All the way to Colorado and back.  For some reason, she obliged us.  I think it was because we were going to go and visit her second born son and his family.

{Eric now drives that car and those miles to Colorado and back make up about half of the total miles on that baby!}

So, one morning at an hour that my eyes had never laid hold of, I stumbled into the car and told my giddy husband to be quiet so that I might fall into my pillow again.

He sped down the road for 5 or so hours (math is hard when you are asleep), got us barely into Kansas and told me he was done.

He was giving me the joy of Kansas to drive through.  Such love. 

The next few hours were a blur.  Kansas is like entering a time warp where your only landmarks are gas stations.  They sure aren't curves, mountains, hills, trees, or cute buildings, that is for sure.

So, when we saw a sign for a Stuckey's up ahead, we decided it might be a good chance to grab gas and see a living soul or two.  Our first red flag should have been the gravel road that led from the interstate to the gas station.  But, alas, we needed gas.  We dared to venture inside.

Mistake.  It was another time warp.

We realized immediately that every living soul inside had been drinking the kool-aid called Kansas.  Their minds were so warped for needed stimulation that they were going ga-ga over t-shirts, pecan rolls, and cheap CDs.  I wanted to give these people a number to a therapist, but I couldn't interrupt their joy.  We were in Vespers, Kansas, but to them, it might as well have been Disneyworld.

Fast forward 12 years.  We have never had a road trip so easy in all of our lives.  Gas prices have doubled.  Kids have tripled.  The luggage amount would never fit into that Camry now.  The memories of that week...being free to do as we pleased, those are priceless.

While driving those three kids to school today, I was shocked to see that one of our gas stations overnight morphed into none other than a Stuckey's.

Shoot, babe, we aren't in Kansas anymore.  Riiiiight???