happy birthday ian!

yep. arizona is hot, and it is a dry heat. spent the early evening hours in the pool tossing toys around. good to see the in-laws but better to see the kids.

got to meet the new little dog. scruffy. he is a pocket dog. not that that’s a bad thing, but small is just not my thing. he’s cute.

past that… not much to say. just lounging around, like any vacation is supposed to be.

peace…

mileage sucked today. always a wind. strong at times. but otherwise a very nice ride. it’s 8:30 here, but it feels like 9:30 and so, bed is likely very soon.

the car is holding up well. it’s not terribly uncomfortable. mich was squirming a bit more today, but it was likely because sleeping last night sucked. there was a mist this morning. but no real rain.

i have been trying to get us to places to eat better. but it doesn’t always work out. today, we had the WORST meal ever at a sonic. the worst. needless to say, that could of helped her squirm.

otherwise, we are doing good. miss the dogs and the sitters. miss the kids. we’ll see um tomorrow if they’ll get out of the pool.

it was 92 at one point today while we were out of the car. and. it really was a dry heat. still hotter than hell… but it was dry…

peace…

here are the stats for the day.
668.9 miles.
11:39 driving hours
13:30 total hours
average mpg: 26.3
best mpg: 27.7 (then the wind came up)
states: illinois, iowa, missouri, kansas

Uneventful drive really. some construction slowed us down a couple times, but really, it was just a drive. we both enjoyed the hills and valleys in missouri and kansas. there is some video that can be seen at qik.com/techjoe.

that’s it. got to crash for tomorrow. day 2. woohoo!!!

peace…

vacation is almost here. woohoo!

last night, the hawks – the mighty blackhawks took a 2-0 lead in the stanley cup! woohoo!!! not that i am a hockey fan, cause i’m not. but i am a chicago fan. hell, i even rooted for the sox a couple years ago. continue onward and upward!

finals for jon tomorrow. then it’s a summer of drivers education. what fun it will be!!!

michele’s almost done with school. if you know of a teaching position, please forward whoever to this website… mlratcliffe.net. her work samples and resume can be found there! can’t hurt!

awful accident at the close of the indy on sunday. from a safety standpoint, how far we have come.

there was an f1 debacle on sunday as well. teams should play nice within their little group. i would be willing to bet that there was an immense amount of being talked to for the rest of sunday. would not have wanted to be either of those drivers.

that’s it. off to work! it’s a brand new day!

i hope that everyone had thoughts of the men and women that protect us 24x7x365. i know that i did. i thought back to the people that i was able to meet over the years that did serve. the friends that i met that weren’t able to have some of their friends return to the states with them. my thoughts are with you all.

president obama. i know that the problems in the middle east are going to be pressing at you, but please, please work out the problems in the gulf. the loss of income for the state of louisiana and the devastation to the area around the gulf is just too important to america. it’s time to take over and get this thing stopped. right now, fault should be the last thing on anyone’s mind. it should be only to stop what is happening. take control. find some way to stop the leak. please.