Big Bang Theory

On the morning of July 4th I was running in a race called the Big Bang 5k.  I was pushing our daughter Emry in the jogging stroller, and realized the two of us hadn't been out jogging together in a long time.

Doing a little pre-race stretching!

It has consistently been over 100 degrees outside, so I tried to remember the last time I used the jogging stroller...

One night recently, I took the stroller out so I could "run" to Target to exchange a cooking pot.  I got a couple of honks from people driving down the road, and the lady at Target's return desk gave me a funny look when I unstrapped the pot from the stroller.  Is it really that unusual to "run" errands and not "drive" them?  Most of the people around here think its so weird, including Maren.  In fact, before I left the house that night, she sprinted down the driveway to take pictures of her weird husband.  In other parts of the country, its probably more acceptable to walk/run/bike as a mode of transportation, and in other parts of the world its the only option.

Yeah, its a pot...get over it!

After reminiscing about that experience, I realized that within the last 12 months, I've had the unique opportunity to run from one coast of our great nation to the other...

Last July, I was in San Diego for a few days for a work conference.  I couldn't get used to the time change, so each morning around 4 am I'd go out for a jog.  I'd run along the coastline, by the port and through the gas lamp district.  On these early morning runs I encountered zero whale vaginas, but saw lots of homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks.  One morning alone, I counted 34 homeless people. 

A couple of weeks ago, I got to run on the sandy beach in Folly Beach, SC.  One afternoon I ran along the road that exits the island.  During the run, I'm pretty sure I saw more real estate signs than palm trees.  When I turned around to go back, the line of cars to get on the island was so congested that I was actually passing the cars.  Another day, I ran along the beach during high tide and literally had to jump over people's beach towels because it was so crowded.  Some parts of the beach have eroded so badly from the new development that there is only about 15 ft of sand between the water and the sand dunes.   

After thinking about those runs, I realized that living in the midwest isn't so bad at all.  They might get better weather on the coasts, but they've definitely got their issues too. By the time I finished the Big Bang 5k I came to the conclusion that through my running experiences within the past year, I'm happy to call the midwest home sweet home. 

Then it all came full circle this past weekend...Emry and I were camping at my aunt's property in Lynnville.  On Saturday morning, we stepped off their driveway and were on a quiet country road.  There were no cars, no exhaust, no real estate construction, no trash along the road and homeless people or sunbathers to jump over.  It was just me, Emry, two deer, three rabbits, a slight drizzle and a bunch of song birds.  It was the best run I've had all year.  I wouldn't have traded it for anything!   

By the way, Emry ended up beating me in the Big Bang 5k.  She finished just a split second ahead of me...

*Big Bang 5k photos courtesy of http://www.gerwc.com/

2 (sleeping) Girls, 1 Cup

Being a parent makes you do weird things. Case in point, last week I was driving down the interstate when nature decided to call. I found myself considering the options of pulling over at the next exit or going to the bathroom in a plastic cup we had in the car. No, we didn't trick Seabass and the fellas into paying for our lunch, but there were some extreme circumstances that put me in this frame of mind...



"Who's the deadman that hit me with the saltshaker!?"

We were on a family vacation to Folly Beach, SC, and in true Griswald fashion, instead of flying, we made the 12 hour drive. We knew it would be an adventure with 2 little ones under 2 yrs old, but we got more than we bargained for. About 3 hours into the trip we noticed the A/C was blowing air, but it was only slightly cool. After another hour it was blowing warm air. We drove the final two hours of the day in a hot car(it was 94 degrees outside), and when we pulled into Knoxville we were 4 sweaty, cranky and miserable people. Luckily we found a Chipotle for dinner!

After dinner, we decided to stop there for the night and wake up early the following morning.  We wanted to get on the road before it got too hot again. The forecasted high temp was in the mid-nineties.

We piled the girls back into the car early the next morning. It was a cool 80 degrees outside, and it felt pretty good inside the car. We had 6 hours to drive, and things were looking pretty good. Until...

About an hour into the trip, nature started calling.  I really had to go! The girls were sound asleep in the back and the temp in the car was still pretty cool. Since we didn't want to wake them up or lose any travel time during the cool temperature, Maren said "Why don't you go in this cup?"

I'm not sure if she was joking or serious, but at that point it actually sounded like a good idea. I checked the mirrors, and there weren't any cars nearby, so I said to Maren "Grab the wheel, we're doing this!"

I'm not sure how many ounces a 32oz cup holds when it is tilted at a 45 degree angle....but I can tell you that it is less than the amount of water I drank that morning. Without going into great detail(too late), lets just say there was a little overflow before the "mission was aborted".

Despite the early cut-off, I felt relieved. Obviously we were traveling with the girls and had their baby wipes, so I was able to wash my hands, and all was good.  We just prayed that we wouldn't get pulled over.

Tic Tac?

The rest of the trip was smooth sailing, and we made it without any further follies. We got the A/C repaired while we were there, so we didn't have to go through the same thing on the drive home.

The good things that came out of the A/C fiasco were:  1. We found out that crying babies like having the windows down in the car. The sound of the wind must be soothing or something.  2. We came away with a greater appreciation for the things that we usually take for granted on a day to day basis.

I'm actually kind of glad the A/C went out, because instead of simply taking a trip, we experienced an unforgetable adventure.  I'll leave you with one final thought to ponder...after you fill a cup with pee in your car, what do you do with it?