Road Trip

Yesterday Kiel, Katlin and I went to Mobile, Alabama to the GMAC Bowl (football game). The three of us haven’t had a road trip adventure in awhile so we were due. We left after Kat’s orthodontist appointment, which after the adjustments put him in a fine mood. Before we left, Kat and I checked the weather and noticed that there was an 80 percent chance of thunderstorms for our trip to Mobile and during the game. Given that we had nothing else going on, we still decided to press on and go to the game.

We took Kiel’s car and he drove. Letting him drive for me is tough. Especially in the conditions we encountered. To say that it “rained” on the way to Mobile would be an understatement. It poured buckets – hard driving, can’t see while driving type of rain. The rain came down hard the entire way to Mobile. When we got to Pensacola we decided to stop and eat and decide if we wanted to continue to Mobile or turnaround and go home. The thought of sitting outside in a monsoon for three hours didn’t thrill me. We stopped and ate at one our favorite restaurants, McGuire’s Irish Pub. This place is awesome – if you’re ever in Destin or Pensacola, FL I highly suggest checking it out.

Anyhow, the food at McGuire’s is excellent. The portions that they give are ridiculously huge. We all had the 18 cent a bowl – Senate Bean Soup. Then we couldn’t help but try the “Assorted Fried Cheese’s” – with a menu name like that how can you resist? Kiel and I each got their hamburgers. But Katlin took a different route. He publicly declared that he was “going for the Meat Sweats”. So he ordered the “Sausage Platter". A huge platter covered in Sauerkraut and German Potato Salad and topped with four of the most gianormous sausages you’ve ever seen. These things were the size of my forearms. These things were so big that they were scary. (Please keep it clean). He did a pretty good job of dismantling these things. He ate about 2 ½ of them, which may not sound like a lot but given the size of these things it was.

After we ate we got in the car and decided to go on to Mobile. The rain had let up some what and we took at as good sign. The closer we got to Mobile the less it rained. About 20 minutes from the stadium the rain stopped and cleared up. Got to the stadium and couldn’t find a place to park. We paid some lady, in a very questionable neighborhood $6 to park in her front yard. Kiel was freaking out, he was afraid that his car was going to stolen or stripped – but not to worry it was fine. Got in the stadium, found our seats and sat down. As soon as we did – the heavens opened up and didn’t stop. The false sense of security of the rain stopping tricked us. So we put our ponchos on and sat in the rain and watched the game – in the rain. The ponchos worked for a little while but once we stood up or moved the water got inside and soaked our pants. By the end of the game we were all soaked from our underwear down. I kept looking for a reason to leave but the game was good! We left with about nine minutes left in the fourth quarter the game was decided and we left. I drove home and both Kiel and Katlin stripped down to their underwear for the drive home. We brought stadium blankets so they covered up with them. We got home about 2:00AM in the morning and slept until about 10:00AM this morning. Despite the rain, we had a great time. I’m glad we stuck it out and I’d actually do it again. Dinner was great, the game was great – the rain sucked but we didn’t let it get to us. Road trips are fun I’m ready for the next one, as long as I can go with my boys.