Traveling NOW, VS. Traveling THEN

When we were young, meaning my friends and I, well, and my wife too.  We could travel at a moments notice.

You want to go to Southern Utah for the weekend?  Break out the 98 quart cooler, fill it with food, beer, ice.  Get the tent, the sleeping bags.  Make a stop at the liquor store, fill the Isuzu with gas and off we go.  Oh, don't forget food for the dog.  Or the DOG for that matter!

We knew what we needed, knew where it was, and could throw that stuff together in a few minutes.

Now?  Not so much.

I'm going to go to Denver this week with my friends, Phil and Al, to see my friend Lisa Landry the comedian, and I've been planning it for a MONTH!

Once we all decided that we were going to go, we had to all agree on what day we were going to leave.  We had to decide WHICH show we wanted to go to.  Well, if Phil can't get Thursday off, we have to leave on Friday, so we better book the late show on Friday night.

Then I had to find a hotel close to the show.  Buy the tickets on line, print them off and make sure I have all this stuff in one place, so I won't forget it when we leave.

Then, starting last week, I had to get the car ready.  Check the oil.  Half a quart low.  No sticker in the car telling me what my mechanic put in it, so I had to call him.  Mobile One Synthetic, 5-30.  Turns out I HAD a half a quart of that in the garage, cause it's what I use in the Camaro.

Fill the washer fluid.  Check the tire pressure.  Get the car washed, cause I at least want to START the trip with the car clean.

Check my prescriptions, make sure I have enough that I don't run out while I'm out of town!  Never did THAT when I was young.

Spent today paying the bills that are due the first week of the month in case it snows in Wyoming on the way home, and we are stuck in Cheyenne for a week to ten days, turning our under ware inside out, that is if we can GET a motel room, so the mortgage doesn't get missed and BOA jumps all over us and by the time I get home, the house has been foreclosed, and Deb and the kids are living in my mom's empty condo with no furniture or cable and cursing my ass.

Tomorrow, I have to go fill the car with gas, pay any OTHER bills that have arrived, on line of course, just to be sure, and I hope I don't spend all night awake, worrying about what ever it is I forgot!

Man, might be easier to just stay home!

Any one up for an impromptu trip to the southern Utah desert?  Oh, never mind.  I can't camp any more.  I would have to plug my CPAP machine into a Current Bush or I might die in my sleep from Apnea.

Man, life changes when you're old.  I finally understand why my mother liked Erma Bombeck books, and I never thought they were funny.

Time To Call, Bullshit!

I keep losing friends on Facebook because I tell the truth.  Tonight, I got scalded by some friends mother, who kept kicking my ass and asking me questions, while blocking my response, and telling me, "You're as arrogant as Obama!"  For having an opinion that is different from yours?

Why don't you just go ahead and call me, "An uppity Nigger" too?

Racists, jerks.  I have booted all of the whole family off MY FB page.  I don't want to live in that world.

I don't mind having friends who disagree with me on FB.  I enjoy debate.  And some of my closest friends, I disagree with totally in political matters.  Chuck Markham, I'm talking about YOU!

But last week, we spent hours together playing pool with our friend, Al and we are still and always will be friends.

But I have a problem with people who just don't pay attention.  If you work paycheck to paycheck, you don't have health insurance, and you don't have a pension coming from your job?  And you vote for Republicans?  You are not paying attention.

And if you are in THAT category and you are against, "Obamacare" cause you think it's socialism?  Again, you are NOT paying attention.  What are you going to do when you get old and sick?  Rely on Medicare?  THAT would be SOCIALISM!

I have to laugh at the Tea Baggers who were holding up signs that said, "Keep your GOVERNMENT hands OFF my MEDICARE!"   WTF?  Where do you think MEDICARE comes from?  Dumb ass.

And this government shutdown is NOT the fault of BOTH parties.  It is TOTALLY in the laps of the Republicans.  They don't want to fund, "Obamacare" cause they are scared to death that it will WORK!  So they are throwing a temper tantrum.  Jerks.

I don't have to worry.  I have a bunch of money.  I have a pension paid by the state.  Cause I EARNED it!  My wife and daughter are both getting SS disability, so even if they don't get paid?  They still have Medicare.  Which they should.

But there are a lot of folks out there that are going to be hurt by this.

And my friends mother, who was hating on Obama and blaming HIM for the government shut down, was saying that she was OK with it as long as her medical insurance was in tact and she got her Social Security check in the middle of the month.

When I pointed out that she was hating the government, but counting on her benefits?  I was a total jerk, and, "as arrogant as Obama." 

I'm the uppity nigger now?  That can be the ONLY explanation  for THAT kind of response.

These right wing, Tea Bagger, nut ball idiots are SO racists, and dumb about how the world works that this county is fucked unless we slap them down.  And hard.

If you think the Democrats are responsible for this bullshit?  You just don't pay attention.  And if you think it's OK the Republicans are doing this to prove a point?  Don't complain when your Social Security Check doesn't arrive.  You voted for the jerks.