Between tornadoes in Ohio, which delayed the plane from picking him up for an hour and forty minutes, and the COWSPILL that kept me from arriving before 11:10, (he was originally due at 10:40, arrived about 12:10) we finally connected at Kansas City International Airport.

First, I arrived late and couldn't find M-t. I had him paged twice, then I find out his flight's not landing for another 20 mins. He gets off the plane.. I'm in the washroom changing out of my sweaty road clothes. He can't find ME now! He takes a quick step in to freshen up, and I'm looking out the window trying to determine if that's his flight out on the tarmac. So, we had our reunion hug standing in front of the newspaper stand.

Then off to Parkville in the BLISTERING heat for lunch. We passed on the picnic idea, cuz we would have had heat stroke and instead found a nice little mexican restaurant built inside a couple of old railway cars, where we ate til we needed wheel barrows to get us outta the joint. Ok, it didn't take wheel barrows.. it did take the kitchen crew singing in Spanish....waaaaaay off key. At one point, M-t looked toward the kitchen and said "Boys... PUHLEEZE give up your day job!" We were thankful it was not a Korean restaurant...cuz it sure sounded like they were killing a cat in there.LOL!

M-t tried to brave the heat in his sport shirt, jeans and boots. He lasted about 4 hrs. 4.5 lbs of water loss later, he finally changed clothes when we got to the mall. We arrive to find a construction hole where the food court USED to be.
. o O (Great, Sang! NOW how will they find us?) But, Chat-Magnetism won out, and even TooltimeTim and his wife got there before the sojourn to the ball game.

While Nurse is a recently met chatfriend and we've been buds with TtTim for quite a while, Aunt_tea is one of M-t's longest known chat friends. He always calls her his "fav. relative" and she picks on him incessantly! An example of her teasing...Aunt_tea approached M-t just as we were leaving the mall..."You remember your mental picture of my nick name? A little old lady in a flowered dress, baking cookies? Well, no flowered dress, but ... here's a cookie!" and she presented him with a freshly baked mall cookie! 'Auntee' rep'd M-t's side of the family at the cyberwedding and even offered to stand in for him at the now infamous boot! LOL!!

. o O (Nobody's kissin' the bride but M-t!!)

We were late arriving at the ballpark. Yup, you guessed it, we chatted too long with TtTim and his wife before we headed for the game (they couldn't go.. sick kid). We arrived when we THOUGHT it would be about the 3rd inning... noo....was the bottom of the first. 9-0 Rangers. Can you spell "ROUT"? The game wasn't 1/3 over, it was over, PERIOD!!

The night time view of the fountains in Royal Stadium

But a good time was had by all... Aunt_tea and Nurse__1__98 hit it off, as did their younger boys. M-t had his first ever ballpark frank but passed on the beer, too hot, so he had the proverbial Pepsi in the Royals' collector cup.

In the 4th inning, the crowd had to choose the music for the 5th inning.

Choice 1 was Fast As You by Dwight Yokum, Choice 2 was Brown Eyed Girl, Choice 3 was Black Dog by Zeppelin. We had to cheer for our vote.. we thought by ear that the 3rd had won, which would be o.k..... but.. came the 5th inning.. and the whole place was boogeying to Brown Eyed Girl.
.oO(Personally, I think it was my war whoop that put us over the top. LOL)

The drive home was spent in excited anticipation of the 9 days yet to come. We also did our share of "critter-watchin'". LOL! The deer have the good sense to stay by the side of the road, but the possums have got to learn to "duck"! Hee hee.. we were booking along at 65 mph...a cat scooted across the road, a bit later we spotted a deer by the side of the road...then, just before a construction zone, a possum was standing in the middle of the road, I slowed waaaaaaaaaaaaay down, and the darn thing would NOT "go away", and then the silly thing must have lifted his head with a "huh?" JUST as my transmission cracked it in the skull. We figure he's gotta migraine today. M-t has this visual of the possum up on it's hind legs, one paw on his head, dancing around and shaking it's other paw at the car, cursing the damn humans in the car that should be a truck! LOL!!

Wed. was mostly spent around the house, revelling in the fact that we weren't 1000 miles distant. We bebopped around P'burg, seeing some of the sights and cruising the grocery store for goodies. Later in the afternoon, we popped into my workplace to prove to my cohorts that M-t wasn't a figment of my imagination and to enjoy the air-conditioned comfort. (No, we didn't have to step into the morgue to find a cool spot, LOL!)
The rest of the details of this day shall go unpublished!

On Thursday morning, we headed off to the local radio station and the first of M-t's potential job interviews. It went very well and ended with a "Call us early next week after you've spoken to the other two stations that are interviewing you. k?" Before we departed the station, they introduced M-t to the fellow manning the Rock Station, (they have 3 stations in the one location), where, because he stepped into the control room, he instantly became the on-air guest for the lunchhour. We're of the thinking that the management was wanting to see how he'd react to a surprise appearance on the air. We think it went well considering they had to ask him to stand closer to the mic cuz he was way quiet. Figure THAT one out!!

Off to Ft. Scott on Thursday afternoon and the second of the three interviews. After speaking to the station there, we headed over to the actual fort, a national historic site and did the walking tour where we ran into two other couples from M-t's neck of the woods, in Canada.
.oO(Guess this shows that you don't have to have the Net to make it such a small world after-all, LOL!)

While cruising thru a local antique shop, I happened to spy a lamp that brought a "jaw-dropping" reaction from M-t. It was a lamp that was a perfect match for his "naked lady" ashtray. What changed his reaction to an almost full cardiac arrest, was the price on said lamp. He'd bought the ashtray at a yardsale about 4 years ago for $5., or about $3.25 U.S.....the shop only wanted....get this, a mere...... $350.00 for the lamp!! Turns out that the lamp and M-t's ashtray are original "Art Nuveau" pieces and not easily found. I told him to treat the "naked lady" really nicely once he got home!

Friday we toured over to Joplin for installment 3 of the job hopes and ended up booking an On-air interview for the next Wed. The Program Director wanted to have us talk a bit about our relationship and about the Net in general.

On to Springfield, Mo. and the Bass Pro Shops.

One thing about the BPS, it's HUGE!! If you're looking for anything to do with the outdoors, it's there! Even some of the outdoors itself. They have many live ponds and things full of fish n critters from around the state.

After a tour of the store and lunch at Hemingway's Seafood Buffet we motored to a few antique shops and and flea markets before heading off to Carthage and our "drive-in date".

While the movies themselves might have been attraction to most of the theater goers, it was definitely the Drive-in itself that attracted us. We'd talked about doing an "in" during the visit and lucked into finding "the last original Rte. 66 drive-in" on it's own website. Mark and Wes, the owners have put their own hands to totally refurbishing the 66 Drive-in into as close to original as possible. They've done a fantastic job. M-t got to tour the projection area with Mark. (M-t's dad was a projectionist at their local drive-in and movie theater in their hometown until his death in the early 60's).

We bought an original drive-in speaker. They're selling them off due to the fact that the 66 now transmits the movies' soundtracks via FM frequencies to the car radios. During a staff meeting at work on the following Tuesday M-t wired it up to my puter. Kind of neat to hear Blues Brothers' .wav's being played thru it. We're planning on getting another this fall and then hooking them up in stereo. They sound great and their attenuators (volume ctrl) still work!

We had planned on a day of yard sales and flea mkts for Saturday but......lets just say that we didn't leave the house till 4pm. We'll leave the rest to your imaginations.....okay, we watched movies!

Sunday!!! About 10:30am we, once again, climbed into the Momboat and headed west towards Independence Kansas but, just before getting there, we deked south into Oklahoma. Our destination? Hulah Lake State Park, near the Ks. stateline.

After attempting to assemble yet a different borrowed tent in the dark, Pha and Rose lent us their "umbrella tent". If you're into easy camping, this one's for you. You unfold it, give it a shake and then lock the supports. Done! Hell, it even came with a built in SPIDER! Apparently, it was only a big ol' Grass Spider, but M-t introduced it to Mr. Nike, just in case. LMAO!!
. o O (oh if Rose had only known it was in there.....YIKES!!)

Phacops and Rose took off for Wichita around midnight, after discussing everything from puters...
.oO(Rose looks after mine cuz I don't know nuttin! <--Pha)
... to favorite planes (model to lifesize), to the different constellations that were so incredibly visible on that gorgeous night!

On around 12:30, after finally giving up the 'yak' and heading to bed, M-t was just drifting off when I heard this sound near the empty beer cans. I asked him for the flashlight and with his eyes still closed, he handed it towards me and mumbled something akin to "Here". Just as he did, we heard more crashing and a loud MEEEEERRRREEEEEEEEOWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!phphphphphphphtttttt You've never seen bigger eyes in your life! On M-t, that is!!!! In the flashlights glow, M-t was up in an instant and training the flashlight out the tent's window at the back of Red's pickup. .....nothing....out the front door. .....nothing. Back and forth he went, bent on allieving my wonderment. On about the third peek out the tentdoor, he spotted "a round face with ears and blue-ish/white eyes reflecting back at me." M-t had seen his first Bobcat. Apparently, one that didn't take too kindly to Reds_Lady's lemon peels in the garbage. The bobcat must have departed the area but that didn't keep M-t from waking up periodically to move his feet further away from the tent's zipper. He wanted no part of a 25lb cat deciding that it wanted to play with whatever was making the jingley thing, jingle. LOL! Well, I slept well, anyway...tee hee!

After a leisurely breaky and more visiting, we parted company with Red and Lady, promising Red that M-t would send a can of the Beloved Tim Horton's Coffee down to Ok. as soon as he got back to Canada. Deed done...he mailed it the day after he got home.

M-t presented Red and Lady with a bottle of pure Canadian Maple Syrup and then wondered if he couldn't read Red's mind...
.oO(Wonder how this stuff goes with Budweiser?)

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M-t takes over from here, sorta.

The last few days were pure enjoyment. How could they be anything but, in the presense of the one I love?

After leaving the campground at Hulah Lake Ok., we headed the beloved Momboat north to Wichita, expecting to arrive somewhere around 2pm.

Much to our chagrin, our e.t.a. was pushed back somewhat because the temp. gauge insisted on riding in the red the whole way. We stopped a couple of times to let it cool down and to try to find a garage that might have a thermostat to fit the Pontiac. No dice.

So....Sang and I decided to tough it out all the way to Wichita.
. o O (Sure, like we needed to have the defroster on high when it's already 95º outside.)

In between looking at a couple of flea markets...
.oO(are you catching the theme of the tour, yet?)
Sang did finally introduce me face-to-face with two Brown Recluse spiders. Seemed they had found a haven inside the seat fabric of a director' chair that caught Sang's eye.

"Meet Mr. Nike!"

THWACK!!

.oO(My Hero! <-- Sang)

We made it to the restaurant fashionably late for dinner with Sang's parents, her brother and his wife and daughter. We did a deke into the place's washrooms, (or, "Used Beer Depot"'s as the restaurant called them), to change from camping duds to dinner clothes. A good time was had by all, drinking tons of iced tea, interspersed with bites of chicken, ribs and or salad and jokes.

...so, Larry, do you have a couple of brothers named Darryl? <---Sang's Dad

...oh, like you haven't heard That one before! <---Sang's Mom

...no, but I do have a couple named Curly and Moe. <---me.

Sanguiness groans and rolls her eyes.
.oO(Oh Gawd help me!)

We ended up following Sang's brother out to his place in Derby and pulling the old thermostat out, while Sang and her dad ran to O'Reilly's for a new one. We WON'T discuss the disconnected vacuum tubes or the fact that clumsiness caused the Momboat to go thru more oil than OPEC on a good business day! That got fixed, thanks to Sang's Intrepid mechanic. He also told us that, in all likelyhood, the overheating of the temp. sending unit probably fudged it so that it didn't read correctly. That too, can be fixed.

Tuesday was a 'hang around and watch movies' day. Sang rented "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". You can bet your Bippee that I won't be dressing up as Frank-n-Furter at Hallowe'en!!

We also watched Billy Jack and Forrest Gump. We tried to catch movies that one or the other of us hadn't seen yet, or hadn't seen in quite a while.

Wed. a.m., early, and I DO mean early, we headed back over to Joplin for an on-air radio interview about our relationship and the net in general. In about half an hour, we covered almost everything from us, to "safe" chatmeets, to the accessibility of stuff on the WWW. We even scored a couple of sweatshirts, mugs and some stickers.

I had already called the first station I interviewed with to hear the co-owner tell me that "We might hire a part-timer to fill the gaps but we're not hiring anyone else before you come down. I can't say 'you're hired' on July 28th, not knowing if you won't be down until Dec. or Jan., but keep us posted and let us know exactly when you'll be moving down, and as long as you don't want $blah blah.00 a year, I think we can get it together." Which, to ME, means that I'll have a job in radio upon moving down. I know a lot can change between now and Jan. '99, but we're both feeling REALLY positive about it.

Quick foot note here. Just 5 days after returning, and appr. 2 weeks after the interviews, I can safely say that I have found employment in Ks. at a radio station. Details will be forthcoming, closer to my moving date. We've also received confirmation from INS of my application being in process.

All in all, it was a FANDAMNTABULOUS, ABSOTIVELY, POSILUTELY, INCREDIBLE 10 days of lovin', touchin', and squeezin'!! We met a bunch of chatters that are now IRL friends too!

...and I can't wait to get down there when "See ya soon" will not mean any more than "see you after work".

So, back to what we've been calling 'normal'. To many in the world, our relationship is anything but... but, we're getting used to being 1000 miles apart, knowing that the time between now and the day I move, IS getting smaller. "See ya soon's" do NOT get easier with repitition.

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Back to Sang...

Well, sports fans, the deed is done. M-t has been safely delivered back into the hands of Northwest Airlines for his trip to the not so frozen North.

After a split-moment arrival at KCI airport, checking in, standing outside to smoke and kibbitz the construction signs... we could no longer put off the inevitable. He had to board his plane. He passed thru the metal detector, thru Northwest's 'secret passage' to the gate... a couple of mouthed messages through the plate glass, hands pressed to the window over each other, and up the gangplank he went.

I approached the viewing window to watch the plane depart. A semi-nervous looking gentleman turned to me from the next sheet of glass and said, "So, you must have someone flying to Detroit, too..."

I answered in the affirmative...he explained that his daughter was headed North to visit her fiance in Windsor, Ontario. "Small world", I said, and explained that it was my fiance who had just boarded the plane.

"Crazy thing about it," he said, "they met on the internet."

Ok, you can imagine the conversation from there, I'm sure...LOL!

So, 1200 miles and many sighs later, the Whirlwind Tour of Kansas comes to a close. The Momboat, despite its grunts n fits, served us well, and is now resting comfortably on its daily 2 mile round trips to and from work, sort of like being put out to pasture...

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