Kansas City Trip: Day One
Oct. 24th, 2003 05:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
robotech_masterAn account of the trip up, behind an LJ-cut so as not to blow out anyone's friends list...
Got up about 8:00, and puttered around getting ready for the trip. Cleaned out the car, did last minute packing, put stuff (& food) in the car, and so on. The neighbor across the parking lot who had been supposed to look after my cat for me wasn't there for me to give her the key...for all I know, she might have forgotten all about it. Fortunately, the neighbor next door to me—the one I sometimes give rides to work—was in. She's a cat-owner herself, and readily agreed to feed and litter the cat tomorrow and Sunday morning while I'm in K.C.
About 10:00, I hit the road to head down to the south part of town where I worked, drop off my rent check, get breakfast, and head on out. I stopped briefly at a Big Lots store to pick up a cheap pair of speakers to use with my laptop when on the road, then at a Git'n'GitOuttaHere to top the gas off...then I was on the road at about 11:00. To get to K.C., I habitually take 44 west then 71 north, making two legs of a right triangle. The physically shortest route would be the hypotenuse of that triangle, going up through Humansville...but because the 44/71 route is Interstate all the way, it's actually faster to go that route than the other. (There's actually one alternate hybrid route I found one time, by playing with a trip-maker, that takes a slightly more northerly highway west to meet up with 71 a bit north of the 44 junction, but it's got the same non-interstate slowness problem for part of the way.)
Made brief stops in Lamar & Harrisonville for restroom and drinks; refilled the tank in Harrisonville and nibbled a bit of lunch in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Then I was on the road again. Made pretty good time on the trip, listening to Kansas, Dire Straits, and Rush via CD player, finally getting to K.C. at about 3:00. I drove around until I found the Boulevard Brewery...but found a sign on the door that it was closed for a plant meeting this afternoon. Pfeh. By this point, I had to go to the bathroom really badly (due in part to drinking an Energy Beverage just before hitting town so I'd be fully alert for the city driving) and I pulled in at the big post office building just south of Union Station...at which point I was told that there weren't any public bathrooms in the entire building. Yay. So I rather hastily ran across the street to Union Station to find relief.
I wish I'd paid a little more attention to the signs while I was in there, but more on that later. After Union Station I spent a bit of time driving around downtown K.C., looking for I-knew-not-what, finding few parking places. Called Alex and had him look up the street address of BookCrossing, since I knew it was right in there...but when I drove by, I found the suite for lease and nobody home. After that I drove aimlessly around, scanning for wireless hotspots with KisMac in the hope I could find somewhere to check my mail. At one point I found myself briefly in Case Park, where I stepped up onto the stone balcony-type thing and admired the view of the river and the airport. Then, not knowing what else to do, I returned to Union Staton...
...where I saw a huge sign advertising it as a free wifi hotspot. Dowh. So here I am. Pretty decent place for a wireless connection; the only problem is there are no AC outlets, so I'm limited to my computer's battery power...and the battery meter isn't reliable. Hope I finish this entry before it fizzles.
The friend I'm meeting,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tbutler, was delayed on the drive over from St. Louis, where his job had taken him, by heavy traffic on the way home, but he expects to be here...oh...given the time I've spent typing this entry, probably any minute now. After that, we'll probably get dinner somewhere, then head home to his place for the anime club meeting he's hosting tonight. At some point we'll probably take in the Liberty Bell 7 exhibit here, too.
Further updates as the situation warrants.
Got up about 8:00, and puttered around getting ready for the trip. Cleaned out the car, did last minute packing, put stuff (& food) in the car, and so on. The neighbor across the parking lot who had been supposed to look after my cat for me wasn't there for me to give her the key...for all I know, she might have forgotten all about it. Fortunately, the neighbor next door to me—the one I sometimes give rides to work—was in. She's a cat-owner herself, and readily agreed to feed and litter the cat tomorrow and Sunday morning while I'm in K.C.
About 10:00, I hit the road to head down to the south part of town where I worked, drop off my rent check, get breakfast, and head on out. I stopped briefly at a Big Lots store to pick up a cheap pair of speakers to use with my laptop when on the road, then at a Git'n'GitOuttaHere to top the gas off...then I was on the road at about 11:00. To get to K.C., I habitually take 44 west then 71 north, making two legs of a right triangle. The physically shortest route would be the hypotenuse of that triangle, going up through Humansville...but because the 44/71 route is Interstate all the way, it's actually faster to go that route than the other. (There's actually one alternate hybrid route I found one time, by playing with a trip-maker, that takes a slightly more northerly highway west to meet up with 71 a bit north of the 44 junction, but it's got the same non-interstate slowness problem for part of the way.)
Made brief stops in Lamar & Harrisonville for restroom and drinks; refilled the tank in Harrisonville and nibbled a bit of lunch in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Then I was on the road again. Made pretty good time on the trip, listening to Kansas, Dire Straits, and Rush via CD player, finally getting to K.C. at about 3:00. I drove around until I found the Boulevard Brewery...but found a sign on the door that it was closed for a plant meeting this afternoon. Pfeh. By this point, I had to go to the bathroom really badly (due in part to drinking an Energy Beverage just before hitting town so I'd be fully alert for the city driving) and I pulled in at the big post office building just south of Union Station...at which point I was told that there weren't any public bathrooms in the entire building. Yay. So I rather hastily ran across the street to Union Station to find relief.
I wish I'd paid a little more attention to the signs while I was in there, but more on that later. After Union Station I spent a bit of time driving around downtown K.C., looking for I-knew-not-what, finding few parking places. Called Alex and had him look up the street address of BookCrossing, since I knew it was right in there...but when I drove by, I found the suite for lease and nobody home. After that I drove aimlessly around, scanning for wireless hotspots with KisMac in the hope I could find somewhere to check my mail. At one point I found myself briefly in Case Park, where I stepped up onto the stone balcony-type thing and admired the view of the river and the airport. Then, not knowing what else to do, I returned to Union Staton...
...where I saw a huge sign advertising it as a free wifi hotspot. Dowh. So here I am. Pretty decent place for a wireless connection; the only problem is there are no AC outlets, so I'm limited to my computer's battery power...and the battery meter isn't reliable. Hope I finish this entry before it fizzles.
The friend I'm meeting,
tbutler, was delayed on the drive over from St. Louis, where his job had taken him, by heavy traffic on the way home, but he expects to be here...oh...given the time I've spent typing this entry, probably any minute now. After that, we'll probably get dinner somewhere, then head home to his place for the anime club meeting he's hosting tonight. At some point we'll probably take in the Liberty Bell 7 exhibit here, too.Further updates as the situation warrants.
