Epic, Part One

Ana came to visit this past weekend, and it.was.epic. Like any epic, it will be told in sequence and in multiple parts. One day, perhaps, it will even be in verse. But that day is still a long way off.

The epic begins on Thursday, when Father Dude told us that he was coaching the first game for the parish's men's indoor soccer club. Brigit, Marianne, and I decided to tag along as cheerleaders. Percy joined us, though I don't think he was going for the role of male cheerleader.

The game ended around 9:30. Ana arrived at the airport at 11:30. It takes around 45 minutes to get to the airport. Percy and I decided against going home -- we set off down the road, intent upon making it to the airport on time. As in, not early.

First, we attempted to find a cut-through for Percy's commute home. Which means that after I got thoroughly lost, I got to see the school where he teaches. Then we hopped on the highway... and went.

I've always wanted to take a road trip by turning down roads and exits that sound interesting. Now I (kind of) have. Percy and I made it a few miles down the highway before we saw signs for a small county airport. Why not go to an airport on our way to the airport? We cut through some twistings of dark country roads. Percy (I hope) had his eyes peeled for deer. I was too busy finding constellations.

The airport was a small building and a few fences. We touched it, like a child tagging base, and headed back to the highway. Before we made it to the interstate, however, we found another road that Percy though went all the way to the city. We weren't sure if we should take it; a sign for "Toe Ink Wayside" down that road made our decision.

Sadly, we missed Toe Ink Wayside : it was a left exit and Percy was busy trying to get into the right lane so that we wouldn't miss it. On the plus side, we realized that the road was taking us where we wanted to go. And we found a fire tower. So we stopped to climb and look at stars.

Fun fact : When you get to a certain height in a fire tower, a sign lets you know that radio waves, at that height, may cause cancer.

The climb inspired our final stop. We passed the airport in search of a McDonalds for some hot chocolate. We passed a Waffle House, and Percy regretted not stopping. Luckily, thirty yards down the road, we found another one. We got some hot chocolate (with whipped cream) and finished it off right in time to get to the airport. In fact, we pulled in as Ana texted to say that she'd landed.