The Itinerary

Well I went on and on about EAT's creative side as opposed to my logical side. Now for a little twist. It turns out that I'm the toss it all to the wind and just go do something on the spur of the moment type and EAT is the planner. I am the one who will take a different rout to work just to experience a different route to work. It doesn't matter to me that it isn't the fastest or most direct what matters is the adventure of a new experience. We have attended the same Church for decades and we have been in the same house almost as long (yes we have attend Christ Presbyterian Church for longer than 25 years. No Church hoppers here!) so our route to Church is pretty much engraved in stone. Up 169, exit to 51, then over to I44 and off on Harvard. EAT will do that route every time multiple times a week the very same way, no deviations. That's good because if something ever happened I could retrace her path blindfolded. But it is just not me. I will go up 71st on day, 61st the next. I will go north on Harvard one week and north on Sheridan the next week. I get to see new things, I get to keep up with what's going on around town. I can't be too predictable I have got to keep the spy's who are watching on their toes guessing as to which way I might go next.

Once on our way to Church in the mini-van (you know you are in full-up dad mode when you actually think a mini-van makes sense to own) I was going up 71st street then on one of my adventures twists instead of turning north on Harvard I actually went through the intersection with the intent of going down to Lewis and circling back. What the adventure! A different way to go! What new travel experiences would we get with this? As soon as we went through the intersection my eldest daughter (who has been blessed with the organization gene) said "Daddy, you missed the turn". Without missing a beat EAT said "Don't worry honey you father knows what he is doing". Tolerance for diversity in action!

EAT has come to accept that in me she doesn't exactly like my unpredictable nature but I am what I am. EAT as you can imagine is a list maker, an organizer. You know what I mean, start the day; make the list; follow the list. To her organization is not a tool it is the proper way to live one's life. For her disorganization is evil and just plain wrong. I am not the organized type and find her list making tendencies a bit tedious but I love that in her. I can lay an idea out, provide resources and she will break it down into steps, organize it and get it done. Yet another way where we precisely compliment each other in our differences making a more complete whole together.

So when I said that I wanted to go on a road trip I really meant just that. Get in the car drive down to the main street and then flip a coin to determine whether to go east or west. Really! I was thinking about throwing sleeping bags in the car in case we got caught without access to a hotel. I wanted to just drive and see where that asphalt would end. A little unrealistic perhaps.  Irresponsible? NO! That's not irresponsible that's the stuff that fun is made of.

Well I knew that wouldn't fly with EAT so I went and found the DDD list online and gave it to her and just kind of backed off. I was done at that point. I knew I would not have to do anything else because her organizational tendencies would kick in to hyper-drive and she would be driven to categorize complete and subdue. And yes, make a list or two or three.

In fact yesterday morning EAT sat down, picked the restaurants, contacted them to get their hours, assigned each restaurant to a meal (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) during our week, put them in order, plotted a route, calculated travel time between them, determined our overnight stay points, found hotels and booked reservations, typed it all up and presented it to me at 1pm.

I, in the meantime, got my hair cut.

I would say it was all a part of my master plan to get her to do all that work but I had no plan. That's just how we work together. We subconsciously know what each other will enjoy doing and accomplish well so we each just fall in our roles. And we love it.

So I present to your our Itinerary. Please look forward to watching us work our way through it.

Foodies Gone Wild-Oklahoma Kansas edition

Monday august 31 to Saturday September 5, 2009

Monday August 31

• Leave Tulsa
• Arrive at The Rock Café 114 Main Street Stroud, OK 918-968-3990 for lunch. Open 6am-9pm 7 days a week.
• Check in to the Biltmore Hotel 401 Meridian Ave in OKC 1-405-947-7681. $126.15
• Dinner at Ingrid’s Kitchen 3701 N. Youngs Bldg OKC 1-405-946-8444 open on Monday till 6:30pm or the Cattleman’s Steakhouse 1309 S Agnew Ave. 1-494-236-0415 open 6am-10:00pm.
• Tuesday September 1
• Breakfast at The Diner 13 E. Main. Norman OK 1-405-329-6642 Opens at 6:30am.
• Lunch at Nic’s Grill 201 N. Pennsylvania Ave OKC 1-405-524-0999 Open 7am-2pm.
• Dinner at Mamma’s E Wings and Waffles 3838 Springlake Drive 1-405-424-0800 Open Tuesday 11am-7pm.

Wednesday September 2

• Check out of hotel.
• Breakfast at Nic’s Grill. See above.
• Lunch at Eischen’s Bar 109 N. Second Street in Okache, OK 1-465-263-9939.
• Check into the Cresthill Suites Hotel in Wichita, KS 12111 E, Central Ave. 1-316-689-8000.  $104.51.
• Dinner- not on Guy’s Fieri’s list of Diner, Dives, and Drive-in’s. Savute’s Italian Ristorante 3303 N. Broadway. 1-316-838-0455.

Thursday September 3

• Check out of hotel.
• Breakfast at Brint’s Diner 4834 E. Lincoln Street 1-316-684-0290. Open 6am-2pm.
• Lunch at BoBo’s Drive-in in Topeka, KS 2300 SW 10th Ave. 1-785-4511.
• Check into the Q Hotel and Spa 560 W. Port Road Kansas City, Mo. 1-816-931-0001. $99.46.
• Dinner at Grinders 417 E.18th Street in Kansas City MO. 1-816-472-5454 open till 11:00pm

Friday September 4

• Check out of hotel
• Breakfast at Momma’s 39th St. Diner 3906 Waddell Street Kansas MO. 1-816-531-6422
• Lunch BBQ Shack 1613 E. Peoria Street in Paola Kansas. 1-913-294-5908. Open T-Sat 11am-9pm.
• Check into The Little Brick Inn Bed and Breakfast. 1101 Military Ave, in Baxter Springs, KS. 1-620-856-5646. $85.00.
• Dinner at the Café on the Route see above address.

Saturday September 5

• Breakfast at the inn.
• Check out of B&B.
• Lunch at Clanton’s Café. 319 E. Illinois Ave in Vinita OK 1-918-256-9053.
• Arrive home.

Just a little light pre-planning don't you think? And I always knew I was just dreaming about the sleeping bags in the back of the truck. EAT's version of "roughing it" is a hotel where both the shampoo and conditioner are not actual name brands. She want's me to sell my camping equipment because she has declared that we will never go camping again. She is probably right.


SET