"Scattering Scooter..."

Scattering Scooter...

The first of May arrived... and it was time for me to get serious about something I needed to do.

My good friend, Larry Magee, died on March 4th... and had requested that I scatter his ashes in the Monument Valley area of Arizona/Utah... 

How does one say 'no' to the request of a friend?

I finished the semester... turned in my grades... packed up my truck... (and Scooter)... and headed Westward... one of my great fears was that I would arrive at the destination and realize I had left Scooter on the shelf at home... YIKES!!!!

Day 1

I asked a  good friend of mine with whom I have traveled... to go along with me.  He lives in Conway, AR... so my first day of travels took me there.  It was a rather uneventful trip... Scooter didn't have a Hell of a lot to say... he just sat there...

The most amazing thing I did see was the damage done to Mayflower, AR by that tornado of a few weeks ago...  the destruction I saw was much worse than any thing I saw on television news reports...  and this was two weeks AFTER the storm.  It seems that after the storm hit Mayflower, it intensified as it moved towards Vilonia, where 18 people were killed.  

Photo of Tornado that hit Mayflower

Damage from that tornado

I wish I could have stopped and taken some photos, but the traffic was too heavy...

Day 2

On the second day, we made a serious attempt to get out West... we drove to Amarillo, TX before we gave out...

... it was a rather monotonous drive... we did see the remnants of a rather severe auto crash... it appeared more that the driver lost control of the vehicle and trailer rather than a collision with another car... yet, I am glad we weren't driving through there earlier...

We were dragging ass into Amarillo... and Keith sees this place...

There were cars and trucks with license plates from all over this country parked out front...  and this place's claim to fame is that if you can eat a 72 ounce steak, it's free...

That is a butt-load of meat...

No pun intended...

Once inside, it felt like a scene from one of National Lampoon's 'Family Vacation movies... We couldn't decide if it was more like a circus or a zoo...  the employees, dressed in western garb, evidently are suppose to be in character... as if they were working at a theme park...

Things started to get a bit 'iffy' when Keith ordered a beer... and 'Tex' started trying to talk him into the next size... 

Tex:  "For $2 more, you can get twice as much..."

Keith:  "No, Thanks..."

Tex:  "You sure??  Twice as much for $2 more??

Well... Keith didn't say anything, but if you have seen any Clint Eastwood movies... you know that expression he gets before a much of people die... or bad things happen???

... Keith made one of those faces... and Tex picked up on that form of 'non-verbal communication.'  He started backing away... 'ok ok ok'...

One  really couldn't do anything more than laugh... of course, unless you were Tex, it was pretty funny...

The steaks were SO tough... that we figure that the beef was U.S.D.A. Rejected...

I think that in one sitting, we had consumed at least a month's worth of roughage...  when Tex came back by (in character) and asked about how thing were, Keith told him that was possibly the worst steak he had ever had... how tough it was... 

Tex offered to have them make him another, but I think Keith had given up on it... and declined... Tex's spirits were crushed... he was defeated...

Our steaks...

As if that wasn't bad enough... Tex came back around later... and asked Keith if he could take his plate... Keith looked at him and said... 'yeah'...

As Tex walked away with the boot plate, Keith said to me...

"I should have told him, Hell no... leave that plate of crap in front of me..."

HAR!!!!!

~shoes~