On The Road Again

Well its been a whirlwind of the past 4 weeks or so. I put 3700 miles on my van the past 3 weekends. Two trips from Michigan to North Carolina and back will do that to you. It was fun, that's for sure. I'll try to keep this as brief as possible.

The first week was great. My sister graduated and we got what was probably one of the worst commencement speakers ever. It was some old lady who had had no speaking skills and spoke way too long. If she had kept it shorter or was able to captivate the audience then I would have appreciated it more. To boot, the woman didn't even graduate from college and was receiving an honorary diploma. Where is the justice in that? Anyway after that we went to Corolla for a week of R & R. I'd like to tell you that I did a lot of stuff, but no. It was a relaxing, lazy, easy week. The most fun was playing with my niece and nephew. They are just the greatest.

Last weekend I traveled down to Raleigh for the wedding of two college friends. My van (the immortal 1995 maroon Mercury Villager) was packed full of 7 people and luggage on the way down. It was a bit cramped, but I think we all had fun. Of course people had fun ripping on my van. Hey, it ain't perfect, but its got character folks. Here's a list of things wrong with it:

It takes multiple turns of ignition to get started
It needs a new muffler/exhaust system
There are 2 cracks in the windshield
The left blinker doesn't work
The CD player is very tempermental (Wilco anyone?)
The wiper fluid pump doesn't work
The rear wiper doesn't work
Above 75 mph the van starts shaking
The right passenger window is off its track
Going uphill in the mountains with a packed van is quite a chore

So yeah, you get the idea. Although in the past year the van has survived a trip to Bonnaroo, 4 weddings, a trip to DC and back in the middle of a snowstorm, and the aforementioned 3 weeks of action. So yeah, me and it has had fun and its been my baby.

Anyway the wedding was great. It was fantastic seeing all my Case Swimming Alums. Yes I did drink a bit much saturday night and was feeling the effects sunday morning/afternoon. Of course that didn't stop me from going on a run and playing ultimate frisbee prior to the wedding. Considering the shape I was in, I surprised myself that I was able to participate. I've been getting hungover a lot lately. I think its because I hardly drink anymore. When I do, however, I think I can drink as much as I could a year or two ago. This is not the case and I end up paying for it the next morning. The wedding was very well done. I wish Jon & Kelly the best. They have such different personalities, but for them it works. Its a great example of Yin and Yang. We all rocked the dance floor to a playlist that was dominanted by classic 80s tunes and songs that were prominant during our time on the swim team. And for the 2nd consecutive Case Swimming wedding, someone passed out on the pavement. Quite a good time.