Bearly made it....
2005-09-26

First things first, my brother had his lungs operated on and he seems to be doing OK dispite all the wires and chest tube. The Docs think they know what is causing all the fluid in his lungs. He has a hole where there shouldn't be one and stuff that shouldn't get in is getting in. I hope that wasn't too technical, just the facts ma'am... He was in pretty good spirits, mostly from the drugs I think. He doesn't drink, smoke or even take asprin so I imagine the stuff knocks him loopy... I'll be glad when he is back home.
Our trip to the boonies was somewhat productive, but VERY long. What the boss promised to be a six hour drive was really 8 1/2 hours. I'm not sure how he figured we could drive 500 miles in 6 hours. I guess math isn't his strong suit. He managed to make up for his confusion on driving time by leaving work two hours later than planned and then making us drive to his house which was another hour out of the way. Sweet.... Oh, of course he hadn't packed yet and also insisted on giving us a tour of his house (for sale $4.5 million serious offers only).
So finally we left and drove and drove and drove. Western New York and Western Pa are alot alike. Miles and miles and miles of nothing. The conversation was dull, dull, dull... They both repeated the same stories over and over and over. Guns, karate, houses and work. Guns karate houses and work. Two days of nothing but that. UGH... I wanted to stab myself in the eye with an ice pick.
We finally got to the hotel at 1:00 in the morning and I was beat to all hell. We check in and the boss sets up six o'clock wake up calls for us all and says to meet for breakfast at 7:00. Um Dave? The first meeting isn't until nine and we could walk to the plant in under ten minutes. I'm too tired to argue. I find my room and crash. 6:00 am comes about 5 minutes later.
I'm there for breakfast at 6:55. There isn't much I can eat, but I have a coffee and watch the news. Dominic is right on time, but the boss is no where to be found. Finally around 7:30 he ambles in and announces, gee what did we get up this early for? Duh...
So now we have a bunch of time to kill. We spend it by driving around the area which consists of the factory, an old oil refinery and the town of Bradford (pop 6000). This town looks like something out of an old movie on the depression. Lots and lots of run down row houses interspersed with a few old mostly rund down Victorians. I think the newest house must have been 80 years old and the downtown seriously looked like I had been beamed back to the 1930's.
We finally killed enough time and headed to the factory. It was very modern and in stark contrast to the surroundings. We got the 50 cent tour and I met the people we were supposed to. The fed us lunch at the exclusive Bradford Club which looked like any Knights of Cloumbus hall you've ever been in except for the pictures of oil wells on the walls.
We got back and found out the boss was still in meetings. We killed more time and more time and more time. Our 1:00 scheduled departure ended up being 4:00. Oh boy another 1:00 night.
On the drive through Western NY we did have one highlight. A 300 pound black bear decided to cross the highway at the same time we were. We jammed on the brakes. And watched as he strolled by. He looked like he had just stepped out of bear GQ or something. His coat was nice and shiny and he looked very well fed. It must have been a good year for bears.
As he waddled off, we realized that being stopped in the high speed lane of a major highway was probably a bad idea, so off we went again.
My two travel mates were both VERY poor drivers. They made up for this by having no sense of direction. I had to navigate, which I did in between stomping on the imaginary brake pedal as we almost crashed or grabing on to the overhead hand hold while we veered between lanes. My favorite was when we drove for about ten miles on the chatter strip because Dom didn't want to get too close to the construction barrels. Very relaxing.
We tried to find a decent place to eat and ended up almost lost in the wilds of western Massachusetts. We settled for crappy rest stop food on the Mass Pike. We passed a major accident and finally dropped the boss over at his house got in Dom's car and headed home.
We got about about a mile from the house and got stopped by the local police. Dom swerved a bit while lighting his cigarette (I didn't mention second hand smoke for two days?)
and the local Barney Fife decided that was enough to give us a look see. You boys aren't drinking are you? My reply, God I wish... The checked us out and let us go. We got in at 1:00 in the morning for the second night in a row. I know, I know, my life is so glamorous, and you wish you could have been there too... Maybe next time.
Happy Monday.
Ron

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