Today was our long weekend to Kansas City.  We slept in to start.  I know, 6:30 isn’t sleeping in, but I went back to bed after pulling Sascha back into the house.  She was giving me that middle claw thing, but I wasn’t going to worry about whatever she was barking about.  In she came, but she wasn’t going to be happy about it.

I got to sleep in until 8:30 when Rich got up.  Oh for just a few more minutes in bed.  But no, we needed to get moving so we could get on the road for Kansas City.  I hadn’t even packed yet!  We got moving.  Kissed Rick and Sascha good-bye.  She was excited to find out she was going to the kennel or to her crate.

We stopped off for breakfast up in town.  I think Sandy and some of the staff were surprised to see us without Rick.  Do I really have him with me that often?  Yeah, I guess I do.  One day, it’ll strictly be Rich and I.  That’ll probably come too soon though.

We hit the road finally.  We headed out to Iowa.  Our first big stop would be in Des Moines at our favorite BBQ place.  We found this place a few years ago on our way out west for vacation.  Now I look for reasons to be in Des Moines during a meal time.  Cactus Bob’s BBQ Corral is a great place.  The food is really, really good.  I’ve been getting the pork sandwich.  Rich has tried several of the meals.  We haven’t had a bad thing yet.  They have the most awesome pickles.  Rich has been trying to recreate them.  They are sweet, dilly, and spicy all at the same time.  Just the thing to go with BBQ.

After getting our fill, we headed back out on the road and took the turn to Kansas City.  Wouldn’t you know it?  A storm was tracking across Kansas and beginning to cover the entire state of Missouri from Kansas City to St. Louis.  We hit some pretty good rain.  Luckily, we just coming around the backside of the storm.  It wasn’t going to really affect our drive.

We were headed to the eastside of Kansas City, MO to Blue Springs.  My favorite blues band, Trampled Under Foot, is holding a release party for their next album.  They had worked hard this year to run a Kickstarter program to finance the album themselves and not have to use a label.  Rich contributed enough to get an invitation to this little party for me.  I’m so excited!

So on Sunday afternoon, we are meeting up at the Trouser Mouse in Blue Springs to listen to the album and watch the band perform live.  I believe the party is for the 150 or so people who contributed a minimum amount in the Kickstarter for helping them to the album done.

Kansas City, you ask?  Well, this is the band’s hometown.  You always go home for the important things.  I only found Trampled Under Foot, or the easier name of TUF, back in August when we attended the Cincinnati Blues Fest.  They were awesome.  They started out as a Led Zeppelin cover band as they were getting blues act in place.  They do both so very well.  Danielle has an awesome voice.  Nick is one hell of a guitar player and widely recognized.  Kris plays drums and keeps the whole thing kicking with a great beat.

Tonight, we arrived in town from the 8 hour drive.  We went out for beers and food at Clancy’s Pub.  It was a nice place with great music playing.  We talked and just winding down.  Tomorrow, we’ll grab breakfast and see some of the sites.  There’s a lot of history in the area and that’s my favorite thing to see.

Then, tomorrow at 6:00 PM, we’ll show up at The Trouser Mouse to see my favorite band.  The music will be kickin’ and we should have a great time.

More to come from our activities tomorrow.  Good night.