Orbitz had told us that the America's Best Value Inn had free continental breakfast. We forced ourselves awake to find a locked lobby, the only evidence of breakfast behind closed doors being an unbrewed pot of coffee and some pre-packaged muffins and danishes. Just like meteorologists, one can't place the blame entirely on the kind outsourced folks of Orbitz - they don't have all the information, they're just doing their job. But if one more SOB tries to tell me that a muffin is breakfast, I will be largely inclined to correct him.
The next town over had a gas station/cafe, and we chomped down some breakfast sandwiches. The first hour or so of our cruise was a continuation of the sunny pleasantness of the previous day. Then, as we penetrated deeper into Kansas, the winds returned - not as relentless as our days across Minnesota and South Dakota, but more than enough to ride at an angle and cramp up the neck.
While stopped at one gas station, we took notice of a motorcycle shop across the street and an unusual amount of bikers on the road (we had seen none up to that point today). One saw our plates, and struck a conversation right up. "Massachusetts, huh? S'Kennedy country!" he said facetiously. "Man you guys must be a couple grand in the hole from this trip - you're probably techies or something, right?" This man was insufferable. "Actually, I work on a farm." "No shit! We have plenty of farmland out here!!" You don't say? He was riding for charity, which explained the plethora of bikers concentrated in the area all taking a left onto an unassuming side street. The charity was formed for the surviving children of "this black guy with, you know, one of those 'different' names like Mbutu or somethin," who had slit his wife's throat, fled to Albuquerque, then slit his own. "Hell, I just hope I get a pair of chaps out of it - HA! Then I'm gonna head home, pop on the TV, and see what the hell Obama is sayin' now!" I was hoping our reticence implied that we did not want anything to do with this conversation or the man behind it, but he kept on going for a good while until he talked himself into a corner and hit a wall. "Well, you guys take care." Good-fucking-bye.
The winds continued on. We arrived at our destination - the home of Snake's lady love, right outside of Kansas City - beaten and bruised by the elements. She lived in the Boston area now, but her parents were happy to take us in for a few days. They lived on a quiet dead end in the hills overlooking the city, in a beautiful abode that they had built themselves. Jim and Dale couldn't have been more hospitable. Dale saw us drive by in the dark, and she flipped the lights a few times and opened the garage door to signal our destination when we rolled by the house. They cleared a spot in the garage for the bikes, and immediately served hors d'ouevres and cocktails. It was like a five-star resort, without the unwanted crowds. We showered up (each a shower in his own room) and conversed over a lovely dinner before hitting the hay.
We were up at 6:30am, having eagerly committed to a day of good hard work with Jim. Jim had the craftsman's master eye - he was well-versed in all trades, and had made a practice of gutting houses and flipping them for renting. It felt great to have the exercise and change of pace of a hard day's work. We spent the day on demo duty in Jim's most recent purchase right near the bar district of Kansas City, decimating walls with sledgehammers and crowbars and cleaning up the debris. Dale stopped by around noon to drop off lunch. We finished the day at 3pm, and were given $100 cash each ("the going rate," Jim had told us). We were worked, but psyched. We would have done it for room and board alone, but the generosity was obviously very well-received.
We ate another excellent meal - some local barbecue prepared by Jim and Dale - before retiring to the living room to watch a movie together. Jim and Dale would be leaving in the morning for work, but opened their house to us for anything we might need before departure. We embraced warmly before bed, and reiterated again our appreciation for all they had done for us. If and when they return to our neck of the woods, the return of hospitality was a guarantee.
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