BSC in th USA
Welcome back to the Road Trip That Could Have Been Epic But Wasn't. Sorry for the delay, but you know how life is...
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
CHAPTER 13 - JESSI
Down in Oklahoma the group is still huddled in the bathroom while the sirens wail. There's a window in this bathroom. That... is not good. If you have no basement and your bathroom has windows, I'm afraid you need to seek shelter in a closet. It's all fun and games until that window shatters and cuts you up good. But the logic, it fails, so here we go...
David M is taunting his little brother and gets barked at for it - well, he claims he was trying to cheer him up until the house shakes and a lamp falls upstairs - or so Mr. Romney claims it was a lamp. Jessi freaks out and grabs a hold of Abby's hand so hard she almost breaks it. This is typical reaction for an 11 year old. The man on the radio says the tornado is moving east and DM worries Stoneybrook will get hit. Uh... isn't he eight? He knew how long it took them to get to Oklahoma... what makes him think that the storm will hit a town over a 1,000 miles away? Just because it's raining in Kansas City doesn't mean St. Louis will get rain in a few hours - and that's just a difference of 200 miles, give or take twenty miles.
The storm finally ends and the group emerges to find that there's some damage in the yard. A small tree fell over and shingles from a roof are on a tree down the street. Mr. Romney says it was an F-One. Actually, it's more of an F-Zero. That sounds like pretty minor damage, in the grand tornado scheme of things. I say this because the RV is not lying on it's side. Nor, curiously, are any windows broken on it, as could be expected. But alas, this is BSC Land, so of course, nothing is ever harmed, baring a fire at Mary Anne's house in a few dozen books. Mallory asks what a F-Five looks like. Mr. Romney tells her she doesn't want to know.
Trust me - you don't want to know either. If you do, just Google 'Joplin Tornado'.
So, almost recovered from the ordeal, save for Karen who keeps thinking she's seeing funnel clouds, the group pulls out of town headed for a rodeo/carnival thing. Since DM is the one who wanted to see the rodeo, he's all sorts of excited.
Now we get to watch the whole group freaked out by 'the poor little calf' and everyone's really glad Dawn's not with them because she would have raised hell over this. Now, I will admit that the first rodeo I remember going to, I was a little squicked at first at what was going on - and got over it very quickly by looking for cute cowboys instead. DM is so shocked that they rope up the calf he gets sick.
Has no one told him how hamburgers get on his plate? Ah well...
Being animal lovers, no one wants to watch the rodeo and they go play games and rides at the midway. Yes, calf roping can be hard to take. But there's more to rodeo than that. There's bronc riding, bull riding, barrel racing and.... oh forget it... this was written by someone who's probably never been to one.
CHAPTER 14 - JEFF
Welcome to Yellowstone and the Upper Geyser Basin. +sits town on Dawn's soapbox, she can't use it+ Jeff states that Old Faithful goes off about every hour and ten minutes and Dawn states that the reason it doesn't go off every hour with regularity is because of the damage done by humans to the environment.
Why do I want to see that girl get it in a disaster movie? Wait, she probably did in 2012 when California got obliterated or in The Day After Tomorrow when... whatever...
Jeff also states that Old Faithful is the biggest geyser - more research failage, Peter? Old Faithful is the most famous of the geysers, the biggest belongs to the Grand. Anyway...
Family angst, because Dawn's being a bitch because Jeff wants to walk fast and calls it pushing. Jack believes Dawn. They then run into a bear and Jeff wants to go the Grand Tetons so he can repel. Like you can't do that in parts of Yellowstone. +gets her atlas+ Let's see, we're in Wyoming.... Okay, the distance isn't so far, just an hour or so on down the road.
I'll give props to Jeff, who at least acts like a normal ten year old. No one else wants to climb the big scary mountain. If Abby was on this route, LIKE SHE SHOULD BE she would be all over this. Going up the side of the mountain was fun but like anyone would, Jeff gets a little freaked going down until he gets the hang of it. Once he's back on the ground, everyone's jealous they didn't go.
Even Mary Anne? I call bullshit on that one. Everyone knows Mary Anne is scared of everything unless she's in her bitch mode.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - MALLORY
The group is making it's way across New Mexico when they come across a sign for Zuni and they spend the entire chapter trying to find someone they know from the Pens Across America program. As side trips go, this one's not so bad, as DM gets to meet his Pen Pal, and we get to see a plaque the kids of Stoneybrook thanked on it for the new school.
Karen points out it was just one school, not all the kids.
+rocks fall, puppies get killed+
Karen... KAREN is turning down recognition for something that she was connected to although she had nothing to do with it? KAREN'S TURNING DOWN ATTENTION? AHH!!! She's been replaced by a pod person!!! RUN!!!
Mallory meets Adam's and Margo's penpals and a few others. They went to Zuni because Dawn would have killed them if they hadn't... speaking of...
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - DAWN - AND HER SOAPBOX.
Dawn's pissy because they still haven't found a ghost town and is trying to find something to do instead. Does she not know that a ghost town is not a town full of ghosts but an abandoned town that's way off the beaten path? Do you know how massive the west is? Peter apparently doesn't...
Jack's been freaked about running out of gas again so he's constantly filling up... good move on his part. Everyone's grumpy. Dawn gets bitchy over seeing a huge rack of brochures. “All those dead trees.” Mary Anne points out that people want to know about them and snipes back to make a computer screen (like in 1999 when this was written everyone knew how to use one) or one big brochure. Like that wouldn't kill more trees.
But what's this? Dawn finds a brochure for the 'Buzzard Gulch Tour' an authentic ghost town!! She is ALL for going to that. I'm stunned that none of these kids ever heard of a 'tourist trap' - and so they're off to see a ghost town.
That's a campy, amusing little place that features audience participation, humor and a flume ride. But as they're pulling up, Dawn freaks the fuck out because of the false advertising and it's nothing what she expected. She wanted ghosts... scares, freakyness! Instead she's got what I think sounds pretty fun. But that's just me.
Dawn is in TEARS. Everyone else thinks it's so corny that it's awesome. Despite all this, Dawn eventually realizes it's not so bad. Because Road Trips are about the unexpected fun. Such as the last one I went on and my friend and I found a place called 'Stoner Drug' in Iowa. I kid you not. In this town that just SCREAMED Zombie Apocalypse material (seriously, this place had one stoplight and the roads were A, B, C, D, E, F and Main) there was Stoner Drug - complete with soda fountain. It was great.
CHAPTER 17 - KAREN
The side trip cost them a lot of time and now Karen might not get to go to see Four Corners. She has to be told by DM that the states are not four different colors like they are on the map. What kind of atlas are they using? But this is more BS, since depending on the road, it's on the way to the Grand Canyon. Anyway, Karen uses her pout to get Watson to go there and everyone does the stand in four states at once thing.
This makes me want to run outside, jog up a few hills and race across the state line. Just kidding. Though the urge to hike the three miles to that movie theater to see The Hunger Games is pretty strong...
So they drive through Monument Valley and Karen falls asleep. They get to the Grand Canyon late at night - and everyone's sleeping and Karen wakes up when her dad tucks her in and she thanks him for going out of the way. (Which seriously, it wasn't.)
I still say this is not the real Karen.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
CHAPTER 13 - JESSI
Down in Oklahoma the group is still huddled in the bathroom while the sirens wail. There's a window in this bathroom. That... is not good. If you have no basement and your bathroom has windows, I'm afraid you need to seek shelter in a closet. It's all fun and games until that window shatters and cuts you up good. But the logic, it fails, so here we go...
David M is taunting his little brother and gets barked at for it - well, he claims he was trying to cheer him up until the house shakes and a lamp falls upstairs - or so Mr. Romney claims it was a lamp. Jessi freaks out and grabs a hold of Abby's hand so hard she almost breaks it. This is typical reaction for an 11 year old. The man on the radio says the tornado is moving east and DM worries Stoneybrook will get hit. Uh... isn't he eight? He knew how long it took them to get to Oklahoma... what makes him think that the storm will hit a town over a 1,000 miles away? Just because it's raining in Kansas City doesn't mean St. Louis will get rain in a few hours - and that's just a difference of 200 miles, give or take twenty miles.
The storm finally ends and the group emerges to find that there's some damage in the yard. A small tree fell over and shingles from a roof are on a tree down the street. Mr. Romney says it was an F-One. Actually, it's more of an F-Zero. That sounds like pretty minor damage, in the grand tornado scheme of things. I say this because the RV is not lying on it's side. Nor, curiously, are any windows broken on it, as could be expected. But alas, this is BSC Land, so of course, nothing is ever harmed, baring a fire at Mary Anne's house in a few dozen books. Mallory asks what a F-Five looks like. Mr. Romney tells her she doesn't want to know.
Trust me - you don't want to know either. If you do, just Google 'Joplin Tornado'.
So, almost recovered from the ordeal, save for Karen who keeps thinking she's seeing funnel clouds, the group pulls out of town headed for a rodeo/carnival thing. Since DM is the one who wanted to see the rodeo, he's all sorts of excited.
Now we get to watch the whole group freaked out by 'the poor little calf' and everyone's really glad Dawn's not with them because she would have raised hell over this. Now, I will admit that the first rodeo I remember going to, I was a little squicked at first at what was going on - and got over it very quickly by looking for cute cowboys instead. DM is so shocked that they rope up the calf he gets sick.
Has no one told him how hamburgers get on his plate? Ah well...
Being animal lovers, no one wants to watch the rodeo and they go play games and rides at the midway. Yes, calf roping can be hard to take. But there's more to rodeo than that. There's bronc riding, bull riding, barrel racing and.... oh forget it... this was written by someone who's probably never been to one.
CHAPTER 14 - JEFF
Welcome to Yellowstone and the Upper Geyser Basin. +sits town on Dawn's soapbox, she can't use it+ Jeff states that Old Faithful goes off about every hour and ten minutes and Dawn states that the reason it doesn't go off every hour with regularity is because of the damage done by humans to the environment.
Why do I want to see that girl get it in a disaster movie? Wait, she probably did in 2012 when California got obliterated or in The Day After Tomorrow when... whatever...
Jeff also states that Old Faithful is the biggest geyser - more research failage, Peter? Old Faithful is the most famous of the geysers, the biggest belongs to the Grand. Anyway...
Family angst, because Dawn's being a bitch because Jeff wants to walk fast and calls it pushing. Jack believes Dawn. They then run into a bear and Jeff wants to go the Grand Tetons so he can repel. Like you can't do that in parts of Yellowstone. +gets her atlas+ Let's see, we're in Wyoming.... Okay, the distance isn't so far, just an hour or so on down the road.
I'll give props to Jeff, who at least acts like a normal ten year old. No one else wants to climb the big scary mountain. If Abby was on this route, LIKE SHE SHOULD BE she would be all over this. Going up the side of the mountain was fun but like anyone would, Jeff gets a little freaked going down until he gets the hang of it. Once he's back on the ground, everyone's jealous they didn't go.
Even Mary Anne? I call bullshit on that one. Everyone knows Mary Anne is scared of everything unless she's in her bitch mode.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - MALLORY
The group is making it's way across New Mexico when they come across a sign for Zuni and they spend the entire chapter trying to find someone they know from the Pens Across America program. As side trips go, this one's not so bad, as DM gets to meet his Pen Pal, and we get to see a plaque the kids of Stoneybrook thanked on it for the new school.
Karen points out it was just one school, not all the kids.
+rocks fall, puppies get killed+
Karen... KAREN is turning down recognition for something that she was connected to although she had nothing to do with it? KAREN'S TURNING DOWN ATTENTION? AHH!!! She's been replaced by a pod person!!! RUN!!!
Mallory meets Adam's and Margo's penpals and a few others. They went to Zuni because Dawn would have killed them if they hadn't... speaking of...
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - DAWN - AND HER SOAPBOX.
Dawn's pissy because they still haven't found a ghost town and is trying to find something to do instead. Does she not know that a ghost town is not a town full of ghosts but an abandoned town that's way off the beaten path? Do you know how massive the west is? Peter apparently doesn't...
Jack's been freaked about running out of gas again so he's constantly filling up... good move on his part. Everyone's grumpy. Dawn gets bitchy over seeing a huge rack of brochures. “All those dead trees.” Mary Anne points out that people want to know about them and snipes back to make a computer screen (like in 1999 when this was written everyone knew how to use one) or one big brochure. Like that wouldn't kill more trees.
But what's this? Dawn finds a brochure for the 'Buzzard Gulch Tour' an authentic ghost town!! She is ALL for going to that. I'm stunned that none of these kids ever heard of a 'tourist trap' - and so they're off to see a ghost town.
That's a campy, amusing little place that features audience participation, humor and a flume ride. But as they're pulling up, Dawn freaks the fuck out because of the false advertising and it's nothing what she expected. She wanted ghosts... scares, freakyness! Instead she's got what I think sounds pretty fun. But that's just me.
Dawn is in TEARS. Everyone else thinks it's so corny that it's awesome. Despite all this, Dawn eventually realizes it's not so bad. Because Road Trips are about the unexpected fun. Such as the last one I went on and my friend and I found a place called 'Stoner Drug' in Iowa. I kid you not. In this town that just SCREAMED Zombie Apocalypse material (seriously, this place had one stoplight and the roads were A, B, C, D, E, F and Main) there was Stoner Drug - complete with soda fountain. It was great.
CHAPTER 17 - KAREN
The side trip cost them a lot of time and now Karen might not get to go to see Four Corners. She has to be told by DM that the states are not four different colors like they are on the map. What kind of atlas are they using? But this is more BS, since depending on the road, it's on the way to the Grand Canyon. Anyway, Karen uses her pout to get Watson to go there and everyone does the stand in four states at once thing.
This makes me want to run outside, jog up a few hills and race across the state line. Just kidding. Though the urge to hike the three miles to that movie theater to see The Hunger Games is pretty strong...
So they drive through Monument Valley and Karen falls asleep. They get to the Grand Canyon late at night - and everyone's sleeping and Karen wakes up when her dad tucks her in and she thanks him for going out of the way. (Which seriously, it wasn't.)
I still say this is not the real Karen.