Thursday, February 05, 2004 20:13:15 I came real close to commenting that last part out, saving it just for myself, of maybe for my family. But that's not what this journal is all about. Honesty. If I can't tell the truth here, then *my* truth is but shit. So, the day: I had thought that I got a goos night's sleep, but as the day progressed, I realized differently; I only get a good night's sleep in my own bed, and dammit, that's what old people say, ain't it? Truth, though. Karen and I got up about 08:00, Kim had a 09:00 appointment, GED's brother is a lawyer in Dallas, so he pretty well knew what hoops had to be jumped through, and she's the executor for her dad's estate. They got all of the bank stuff done, so that the bills would get paid and all of that. Everyone in Parsons knew GED, and there seems to be an honest effort to make things easy on the family. That's something that you get from living in a small town, but it probably doesn't offset the other stuff that you get from living in a small town. Karen and I went to get some breakfast and wound up at daylight donut, and I ate too much. Their coffee machine wasn't working, so they were serving hot chocolate for the same price and I had two of their big rolls, probably exceeding my carbs for the day right there. As I mentioned earlier, the boys were staying at a motel, and Matt and Brian were going in to Julie's and saw the daylight donut sign and went through the drive-through, and on the way out saw our car, so they came in and sat down with us. I'm really starting to like Brian, as much as I am capable of liking a teenage boy, I guess. He's a good kid. And Matt is turning out to be a pretty good father, too, and I'm surprised and proud of him. Anyway, as we were sitting there, the snow really started coming down, at the rate of about two inches per hour. We went over to Julie's and stayed there chatting and meeting people, I mentioned yesterday that they were really nice people, and my feelings were reinforced greatly today. And the snow continued. I turned on the weather channel, and they were talking about highway closings. And I started getting worried, 'cause I really needed to be back to work on Friday. Karen suggested that I leave then, and not wait for the funeral, she'd be OK. I did want to drive in the daytime if the roads were bad, of course. I called work, and Nancy answered. It had been snowing in Topeks since early morn, about another six inches, and it was still coming down. Damn. She suggested calling the highway patrol so I did after we got over to GED's house. So we decided to all go to GED's house, everyone else was going to stay the night, they though. Talking to the highway patrol, the roads were open, but snow-packed and icy. I decided to chance it anyway, so I said my goodbyes to everyone and left. I had decided to go on the new 400 highway West to the US75 junction, and that was a good choice, good road. The plows had been working and it was clear. And, surprisingly, the roads were clear through to Topeka. I had a few delays from the plows, but not many. I made it to Topeka in about five hours, ti normally takes three, but I thought that was pretty good. But I am just physically and mentally drained, of course. The roads were not to be trusted, every wet spot was a potentially icy spot, and that was the whole route. And shortly after I got home, brother Jon called, I got to talk to him about an hour or so. And now it's definitely bedtime, I'm pretty well shot, and 05:30 will come awfully early tomorrow.