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| Hello KC! |
I flew out to Kansas City, Missouri on American Airlines at 7:45AM Eastern Time with a layover in Dallas-Fort Worth. By doing so, it was more cost effective for me since after all I'm not made of money. I eventually landed in Kansas City at 1:40PM in the afternoon Central Time. As a result, I was able to gain an hour on my way out there.
Upon arrival, I took a shuttle bus to the rental car center and I proceeded to rent a car from Alamo. The rental agent named Colter who tried his very best to try to lure me into taking a bigger car for just $33 more for the weekend. Being a veteran and astute traveler, I didn't go for the bait.
In retrospect, it turned out to be a wise decision. I reserved an economy car. He told me when I was getting ready to leave the counter to pick out a car he said and I quote "you got a really good deal." I sure did. I proceeded to walk out to the area where the cars were. He said to pick one from the compact area. That's an instant car upgrade already. As I was walking over to the compact cars, I noticed a Chevy Impala was parked there. I know for a fact that's a full size car. I asked a worker who was nearby and he said and I quote "get it while it's hot." Since I was by myself there was no need to get such a big car especially in the area I was driving to and from. I looked at the other options and I decided I'll take the Hyundai Elantra, a car I've rented a number of times in the past. That's a midsize car by today's rental standards. I also noticed that it was equipped with a XM radio so I said to myself that's mine for the weekend.
I got in and I drove off. My next destination was going to be Des Moines, Iowa which was about 200 miles north of Kansas City. It was a straight shot up I-35. I arranged to meet up with an up and coming sports traveler in Des Moines where we were going to see the Iowa Cubs play against the Omaha Storm Chasers at Principal Park. This young man named Tige Hutcheson, contacted me earlier in the week when I was at Citi Field. He told me he covers the state of Iowa for Stadium Journey, the website that does reviews of all the different ballparks and arenas around the country as well as other parts of the World. If you haven't checked it out yet, I strongly suggest that you do so.
When I saw Tige's e-mail, I responded quickly like I always do. To be perfectly honest, he made my night. I anxiously made arrangements to meet up with him. I told him I was planning to have a nice dinner before I got to the ballpark.
He said to call him when I got close to Des Moines. He was coming from Mankato, Minnesota where he's currently attending college at Minnesota State. He told me he's from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I was fast approaching Des Moines at 4:30PM I was about 25 miles away so I called him to see if we could try to meet up for dinner before the game. He was at a store killing time in a mall. I got off the highway and I noticed a place to eat. It was called the Machine Shed. I walked inside while I was talking to him so I could get their address so he could meet me there. Shortly thereafter, he did.
Stay tuned for the very special post I'm going to be doing about this restaurant, country store and watering hole. In addition, the next installment of this memorable weekend.
Thank you for reading and following along.
Yours truly,
Gary Herman
