Road Trip 2013 Day 3: Walking The Earth

Life was so much simpler when our earlier incarnations simply roamed the earth. There was survival, foraging, protecting our offspring, and...that was essentially it. There was no debt, no politics, no reality TV, no Autism Spectrum Disorder. The only real worries would be the death of a loved one, which sadly actually happened to the gorilla family at the Carolina Zoo earlier this week.

I sometimes wish those more natural values would be vogue once again, that primate would be the new black. But at least on some days the dream feels more real. Such was the case for about 4 hours in Asheboro NC today where we roamed the grounds, and were thankful that it could have been much hotter on a July afternoon.

The kids especially liked the animatronic dinosaur section, reminding us again of earth's past.

But in today's world we have an SUV, a GPS, and DVDs to get us from one place to the next without stumbling over trees and rocks to get from Point A to Point B, so at least there's that.

And we needed all of that today. After 4 hours on our feet was 4 hours on the road. And who wants to be a leaf-eater when you can have quality dining? As our journey neared its end, we pulled into Julio's in Quinton VA for a pretty solid Mexican dinner. And I can say the only green thing on my plate were the Enchiladas Verdes. Living off the land probably isn't for me after all.

Road Trip 2013 Day 2: Stick Figures

The trip up the east coast went through Charlotte for the one event that belonged to Daddy instead of the kids. Saturday at Lake Norman State Park was Philippine Combatives training, open to the public, featuring the stick guru Master Julius Melegrito.

There was some cloud cover so it wasn't nearly as hot as it could've been but it was ridiculously humid and the bugs were crazy. I found a new purpose for my sticks, swatting mosquitos on my legs, back and neck.

The three-hour session was constant. Master Melegrito engaged his 50 or so students and the experience was fun, informative, sometimes painful, and very humbling. When it was over it was hard to transition to owning regular hands and arms, though they were a lot lighter. Until I had to collect the kids, then my arms became occupied again.

It was a pretty low maintenance rest of the day after an hour-plus drive northeast we had swimming, dinner and a movie. Sagebrush Steakhouse was substantial, economical, and surprisingly delicious. Despicable Me 2 was hilarious.

Shacking up in Asheboro NC. Next stop Virginia. The tour of the sticks continues.